Depth of Options
I have a photo of my friend Matt that I am going to use to illustrate the three most popular features Adobe has added to CS5: Refine Edge, Content Aware Fill, and Puppet Warp. I'm going to cut him out using the Refine Edge tool, use Content Aware Fill to fill in the background, and lastly use Puppet Warp to warp him into an even more comical position.
Image before using Photoshop's new improvements.
Refine Edge
The Refine Edge tool has been given an entire overhaul that includes color detecting algorithms to help you get superior edge detection. This includes the Smart Radius, Refine Radius, and Decontaminate Colors features. Smart Radius allows me to get the radius of my selection within an acceptable range of the selection, while Refine Radius allows me to paint over the edge of my selection and allow the color detection algorithms to clean up the selection even further. I can do one last cleanup of the image by adjusting the Decontaminate Colors slider and Photoshop will remove light that has been reflected on the subject by the background.
Adobe brings additional options to the Refine Edge Tool.
Under normal circumstances this tool works very well and is a great improvement over the CS4 version of the tool. In this instance it does not work perfectly because the halo around Matt's head from him being backlit makes it difficult for the tool to get a perfect selection. Fortunately, our selection will still be good enough to do the job after a little cleanup is done.
