Skill Level: Expert
Summary: How to create a complex mask using the Pen Tool, Brush Tool, Lasso Tool, Refine Edge, and Gaussian Blur.

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I’m going to show you how to cut out this dog and place him on a green background (or any background of your choice). Looks ridiculous doesn’t it? Why in the world would anybody even ask you to do this? If they do, tell them they need to get a picture of the dog on a white background! Okay, only in a perfect world do we get such luxuries. So lets say you have to cut out this cute dog and put him on a greeting card or whatever, and this is what your boss gives you, or what the client is demanding to be used. The first thing you realize is you won’t be using the Magic Wand. You might try using the Extract Command (under Filter), but I personally don’t get any good results.

1. The first thing is to get out the Pen Tool, because we’re going to make a selection path ourselves! If you don’t know how to use the Pen Tool, then I recommend you get practicing!
   
2. When you get the Pen tool, make sure you select “Paths” and not “Shape Layers”.
   
3. Now zoom in real close and begin to trace the animal with the pen tool.
4. VERY IMPORTANT! Your tracing can be loose. It doesn’t have to be exact. You can choose to cut out certain hairs or thick hairs and leave out others. All that matters is that it is believable and sellable when it all said and done. Notice how I’ve made decisions on what to cut out and what to discard.
5. Make sure your path is active. If you see it, it is active. If not, go to Window > Paths and click on the path.
6. Turn the path into a selection. You can either click on the button on the bottom of the Paths palette, or click on the fly out menu, then go to “Make Selection”.
7. Note: I’ve noticed in Photoshop CS3, sometimes when I use the pen tool, the path is gray on the outside and white on the inside, like I want it. This makes the inside the selected area. If yours is white on the outside and gray on the inside, you will have to inverse your selection by going to Select > Inverse. That is so we can capture the dog and not the background.
8. With your selection active, go to Select > Refine Edge. This is new to Photoshop CS3, so if you don’t have Photoshop CS3, you’ll just have to do it the old fashioned way. With Refine Edge open, put your settings to Radius: 0.3, Contrast 0, Smooth 3, Feather 2.4, and Contract/Expand +5. I usually have the preview set to “On White”.
9. Before we proceed, make sure your layer is not a Background layer. If it is, double click on it and click OK or go to Layer > New > Layer From Background. If your layer is a Background layer, the next step will not work.
10. Okay, now we have to make that selection into a Mask. Either click on the third button on the Layers palette or go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.
11. Make a new layer below the dog layer and fill it with green. Any bright green will do.
12. Alright, so some of the image looks good, near the top of the dog, but look at the bottom, where all the hair is. It looks like it was cut out. It looks flat. This is where we start messing with the Mask itself.
13. Make sure you’re clicked on the Mask in the Layers palette and not the dog, otherwise the next step will affect the dog and not the Mask.
14. Get the Lasso Tool and make a selection around the bottom part of the dog, around the hairy edge parts. Go to Filter > Gaussian Blur and use a setting of 3.3. That helps make the hairy parts have an overall extra blur.
15. Turn off the Selection (Select > Deselect). Get the Brush Tool. Use a regular circle, and make the Diameter 125 px and the Hardness 8%. Set the Opacity to 40% (or press 4 on your keyboard). Make sure you have black in the Foreground and white in the Background.
16. Now here comes the tricky part. (Make sure you’re still clicked on the Mask as referred to in step 12!) What we want to do is touch up the edges of the Mask where the hair is. There is no system to this madness. Just go around parts of the hair and click once, twice, or thrice. Whatever you feel looks good. What we are tying to do is make parts of the Mask more gray (or transparent). You know what a Mask is don’t you? A Mask is just a black & white image linked to your image. In a Mask, the white parts you see, the black parts you don’t, and the grays make it fade between black and white. With black as the foreground color for the brush, and an Opacity setting of 40%, we are applying gray to areas. We are working with only the Mask–the image is remaining unharmed.
17. So that’s really it! You can now put the doggy where ever you want.
18. Here’s a quick example: On red carpet.
19. Levels Adjustment, some Burn, and more Mask tweaking.
20. Shadows added.