Outlining a Woman in Photoshop

Once again, therefore, I am back to manually outlining with the Lasso tool and/or the Pen tool. Which tool I choose is determined by the curvilinear nature of the circumference of the object (or, in this case, person) I am outlining. In the photo above, I chose the Lasso tool to outline the clothing the model is wearing. This was a 20 MB drum scan so I used 2 pixels feathering built into the Lasso tool to maintain a very slightly soft edge to the clothing. I realize that many people would feel more comfortable using the Pen tool to do this, and then turn the path into a selection, but I have a lot of experience using the Lasso tool and usually find it to be faster. When holding down the Option key (Alt key for you IBM'ers) the Lasso tool "rubber bands" between clicks, but you can also drag and draw freely when you want. Outlining smaller tight curves is fairly easily accomplished by doing this, especially with a little practice, and any larger moves are controlled by rubber-banding. Going around the clothing of the model in the photo above, I alternated between these two abilities of the Lasso tool at a 100% magnification. The hair, since its circumference is much less distinguishable, was then outlined with the Lasso tool with 14 pixels feathering built in, creating a softer blend between the edge of the hair and any background it is placed over. The final selection was then saved to a Channel (seen below) which, when loaded, selects the

A Gaussian Blur was used in this photo and the one to the right to give a more photo-realistic effect to the composite.

In the photo above the background has been entirely created in Photoshop - a studio environment has replaced the on-location environment shown in the original photograph to the left.

In the created photos above (in front of the Gaudi Bar at the Sunset Station casino) and below (in front of a fashion retail store), the background was thrown slightly out of focus using a blur filter so that the viewer's attention was placed on the model, simulating a realistic look.

In the photo below (a 15 MB drum scan in Grey Scale Mode), the Pen tool was used to outline the body because of its curvilinear shape. After the Path was saved, it was turned into a Selection with 2 pixels feathering to maintain a very slightly soft, natural-looking edge and the Selection was saved as a new (Alpha) Channel. The hair, with its much less distinguished perimeter, was then selected with the Lasso tool with the Feathering set to 8 pixels to create more of a quick blend into the background. With the Shift key down, the Selection mask of the body was then loaded to form the entire outline which was also saved as a new (Alpha) Channel. This final Selection was then Inverted and the background, which was a black seamless that had variations in tone because of the lighting on the model, was Filled with black for the even, idealized look seen above. The image was then tinted a very subtle sepia by going to RGB mode and using the abilities of the Hue and Saturation window.

This fine art nude (below) exemplifies why using the Pen tool can be so appropriate. With careful attention and viewing at an enlarged size, the beautiful sweeping curves of the female body can be very accurately outlined with the abilities of the Pen tool. For those users not familiar with drawing with the Pen tool, I cannot overstate that there is no better way to outline a curvilinear circumference. You can try to auto-select and quick-mask all you want, but most of the pros will approach outlining a woman with the techniques described above.