Obi-Wan Kenobi: v4 Fan Club a/k/a Appreciation Society

Eh, you cannot oversimplify for me.

Playing around some more: I pulled up the saved photo and ONCE AGAIN (sloppily) lassoed "Ewan" and used keyboard command to paste into the following photo. Note the problems:

Magnetic lasso automatically comes up when I click on where I want the paste to go, so I go to the menu and "undo" the lasso. Then I copy+V and Ewan ends up with no options to place or resize, just in the middle of the photo (see him against my friend Sue in this crappy job).

Oh, and the crappy photo was my attempt to make the pale sky blue, instead I have a gray cut out that I cannot fill in with a replacement. Well, maybe by layers but I'm not going into a second rant about layers.

Very true. Solid man underneath it all

Well, you have pasted it, so it's getting there Have you got the 'layers' list showing on the screen? 'Ewan' should be a new layer that can be moved and resized once you select that layer.

Are you clicking in the new picture when you want to paste? That would bring up the lasso tool. You only need to select the picture (click on the top border to be certain) and go to paste.

Edited to add: by the way, are you using the 'move tool' to move the pasted bit?

Exactly - you just have to look past the Jedi uniform to see what lies beneath. That's where x-ray vision would come in very useful.

Indeed. Or handcuffs. Though when he's in the right mood, a little persuasion can go a long, long way...

Do you think that he would believe "it's the will of the Force"?

Yes.

Excellent - it's a plan! I think it's time to go and say "hello, there" to Master Kenobi

What?!? You guys are making me even more confused (which of you has Elements which is Photoshop for dummies - well, dumber folks who don't want to learn a very tough program).

Some of you say just cut/paste other say use layers - no wonder I'm confused. As for this:

Yup: that brings up the stupid magnetic lasso which draws lines all over the place: it does not create an insertion point.

If I understand (clearly I don't), I would ignore that stupid lasso and click on the top border of the photo only - assume that is the photo that Ewan is to be posted onto?

No, not move.

How do you know you've resized and positioned "Ewan" correctly anyway if he is where he is on the saved photo? Or, do you have to deselect or whatever the stupid command is everytime you want to paste him to another photo so you have this "active" cut out?

I think I am more confused than ever.
.

Sorry, I guess I'm not making it very clear I'm currently using Elements, by the way, but this stuff works the same in all versions!

It might not seem like it, but I think you are almost there. You've been able to paste the 'cut-out' of Ewan into another photo - that bit only needs 'cut' and 'paste'. The next stage (moving and resizing) is the one that uses layers but it's simpler than it seems - it's just a matter of getting used to it.

You don't need to create an insertion point (in fact, it won't create one), just click the top border of the photo you want to paste Ewan into, then click 'paste'. The moving and resizing happens after you have pasted him.

Once your Ewan cut-out has been pasted to the new photo, click on the 'move tool' (should be on the top left hand side of the tool bar). Then click on the cut-out and it should get a dotted square border round it. Now you can move (click and drag) or resize (click on the tiny square handles around the border and drag) the cut-out.

Once you've got him where you want him (and the right size), you can then save it as a completed image.

Any changes to Ewan I have to do with him alone on his own doc and it's just guess work. So I paste and delete, over and over, onto the picture where I want him to live until it looks right. - resize, reselect, copy, paste. That's why I put him on his own doc, so I don't have to retrace him each time I change the size.

For me also, when I paste, it automatically puts him in the middle. Then I use the move tool to slide him around over the background pic.

I have photoshop cs5. It seems a lot different

You'll be able to see when you have moved and resized your cut-out the way you want it.

If you want to paste the same cut-out into more photos in the future, you probably want to do what Ash (have I got that right?) said earlier. When you select and copy your image of Ewan, paste it into a blank new Photoshop document, instead of an existing photo. If you save it as a Photoshop document (PSD) instead of a JPG, it'll be ready for you to use anytime you want to paste the cut-out into another picture. It saves a lot of time and effort.

Any finished documents that you want to put online need to be saved as a JPG though. Just make sure you choose the JPG option when you save it. After that, you can't move or resize the cut-out, so finish all your changes before you save it as a JPG.

Stars end, it does sound complicated when it's written down, but it quickly becomes like second nature, believe me!

I think it's a matter of personal choice whether you make the changes in a separate document first or paste him into the background and make the changes to that layer before you merge/flatten them. Your way is probably less fiddly than what I end up doing (making other layers invisible so I can work on one, then making them visible again).

I think it always pastes into the middle. That's why the move tool is the Photoshopper's friend!

Yeah, at first I didn't figure out you could hide one layer to make changes to the other, it just didn't occur to me until later. Then I think I settled on creating a new doc so I could use the cut out in future things as well, saved separately. I like to think up new ways to use Obi...

Well, where Obi-Wan is concerned, creativity always leads to good things

Umm hmm. .

Okay, I'm starting to get there (and CS is way harder than Elements, btw).

"Layer via copy" is the copy action; not (nec) a layer. It copies to clipboard. (Aha)

You paste it onto the 2nd photo and cannot control insertion/size. (Got it)

You have to move/resize much as you would a text box. (We'll see...testing to commence).

Oh, poking around my books some you can size the "cut out" for future use and do not have to "recut" each time.

Wow.

So with all this talk about image docs, is someone going to put a Obi-Wan Jedi robe and stuff on the walking Ewan pics in the pic in the hallway of the temple?

Talk about awesome.

Ooh, I've just noticed that this thread is on page 66 - not a good number for the Jedi

Yeah, you hold tightly to that teddy bear, Obi-Wan. It'll keep you safe from the scary monsters.

I like to imagine he's just back from some undercover mission! You know, tired and weary...

Obi-Wan is in that picture in his Jedi robes, I just cropped him out

Or maybe he's making a fashion statement. "Hey, Yoda, these Jedi robes are so last millennium. Can't we wear something cooler? Well, how about 'casual Fridays' then?"

So, um, do I get a limp thumbs up for this - it's rough and not pretty, but:

You did it! It's great! But how are they not looking at that beautiful man???

I guess the language on Elements sounds complicated to me, all that 'layer via' stuff, when it just says cut, copy and paste on the one I'm using.

Oh yeah, Obi-Wan in jeans. Lord, he looks good in 'em.

Val - why is your friend looking THE OTHER WAY?????

Yes! He looks good out of 'em too.