Best way to remove background from b&w image

Hello,
I work a lot with black en white images from scanning electron microscopes. Prior to publication, I usually make the background completely black so the subject stand out more. What is the best approach to extract your subject from the (sometimes cluttered) background? Due to the lack of color traditional methods are not very useful.
Thanks,
Bart

Changing levels and contrast does not work for me as the subject loses too much quality. I usually use a tablet and remove the background manually but because of all the little hairs on the subject this is going to be a tedious task and I have to do a few dozen.
Anyway, if there's no quick fix than I'll have to rely on the tablet anyway.
Thank you guys for your input!
Bart

Similar Messages

  • How is the best way to remove something from a photo?

    How is the best way to remove something from a photo?

    This is difficult to answer without fully knowing what you are trying to do.
    That said, a few excellent and user friendly retouching tools include:  The Spot Heealing Brush Tool, Healing Brush Tool, Patch Tool, and the Cloning Stamp Tool.

  • Best way to remove glare from glasses

    I ended up having a picture take with a point and shoot camera.  What would be the best way to remove or at least look presentable to remove the glare from the glasses from one side?  It is bad but I want this picture to be as good as I can get it. 

    First I did Juergen's method and merged down the two layers.
    Now to improve the lighting...
    1. Add a Level adjustment layer. These were the original Levels settings:
    2. I moved the sliders like this to lighten the whole picture.
    3. I went one step further to lighten the background. Added another Levels and moved the middle slider left. This however also lightened the men further which I did not want to do, so on the layer's mask I painted over the men with black to mask out that portion of the Levels adjustment and reveal the previous Levels adjustment.
    Rather than painting black you can select the men and on the mask fill the selection with black. In either case if you revealed too much or too little of the first Levels layer you can fine-tune the mask by painting black or white as needed.

  • What is the best way to remove footage from the middle of a clip?

    What is the best way to remove unwanted footage from the middle of a clip? I have a clip that I've trimmed from the start and finsih, but I need to remove "boring" footage from inbetween.

    Thank you for your replies. I tried the blade tool followed by select and delete but it did not seem very precise. I had better success with this aproach at the ends rather than in the middle. I watched a tutorial video on using the precision editor, but the video was small so I had a difficult time following where the person clicked, etc. Any info on using the precision editor would be greatly appreciated. I need to make precise cuts to avoid creating unatural motion for the subject. So far, close but no cigar.
    Regards,
    Michael

  • What is the best way to remove malware from my Macbook

    Safari on my MacBook Pro is infected with malware.  What is the best tool for removing malware from my MCBOOK?

    Hi.
    1. Force Quit Safari .
      Press command + option + esc keys together at the same time.
      When Force Quit window appears, select  Safari .  Press Force Quit button at the bottom of the window.   
    2. Relaunch Safari holding the shift key down.
    3. Turn off wifi and turn it back on.
      Turn off Wifi. Click Wifi icon in the menu bar and select “Turn Wifi off”.
      Visit another website.
      You won’t have internet connection.
      Turn on Wifi. Click Wifi icon in the menu bar and select “Turn Wifi on”.
      Select your Network.
    4. Go to Safari > Preferences > Security > Privacy
          Cookies and website data:
      Click “Details” button.
      Remove the cookie related to this, if there is one.
    5. Download and run adware medic tool http://www.adwaremedic.com/

  • Remove background from Smart Build images

    Hi,
    I've just started creating my first project with Keynote, and so far it's terrific. The question I have is, is it possible to use the alpha tool, or something similar to remove backgrounds from images that I'm using for a smart builds effect.
    Thanks,
    Dave

    Welcome to the discussions, Decaffeinated1.
    The problem you're seeing is specifically with how Keynote copies images. Neither Pages nor Numbers has this problem. The problem and the solution is described here.
    http://www.keynoteuser.com/news/?p=256
    Basically, your choice is to copy through Pages or Numbers (or iWeb) OR to copy another object which will force Keynote to adhere to the transparency set with Instant Alpha.

  • Best way to remove apostrophe from string when loadiing

    Hi using an insert statement to load data some apostrophe's in string .
    We need to ensure all aposrophe's removed from such strings on loading/.
    What is best way to achive ethis.
    Uisng 11.2.0.3
    Thanks

    Use replace fucntion
    Please post ur DDL and DML for the table
    For examples you can see this
    how do i replace  single quotes in a string with say  ''  or null
    select replace('ab''''''''cd','''',' ') from dual;
    CREATE TABLE my_table
         istrng  varchar2(33)
    insert into my_table
    select replace('ab''''''''cd','''',' ') from dual;Please mark your questions as answered
          user5716448     
    Handle:      user5716448 
    Status Level:      Newbie
    Registered:      Mar 16, 2010
    Total Posts:      343
    Total Questions:      131 (80 unresolved)Edited by: Rahul India on Jan 29, 2013 6:04 PM

  • Best way to remove dust from a MacPro

    what is the best way to clean the inside of a Macpro. When I go inside to remove or update components there is considerable dust. In the past I have grounded my self and gently wipe some of the areas with a light cloth to remove dust. There are areas on the mother board I would like to clean off also would canned air be ok.
    Thank you
    Dick

    Computer and electronics safe to use:
    Metro Vacuum ED500 DataVac 500-Watt 0.75-HP Electric Duster 120-Volt
    www.amazon.com/Metro-Vacuum-ED500-500-Watt-Electric/dp/B001J4ZOAW/
    My guess though is any thing that was loose or can be loosened (cable connection somewhere?) can be, would be the only thing to watch out for. Less on Mac Pro than on my PCs with fans and clips for power or an SATA cable that could slide off.
    I don't know what mac model you have but DIMMs do have a tendency like any electronic part to attract and hold onto dust.
    The old G5s were notorious for how much dust could build up down inside those systems and get empacked. And somehow still work but not as well.
    If you see temperature sensors that don't look normal, or the fans seem to be working when you aren't doing anything, that would then be a reason to take action. Otherwise, not sure if more harm than needed good.

