Gimp: help please...

[BuS_RiDeR]

Note: I am having issues with the communication between my brain and my eyes (words and letters often look like something other than what they are). Therefor, reading can be challenging for me at times. So video and/or audio tutorials would be most helpful.

I use Gimp to accomplish most of my PP tasks. And it works very well for me. However, I am having a bit of trouble separating backgrounds from similarly colored hair. For example a dark brown hair color, from a black background... Or white/grey or blonde hair from a white or grey background...

I have read/watched/listened to several online tutorials and articles on the subject, for example:

[video=youtube;AnbxtMCHKV0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnbxtMCHKV0"]T[/URL]HIS[/video]

But, they are not very helpful in situations where the contrast is limited... ie light color on light color or dark color on dark color...

Is there a better way to do it?

I am versed in technical issues and realize that the same things can be done with Gimp or other PP software like Photoshop... So there is a good chance if I know/understand it in one program, I'll likely be able to "translate" it and apply it to Gimp.

PS - I apologize if this is the incorrect forum. Feel free to move it to the correct one.

 

[clanthar]

You have to find a way to differentiate the hair color from the background so that a selection for the background can be made. If the hair and background colors are close this becomes very tricky. The solution is to force the differentiation, make the selection/mask and then transfer that to the original. To force the differentiation I switch the photo to Lab mode. Then create a dupe layer. I take the dupe layer and open the Curves dialog. Then I access either the "a" or "b" channel (whichever is appropriate given the overall color) and start adding nodes and pulling that curve into whatever bizarre shape will manage to separate the hair from the background. Make the selection and create the layer mask I need. Copy the mask to the original and delete the dupe layer.

Joe

Edit: I haven't tried that using GIMP. My memory is kicking in and telling me GIMP won't make the switch to Lab or at least not easily. I'll investigate tomorrow.

 

[Tstandiford]

Hello bus rider. I'm not a member of this forum but I am an avid gimp user who actively looks for people who are looking for help with gimp. If you shoot in raw this process is a lot easier. As the user above has said, you need to differentiate the background from the foreground. I use layer masks and color modification tools to get this job done. Check out the video at the beginning of this gimp zombie tutorial. It will explain how to use gimp to do this. Http://gimpedblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/gimp-tutorial-how-to-make-zombie-using.html I'll subscribe to this post, so if you get stuc I'll be able to reply. Hope it helps.

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

 

[marmots]

if i am editing it for a friend, i usually just paint in a layer mask, but cut off the loose hairs, and try to make it look nice,

most of those images are too low quality/compressed to really get any kind of good separation that way, even if there is a nice background

 

[BuS_RiDeR]

if i am editing it for a friend, i usually just paint in a layer mask, but cut off the loose hairs, and try to make it look nice...

Valid point. And I may still resort to that method. But I want to try to salvage as much detail as I can before I do..