burning background + selecting?

[crockny]

I wanted to burn the background on a similar picture using a technique I found online - duplicate layer, layer mask, 50% grey, overlay blend mode and paint with the brush. First I just painted around the dragonfly which was tedious and hard to be precise. Then I tried selecting with the wand and lasso tool and no matter how I contract or expand the selection I cannot get a smooth transition or "perfect" edge. It looks OK at 100% but bad at 200%. What would you do to get a natural look on the edges on something like this?"

[vsa]

You're trying to get the background darker while preserving the dragonfly?
Like this?


For nondestructive burning I find it easier to just create a new layer, set it on soft light and paint black on it. In this case I filled the whole layer with black, created a layer mask and brushed white on the dragonfly's body in the mask. I used around 50% hardness on the brush with 100% opacity. (and a Wacom tablet so the brush size varied... but it's not a huge hassle with a mouse either)
And don't worry too much about the 200% since no one else is gonna see it like that.



If you were talking about normal vignette, same approach can be used. New layer, huge brush, 0% hardness, paint black on the edges, soft light blending mode. Mess with layer opacity, or add other vignette layers.

[crockny]

Not vignetting - making the background darker. I've been trying your suggestion - it works pretty well! What do you do about little things like hairy parts of a bug or feathery parts of a bird? I hate to obliterate them ...

[vsa]

It depends on the picture. Can you post a sample?

But most likely it involves various techniques of masking / selecting. CS5 has made selecting stuff a whole lot easier.

[crockny]

Yeah, wish I had it ... will post a photo when I get home ...