  • Best Way to Remove Server from Active Directory

    I was wondering the best practice to remove a server from AD according to Microsoft.  
    Option 1 :
    Login to server and take it off the domain and put it into a workgroup
    Then login to AD and make sure it is removed
    Confirm removal from DNS
    Option 2 :
    Login to Domain Server and manually remove
    Confirm removal from DNS
    Thanks
    Also the servers are running Windows 2008 R2

    So if its just a file server, I would just go with option 1 to ensure the cleanest removal from Active Directory?
    What would happen if I just removed it from Active Directory after powering it down?  Still a clean result?  Or is it considered best practice to take the server off the domain from the server then power it down and then remove from Active Directory?
     Please let me know and also if you want me to clarify.
    I am not sure if I understood you correctly but if you just right click the computer object in Active Directory and delete it you have to manually delete the DNS records as well or wait for scavenging period to delete the outdated DNS records.
    Mahdi Tehrani   |  
      |  
    www.mahditehrani.ir
    Please click on Propose As Answer or to mark this post as
    and helpful for other people.
    This posting is provided AS-IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.
    How to query members of 'Local Administrators' group in all computers?

  • Best way of removing color from image

    Hey Adobe Community,
    I'm Aaron. I have this image here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zjpjq5mf8t02pn9/chimera1-Recovered.jpg
    What I'm trying to do is create an outline for a pattern, something like the hot dog in the pattern here: https://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/59556275/disp/36d76e9e0f33274e8a75ea77fd69b731.jp g
    Anyone know if this is possible and what is the best way of doing it? I'd like to keep the outline throughout the whole design of the chimera. Doesn't matter how tedious , I just need some ideas.

    I know of no good way to do this in Photoshop.
    The quickest way I know is to place the original photo in Illustrator, reduce the opacity of it somewhat, and use the pen tool on another layer to draw what you want. Depending on the nature of the image, it can be tedious, but you don't mind that.  :+)
    Good luck.

  • Best way to remove scratches from iPhone 6?

    I'm one picky bugger. I had to return my iPhone 6 and get a replacement from the store and unfortunately, there's a small scratch on the screen. I've been there 2 times and it's 1 hour away...and I think everyone will think I'm absolutely bonkers to want to replace the entire phone due to a scratch that you can only see if the light shines on the phone a certain way lol.
    Anyway, I'm looking for any solution to fixing a really small glass scratch on my phone. I've seen some reports of optical cloths but I can't seem to find any place that has 'em.  Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Brandon Q.

    hi i too had this problem but mines was a small scratch on the iphone 6 body,
    to remove it i used baby powder and water to make a light paste and using a small brush apply to area leave for 5-10 mins and wipe off
    i can barely see it but it worked better than i though
    ,Brandon t

  • Easiest way to remove background from an image

    Hello-
    I am using Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended and I am working on trying to select a portion of a photo to use as a watermark. The photo is of a racecar in the foreground and I want to exclude the background (which is the road). Of the selection tools I really like the Magnetic Lasso tool to get in close on the objects edges but sometimes it selects areas I don't want. Does anyone know how to adjust the magnetic lasso tool once you have it all the way around an object? I've also tried the Magic Wand tool but found I couldn't drag it into a new document so that didn't work. I just need to find the easiest way to accomplish this task. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help!

    >I just need to find the easiest way to accomplish this task.
    <br />
    <br />The pen tool is not likely the fastest way to isolate the car from the background but it is certainly the most accurate. Learn to use the pen tool; you will not be disappointed.
    <br />
    <br />
    <a href="http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1x5OZ6N5ZxMk2qJW3uG43AhJSxnCLT" /></a>
    <img alt="Picture hosted by Pixentral" src="http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1x5OZ6N5ZxMk2qJW3uG43AhJSxnCLT_thumb.jpg" border="0" />

  • Best way to remove stuff from a list

    say i got an array list and i want to remove all objects with some value. whats the cleanest way to code this?
    Thanks

    you could try a ListIterator, that allows modification during iteration
    ListIterator<Integer> listIterator = list.listIterator();
    while (listIterator.hasNext()) {
        Integer i = listIterator.next();
        if (i == 7)
            listIterator.remove();
    }

  • What is the best way to remove files from the hard drive?

    I'm donating one of my computers, and there are certain sensitive files (bank records, etc.) I need to remove. I want them completely removed to the point it's like they never existed, so any hard drive recovery tools can never find them.

    Then you will have to get a replacement set from Apple.
    Since the DVD are your license to OS X they really should be included with the Mac when you sell it.
    Allan

  • Best way to remove photos from iPhone camera roll

    what is the simplest method for removing a LOT of photos from my iPhone 5S camera roll. I am trying not to remove them one at a time.

    So, I am a bit confused.  But, thank you for being succinct.  I appreciate that very much!
    1.  I have imported them to Aperture; so they are on my iMac.
    2. What I do not exactly understand is your next instruction: "your computer should read your iphone as a camera, you can navigate to the folders that contain the picture in your camera roll and select all and delete."
    Could you walk me through that, please?  Just a tiny bit more explaining, and I think I will catch on!
    Many thanks!
    AJ

Maybe you are looking for