today we'll learn one of the easiest
ways to clean your backdrop in Photoshop
also we'll talk about what if you're a
professional and you have tons of images
to deal with so let's get started as you
can see the backdrop is very crumpled
our first job here is to separate the
subject from the background now there
are a couple of ways of doing it one of
my favorite ways is just clicking and
choosing one of these three tools object
selection quick selection or the magic
wand and at the top you will see select
subject now if you just click on it it
will process on device and this is the
result however if you want a little more
accurate result this is what you can do
in the later versions of Photoshop click
on the drop down right here and you have
the option to process it in the cloud so
when you click on select subject now
it's going to process in the cloud and
as you can see the selection is much
more accurate so make a copy of the
background layer you can just drag it
and click on the plus and in this copy
this is for the subject you can just
click on the mask button now the subject
is separated now we want the backdrop
without the subject so that both of them
are completely separated so select the
background layer and then press Ctrl or
command J and you can name this backdrop
now how do we remove the subject we
already have a selection so hold the
controller command and click on the mask
right here we have the selection active
again and we have to select everything
and more we have to leave some space so
let us expand the selection by going to
select modify and then expand right here
about 50 pixels is fine hit okay make
sure every hair is covered everything is
covered nothing is left out as I can see
right here there's a little bit of here
we don't want that to get left out so
you can use the lasso tool right here
hold the shift key to add to the
selection and simply add these little
things to the selection as well make
sure nothing is left out once you're
sure you already know what to do with
this you can fill it by going to edit
and then content aware fill now inside
of that you can choose which areas you
want to sample and this is a pretty good
result you can choose the output to go
into a new layer but the current layer
is fine you can choose current layer
this will just make it simple now let's
take a look at just the backdrop by the
way to keep any layers solo and all of
the layers turned off you can hold the
ALT key the option key and click on the
eye everything else turns off now let us
improve it as if it was just the
backdrop so with the help of the patch
tool you can just select these areas
and improve these by the way make sure
source is selected and Patch normal let
us do the rest of the areas the reason
why we are improving these areas which
would be covered by the subject anyways
because if these areas are left too dark
when we blur the backdrop those dark
areas are going to spread out and show
up we don't want that hold the ALT key
or the option key back again and click
on the eye everything turns back on and
now for the showtime go to filter and
then gaussian blur but wait before doing
anything do not forget to convert for
smart filters so that you can change the
value of gaussian player later also
there's a trick about it later we'll get
to it later let's go to filter blur and
gaussian blur zoom out a lot and then
slowly and gradually increase the blur
stop at just the point where you stop
seeing all of those crumpled areas so at
about 120 is fine so for safer side
let's keep it at 160 hit enter or return
now let's zoom in let's see if
everything is all right it looks good
but very very artificial also the hair
is all gone selection is not 100 proper
and it cannot be so how do we get
everything back so first of all to make
the image look seamless again take a
look at the face there is noise but in
the background there is none so there
are two ways of adding natural green
actually there are many but I'm gonna
recommend two press Ctrl shift n or
command shift n new layer dialog box is
going to show up change the blend mode
of this upcoming layer to Overlay also
you want to check this fill with overlay
neutral color if there's a gray layer
absolutely 50 Gray and you change the
blend mode to Overlay it just vanishes
because overlay is a blend mode which
darkens everything that is darker than
50 Gray and brightens everything that is
brighter than 50 Gray and it hides 50
percent gray and let us name this layer
green hit ok now you want to convert
this layer into a smart object by going
to filter and then convert for smart
filters hit OK then let's go to filter
by the way you don't have to hit OK all
the time just click on the check box but
then again this is a tutorial we have to
create it for everybody so filter noise
add noise now you can add as much noise
you want because this is a smart object
we can change change this later make
sure it's uniform and monochromatic you
can also choose gaussian up to you
gaussian I know I pronounce it wrong it
should be gaussian so now as you can see
the noise is very very sharp so we have
to blur it a little bit let's go to
filter blur and then gaussian blur and
then let's apply point four how do you
feel about that point four is nice or
let's go lower 0.3 this is more like the
existing noise now it is time for us to
decrease its opacity and match it with
the existing image
there we go now it is seamless now still
it doesn't look perfectly matched so
here's another trick go to the mask of
the subject all right turn off the green
for now
select the brush take a hard round brush
and just paint an area here outside
which you can fill easily later so paint
this area in white so now we have an
idea of how the original noise looks
like so now we can turn this one on and
control the opacity to match it so let's
take it down at about 34 this matches
pretty nicely and we can go with that
also it is not as easy as that if you
take a look at the highlights there's
less noise in the shadows there's more
noise so you might want to double click
on the right hand side of the layer this
takes it to blend if and take it away
from the highlights slightly so take the
slider of the underlying left from right
to left as you can see it slowly and
gradually is going away from the
highlights as we move the slider but
this is a very harsh situation so hold
the ALT key option key click on the
slider to break it apart take it apart
like that keep it at half there you go
hit okay and this is a very very
blending noise looks pretty good now we
can come to this Mass can just fill up
that area Back in Black there we go but
what about the missing hair and the
selection not being proper now since it
matches so much we can just paint out
the hair and you wouldn't even realize
it so select the mask and this time
choose a soft round brush and you can
decrease the flow if you want to so
let's decrease it to about 20 percent
take the brush white as the foreground
color and just get back the hair that's
fine you can also increase the flow all
the way high and even if you paint a
little more it just matches perfectly so
let's get the hair back right here
not an issue at all
even here it perfectly matches there you
go you got the hair back everything is
matching and it's just so nice now you
can also do the other parts of the body
but I think it's perfect now if it looks
a little odd don't worry we can always
go back to green and change the value
slightly I think it needs to come down a
little bit to about 24.
