Question

Outline face/body and change rest of picture to black background

Asked by: ExpExchHelp

I'm just learning my way around in Adobe Illustrator 10.0.  I couldn't find Adobe Illustrator in EE, but possibly someone can help me here.  

Okay, I have a picture that I need to modify.   It basically is a portrait image... unfortunately, this picture was taken in a restaurant, so there are "disturbing things" in the background.

My question:   How can I outline the face and part of the upper body contures and then change the rest of the picture to e.g. a black background?   Please provide the actual steps (menu choices) and features that would allow me to manipulate the picture.

Thank you,
EEH

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Asked On
2007-01-28 at 07:26:14ID22139698
Tags

outline

,

face

,

body

,

change

Topic

Adobe Photoshop

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
5

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Answers

 

by: D_BruggePosted on 2007-01-28 at 14:07:52ID: 18415696

From the very start, you have to understand the difference between Illustrator and Photoshop.

Photoshop works with bitmapped images. Images such as jpg, tif, bmp, gif are all bitmapped. They are made up of rows of pixels that a paint program such as Photoshop can edit. You can load bitmapped images onto a web page and view them with any web browser.

Illustrator is a vector program. It uses a series of points and lines to define the boundary of images. You cannot view vector art without a program that translates it into a bitmapped image. Most of the Illustrator artwork that you see on the web has either been exported as a bitmapped image (such as a jpeg) or is used in a program like Flash which builds a series of bitmapped images on the screen.

My point is this. We can tell you how to import your image into Illustrator, build a mask that will hide the background and let only the portrait part show through, then create a new background. You would then need to export this as a new image. But I don't think that that is what you want to do.

The best program for isolating the image that you want against a black background is Photoshop. If you don't have Photoshop, there are several excellent open license programs available for free that will also do a better job than illustrator.

What would you like to do?

David B.

 

by: ExpExchHelpPosted on 2007-01-28 at 14:14:37ID: 18415734

David,

actually, I just figured it out in Illustrator.... works exactly as intended.

thanks for the feedback though.... enough for me to award you the points.

EEH

 

by: D_BruggePosted on 2007-01-28 at 20:56:02ID: 18416962

Hi Exp! Glad that you discovered the solution.

Why don't you post what you found that worked so that others that hit on this question will know the solution. (Then you can reclaim your points and save them for another question)

David B.

 

by: ExpExchHelpPosted on 2007-01-29 at 12:25:18ID: 18422580

Sure...

-- use the "Pen" tool to outline the image (e.g. face)
-- press and hold the SHIFT key while clicking on the "little circle" in the Layer menu
-- Go to Object > Clipping Mask > Make... at this time, the unwanted background should be cropped away and you're left with only the image area you desire (in this case the face)
-- create another box, change if needed the box's background color, move the image (face) onto it... and change the order to that the face resides on the new background..

voila... it's really only 3 steps

EEH

 

by: D_BruggePosted on 2007-01-30 at 18:10:37ID: 18432922

Thanks, that should be a help to the next person that needs to create a clipping path in Illustrator.

David B.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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