Creating foliage masks (photoshop) Thread

Hello, Im trying to remove the black from this image so im left with a transparent background, so i can use just the branch as a texture.

Earthflora.com

Ive read that copying one of the channels (red in my case) into an alpha layer, then selecting the information, switching to the RGB and simply deleting everything around it is the way to go. The link below shows what im going from.

Graphicssoft.about.com

However, following this tutorial leaves me with a faded result. Its as if my selection is somewhat 'soft'. At the moment i am unable to remove all the black whilst preserving the branches. Could anyone give me some assistance here or perhaps point where im going wrong?

Thanks much, Will

I wouldn't recommend using the red channel's information for the alpha, at least not without modifying it. Left alone the channel is going to have a lot of gray-scale values in it, which will result in a more transparent and softer look. A quick method for improved results in this case would be to use the green channel's information instead, paste it into the alpha channel and then adjust the levels (ctrl+L) in order to get an alpha channel that is much more 'black-and-white'. Basically if the object is opaque then you're really only dealing with two values (which pixels do you want visible, and which do you want transparent); the alpha channel should reflect that and end up resembling the silhouette more than a default color channel.

As a small bonus, once you're done I would also recommend turning the alpha channel into a selection, and in the RGB paint some green and brown around the edges of the leaves instead of the current black background. This can help prevent the black from showing up like an outline.

You're a star, best results ive had yet.

Ill check back and let you know how it goes, Cheers mate.

Using Channels to mask is something I prefer when working on fine detail, like masking someone's hair on a photo. With this kind of even black background, I'd just go for SELECT->Color Range - and then click on the black area in your picture. Cyrid's way is the most professional approach, but in 80% of the cases I'd just use color range, since it's fast and accurate enough.

Also, if you are having trouble with the selection, if it's too small or sharp or too large even, you can always go into SELECT-> Modify or into SELECT -> Refine Edge. Refine Edge is the function with more choice, but Modify may have enough options already.

Edited by: SinKing

Select by color range and delete the black.
Then you Ctrl+leftclick your foliage layer and go Select > Save Selection
Name the new channel "Alpha 1" without the quotation marks.
Last step is to add a background layer behind your foliage layer. The BG layer should have the same average color as the leaves (greenish).
Save as 32-bit TGA

Results: Perfect alpha

Edited by: Nightshade