Masking is never an easy task. It’s a technique to remove unnecessary pixels, keeping a group of objects intact. There are several ways to isolate objects from unnecessary background pixels in using Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop’s Color Range lets you remove unnecessary pixels in terms of colors. If you have large objects to isolate from background, you can then use Photoshop’s Extract.

If you have Photoshop and feel that it’s not good enough for you in masking objects from background, then consider trying out onOne Software’s Mask Pro 4.1. It’s a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS2, CS3 or Photoshop Elements 4. I can tell you that Mask Pro 4.1’s Magic Brush is quite amazing.

There are mainly two ways in which you can mask important pixels from background. One is use of Magic Brush. And the other method involves Magic Pen. Looking at Screenshot 01, if I want to remove sky, I can do it better using Magic Brush as opposed to Magic Pen. That’s because trees’ leaves are so implicate, surrounded by different color pixels. Looking at Screenshot 02, if I want to isolate two balloons from the blue background, using Magic Pen will be better because the border between balloons and sky are distinct. Continue reading →