Cut Out And Re-Size

[philmurfin Profile]

Hello,

I have a photo of a life size Spitfire on a stand in a park. I want to cut out the Spitfire only, and then be able to resize it and show it flying over my house, town etc.

Can this be done and if so how, in simple steps please?

Thanks Phil Murfin

[admin]

Hi Phil,

The tool you require is the Composite tool. It's not available in all trial versions but is in the bought version.

To use it:

Load a picture of your house
Click composite
Click "New" in the overlays section
Choose the picture of your spitfire, you should see it being placed on the top of your house
Use the brush to go round the outside edge of the spitfire, you should see the brush automatically finding the edge of the plane. (If it's available use "Find Hard Edge" as planes have hard edges)
Once you've gone all the way round the spitfire, you should see a couple of paint buckets pop up. Click on the ones in the sky to remove the rest of the sky.
Finally, you can click on Move,Rotate and Scale to move the spitfire around.


Tony

[philmurfin Profile]

Tony,

Thanks for that, you've given me over half of what I wanted there and that's great. However, say for instance I want to use that Spitfire again with a different image or even, if I wanted 2 Spitfires, do I have to go through the whole process again each time or can I save the Spitfire with a transparent background and simply import it that way.

I really do like this program and I'm so pleased I purchased it.

Thanks
Phil

[admin]

Hi Phil,

Yes, both things are possible, through the same mechanism: You need to save your overlayed spitfire to use it again. To do this:

Right click on the Composite tag at the top and choose "Store or Publish"
Give your effect a name and choose a gallery for it to show up in.
Then either save it for your use only or publish it so anyone can use it.
It will then show up in your favorite effects list to apply as often as you like.

Hope that helps,

Tony

[philmurfin Profile]

Hi Tony, Thanks so much for your helpful advice, it work a treat!. I like this program more & more and I can't believe it's as keenly priced as it is. Below is a copy of a message I posted on a photography forum that I belong to.
Thanks again
Phil

Good Evening (well it is here in the UK)
Does anyone have any good reports for photo editors other than the mainstream ones like Photoshop, Elements etc?

I have been using Smart Photo Editor from Anthropics and I find it superb. Together with the usual adjustments, it also has 100's of presets from other users. There's a really helpful & friendly forum covering all sorts of topics.
They offer a trial version and the purchase price is very low, about £25. I've got no connection with this company whatsoever, I just feel this product is worth promoting and well worth a try

Good Wishes
Phil Murfin
http://www.smartphotoeditor.com/

[admin]

Thanks for the kind words, Phil!

Tony