there you go that matches very nicely
and that's how to clean your backdrop
when I have a look at the before and
after so here is the before and here is
the after pretty nice isn't it have a
look at the hair everything is still
intact here's the before here's the
after pretty cool now wait I have to do
some advertisement here trust me this is
an important one that you'll like so
remember when we added the grain if we
wanted to change the blend if or the
amount of it that we wanted the
highlights we would have to open up the
blend if and change it right here if you
wanted to change the amount of gaussian
blur we would have to click right here
and change it from here or if you wanted
to change the noise amount you would
have to just discard the gaussian blur
change the noise and then see the
preview again so instead of doing all of
this if you have the picks imperfect
compositing panel it just makes it way
easier so this is a panel completely
made for everything in compositing and
this is a type of compositing so let's
say you want to add some green you would
go to the structures section and just
click on plus it adds the grain for you
you can bring the grain wherever you
want and here is the best part you can
control the amount of grain and the
blendif and everything from right here
let's say you want a little more grain
it increases let's say you want to
increase the size of the grain
see it increases you want to decrease
the size you want to increase the
irregularity you want to decrease it it
gives you much more control over it and
you can also control the blendif so the
blendif is similar to Double clicking on
the right hand side of the layer it just
moves the same slider plus you have
other options to turn it off or delete
it or add more this is the plugin to get
for compositing whether you want to
match colors with two buttons or create
Shadows with two buttons and so many
more features end of my marketing now
let us talk about what we can do when we
have tens or even hundreds of images
that we have to run through all of this
process we don't have the time for that
especially if you are a professional and
this advice is only and only for you if
you are a professional so let's make a
duplicate of the background layer by
right clicking on it and choose
duplicate layer and create a new
document click on OK and here's what you
can consider press Ctrl or command J to
make a duplicate of the background layer
and then go to filter you can consider
using the plugin called retouch for me
clean backdrop and it automatically
cleans up your backdrop now you can go
ahead and choose the size of the dirt in
the background for example course dirt
medium dirt Fine Dirt so I've chosen
medium and it works for this image of
course you can control how much you want
to reduce it so this is very little you
can increase the amount let's keep it at
about a hundred percent you can also
choose to make mask and click on apply
and you're done here's the before here's
the after pretty good isn't it and it
didn't do anything to the subject and
the best part is you can automate the
process and run it through hundreds or
thousands of images and retouch for me
is not just limited to clean backdrop it
is the best series of AI retouching
plugins that I have seen it does
fantastic automatic healing automatic
high-end dodging and burning and you can
run your entire retouching process right
from removing blemishes high-end dodging
and burning cleaning the backdrop
cleaning the fabric of the clothes
retouching the eyes everything automatic
with one click of a button that too for
thousands of images so just click once
and all your hundreds or thousands
images would be processed we actually
created an action about it and explained
the entire process in this video which
you can check out later however big
warning this is only for professionals
and I only recommend it if you generate
an income from your professional
photography or retouching work because
these are quite an investment so that's
all for cleaning up backdrops here's a
quick little recap first of all you need
to separate the subject and the backdrop
so here's the subject here's the
backdrop and we simply blurred it also
don't forget to clean the middle
otherwise the dark is going to spread
out also we added the noise to make it
seamless and then we can bring back a
little bit of the hair that's pretty
much all there is to it now this is not
the only way to do it there is another
method and we made a video about that as
well which you can watch a little later
that is a little more advanced takes a
little more time for more complicated
situations I hope this video helped you
and if it did make sure to give us a
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that you my friend don't miss any other
feature tips tricks or tutorials thank
you so much for watching I'll see you in
my next one till then stay tuned and
make sure that you keep creating
foreign
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