Posted by Bruce King on December 14, 2010 at 5:57 PM
If I upgrade from PSE 7 to CS5 will the features I've become comfortable with work the same in the full version? I've found selecting detailed edges with the magnetic lasso tool in PSE so difficult and inaccurate that I just don't do it. Is this feature improved in CS5 or is there a better way to make complicated selections? Thanks
Posted by John Mumaw on December 14, 2010 at 6:26 PM
CS5 has a feature called the Quick Selection tool that makes pretty intelligent selections most of the time. It's fast and relatively easy to use. I believe that almost all of the features you have in Elements will appear in CS5.
Why do you wish to upgrade? Elements can do most of what photographers need to optimize their images.
If you're still interested in upgrading, Adobe has an offer that they don't publicize allowing Elements users to upgrade to CS5 for $299. You can find more info. here.
Posted by Bruce King on December 14, 2010 at 7:09 PM
Thanks John. I'm not sure I want to upgrade, I'm just checking it out. I'm not using PSE 7 as effectively as I want to yet but I've found some of it's features especially the one mentioned to be limiting. For example, if I want to selectively lighten the treeline at the horizon It seems the magnetic lasso would be the best tool to select that area. But even using it's most accurate settings the tool still includes some of the sky or the foreground or whatever. Anyway I thought maybe the full version had better tools.
Posted by Lance Warley on December 15, 2010 at 9:36 AM
A couple of options, Bruce. Both assume you use masks:
Try contracting your selection 1 pixel and then feathering 2 pixels.
Or, include some of the tree line in the selection and feather heavily, using the Feather slider on the Masks tab (Window->Masks).
Posted by Paul DeCesare on December 17, 2010 at 5:23 PM
PS CS5 is such an amazing selection machine it's crazy. The Refined Edge function will allow you to easily select HAIR. Forget the lasso tool, that was good in 1996, today you do a rough select, then let the Refined Edge component do its thing. You use sliders to adjust contrast and Radius, and POW, Photoshop clings to the objects. Wheat, hair, fur, you name it. Even CS4 didn't have it this good. Plus, you can save the selection, then clear it off your image, do other stuff, then load the selection right back if you need to. Elements isn't even in the ballpark there. You need to go, walk, RUN to your nearest online retailer and buy the real Photoshop, Bruce!
Have a go at this video by Terry White, quickly showing the CS5 selection process and the new version of Content Aware Fill. After you watch this, you'll be walking arouind the house saying "I need Photoshop CS5", lol! Make sure you watch all nine minutes so you can see what CS5 is capable of. This version of Photoshop blows away the previous versions by three orders of magnitude. If people have been waiting for a "good" version of Photoshop to arrive, this one's the Queen Mary.
Discussion
4 repliesWhy do you wish to upgrade? Elements can do most of what photographers need to optimize their images.
If you're still interested in upgrading, Adobe has an offer that they don't publicize allowing Elements users to upgrade to CS5 for $299. You can find more info. here.
Try contracting your selection 1 pixel and then feathering 2 pixels.
Or, include some of the tree line in the selection and feather heavily, using the Feather slider on the Masks tab (Window->Masks).
Have a go at this video by Terry White, quickly showing the CS5 selection process and the new version of Content Aware Fill. After you watch this, you'll be walking arouind the house saying "I need Photoshop CS5", lol! Make sure you watch all nine minutes so you can see what CS5 is capable of. This version of Photoshop blows away the previous versions by three orders of magnitude. If people have been waiting for a "good" version of Photoshop to arrive, this one's the Queen Mary.
Enjoy!