Refine edge contamination I think!!!

It is hard to explain but here goes....if I display an image and i take quick selection tool and make a circle or some formation and if I paint on either side of the selection I get a very distict line of where I have paint and it is seperated perfectly where the selection is. In other words where I painted it is pure and only the color I painted. and this the way it should be and the brush is 100% opacity. OK this is the easy part............if I take the same selection and do a refine edge on it and make a adjustment in refine edge...ie...move the radius slider or any other control that moves the selection and we will say the selection get larger or smaller does not make any difference and I say OK and then I get back my image and I go to paint it there is always some discoloration within the painted surface it is not even the color is discolored or contaminated...even when I give the command remove contaminated colors it is still there and even on a layer you can see the little square in varying shades of grey...it makes no differece if say get rid of the contaminated colors....I still get that discoloration...I hope this explanation is clear and someone else has had this problem and there is a fix for it
Capt M
I have spent many hours trying find a solution

Capt, have you seen this video by Russell Brown?  His "less is more" philosophy can help with Refine Edges.
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/the-russell-brown-show/masking-basics-in-photoshop-cs5/
Perhaps you're expecting "Refine Edge" to do different things than it does.  Used adeptly, it can work quite well.  It works best on high quality imagery and at high resolution.  And you may well have to do some masking work afterward, but it gets you close in a hurry.
-Noel

Similar Messages

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    Hi guys :)
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    M

    Hi Noel,
    Thank you for the reply. I have attached some screen shots for you.
    Im working with high resolution photos in NEF, I am trying to put the model into a darker background but i havent even got that far as I cant even cut her out.
    Decontaminate doesnt seem to be working at all to be honest, it makes little difference when i check that box.
    Im getting nothing close to the image of the Lion, thats brilliant!
    This is the original image taken on a Calumet grey backdrop
    And this is what I keep getting results wise, see around the hair there is still rather a lot of grey contamination and the hair literlly looks painted and smudged.

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    Not sure if this has been answered, I can't find anything similar here.
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  • Photoshop refine edge radius tool will not turn on

    I've used the poligimal, magnetic, and good old lasso tools as well as both the magic wand and the quick selection tool and for some reason when I select the Refine Edge tool everything is selectable and workable EXCEPT the eraser and refine radius tool. (photo proof)
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  • Refine edge tool issues

    Hello, my refine edge tool isn't working for me properly. When I select the radius brush, smart checked or unchecked, it turns my selection gray instead of pulling detail and removing background. It does this no matter the size of the radius brush and I really need to get these images done asap. I'm new to photoshop and major in LR. Any quick advice would be greatly appreciated!

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  • Refine Edge CS5 question

    Hi,
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  • Refine Edge / Drop Shadows

    I'm using the Refine Edge tool to drop out backgrounds of scanned images. I scan against a black background to get the best separation with the item. It works great, but when I test it with a drop shadow, I often see this spackling when I increase the Spread feature in drop shadows. When I back off to a normal spread / opacity, they look fine.
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    lesnicole wrote:
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  • Refine Edge Freezes Photoshop CC

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  • Refine Edge Radius Tool Not working

    Hi
    Today my refine edge is not working, although it used to work. When I select with the quick selection tool and click refine edge, when I pick the radius to smooth it out ,it makes a strange thing
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    thnx in advance

    I ran into the same problem using the image you posted. Although there was something not right about the edge sharpness and color density where the car met the white surround I was able to get the result you are after.
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  • Feathering and Refine Edge Tool will not work.

    I am working correctly and selecting pixels correctly, but when I try to feather or use the refine edge tool, none of the changes are saved.  For $40. Adobe thinks that they can solve this problem, but after paying $2500. for the CS4 Master Suites, I think this is excessive.  Is there ANYBODY out there who knows how they're going to magically obviate these issues remotely?  Any clues?

    I think you may still not grasp what a Selection does – but I could be wrong.
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  • The Refine Edge tool does not work when I want to make a dramatic effect

    hi I am using photoshop for ipad, but i think that i used wrong Refine EDGE Tool. Can you Help me?

    Hello there!
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  • Refine edge tool not working properly?

    It worked for a couple of days but haven't been able to get it to work right again. I've wasted a lot of time on this problem. It doesn't find the edges correctly and make the areas where I used the tool lighter. I've tried resetting the preferences and it made no difference. I'm thinking of reinstalling the software but not sure how to do it.

    Precisely saying refine edge tool does not find edges . It is just used to refine the current selection. How are finding it unuseful. Can you plz provide more info.

  • Quick Selection Refine Edge Problem

    Using CC 2014.2.2, and the Quick Selection tool, when I go to Refine Edge the Refine Radius Tool/Erase Refinements Tool
    is grayed out.  When this is clicked, and the cursor moved to the selection, what shows is a slashed circle.  (The universal
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    Screenshot of image, but the slashed circle will not stay in place for a screenshot:
    Dropbox - 2015-03-12SS.jpg

    You have View set to Marching Ants.  I think every other option will allow the use of the brush.
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  • Using Refine edge with Quick Selection......

    I think I'm doing something wrong, because I can do a quick selection, but when I hit the "Refine Edge" button and make a change to the selection, my change doesn't "take"...
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    It's not my intention (intent?) to beat up on the "Refine Edge".  I figured when I couldn't get the same pristine results as all the demos that I was doing something wrong, and kept watching more people doing this 'cause I figured I was doing something dumb...
    Mostly, I've been trying this on different images over the last couple weeks just to see if I could figure out how to get it to work.
    From the responses in here I suspect I'm doing it correctly, but the images I'm trying it on just don't lend themselves to perfect edges without some additional work.....  The Quick Select and a bit of edge cleanup is still faster than the "good old days", so its definitely a step forward. 
    As far as the swans, yes, no matter what I did, I was getting a lot of extraneous selections and wonky edges and stuff.  One of these days I'll try pulling an eagle or a great egret out of a clear sky and see how that goes.  I suspect it'll work a lot better... 
    I only fiddled with the rodeo image 'cause I figured it was "like" hair.  But my background is pretty busy.  With a little additional work I DID get a very, very good selection, and was able to soften the background, and do a gradient so the ground under the horse is sharp, gradually blurring as it moves to the grandstands... 
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