Phone VS Camera Element Extraction

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Phone VS Camera Element Extraction

Hiya, everyone!

I was wondering if anyone who regularly does extractions could answer this for me: I have an iPhone 13, and was wondering if its photos were of a high enough quality for extracted elements?

The reason I ask is because I've been thinking about buying a studio light box. My daughter-in-law is super duper crafty and has tons of stuff I could use as elements. Plus, while browsing Amazon for hair accessories for my granddaughter, I stumbled upon all these cute things, which led me to browse Joann Fabrics and Michael's. I'd prefer to get some input before I decide to buy a decent lightbox. If my phone's photos aren't considered standard industry quality, then there is no point in buying a light box.

I've been designing for 10 years and I still struggle to get good photos for extraction. Usually I have the best luck with items that are pretty flat and I can scan on a scanner. Hopefully some people will have better advice. If you have a current phone I'm guessing the camera is going to be pretty good. I know they are including pretty dope cameras in phones these days.

Flat elements I have found easier to scan, I use camera for more 3D things.... but my main hobby is photography so have lots of images to go at. As long as the images have a decent resolution you should be ok with a camera in a phone. I use my phone for images of textures mainly but that's only cos i have a cheapish phone and a more expensive camera! A lot will depend on what software you are using and how good that is at allowing you to select the interesting bits. (for reference I use affinity photo, but do use a free office clone to so simple things like creating transparent backgrounds, then clean up in affinity)

I have done fine extractions with pics from the iPhone 7, you should be good with your phone ❤️ I use an app called scissors.

Marisa: I've tried scanning ribbons in the past, but that was years ago, and I had a hard time getting rid of the shadows along the ribbon's edge without taking some of the ribbon with it. That was using the eraser tool in PSP, though. I suppose I could give it another go. She has tons of ribbon I could test. My phone is 2 years old, so it's good quality. I just wasn't sure if it was scrapbooking quality for extractions. I honestly haven't played with extraction in PS too much, only a handful of times. Refining the object after the fact is where I've had problems. Video tutorials are a bit confusing on this aspect.

Victoria: I use Paintshop Pro and Photoshop. So, you're with Marisa when it comes to flat items: Use a scanner? smiley

Bina: My iPhone 13 has a built-in extraction feature. I've tried it with several photos in my roll, then emailed them to myself and opened in PS/PSP to better see them. They're not exactly perfect, but I think with a light box that would be less of an issue.

Thank you, everyone, for your input! Greatly appreciated!!!

So great. smiley If you don't want the lightbox, try a bright, overcast day outdoors with diffused light. I like how the lightbox folds up and so doesn't collect any dust....

Christina, in PSP, the best way to extract elements is NOT with the Eraser tool. Try the Edit Selection. I have a tutorial here.

I've got my eye on two lightboxes. Just need to make the decision of which one to buy. lol

I never once thought of extracting that way. I'll have to try it. Thank you! These days, despite it taking longer, I use the Object Extractor under "Image." But even with that, I sometimes don't get good results around the edges.

Yeah, give the Edit Selection a try. You might find you have more precise control and it might be faster too.

I plan to! Thanks again for the suggestion!

Hey Christina, I watched this video by a PS expert and she certainly makes extraction seem easy-peasy.

Selecting Objects in Ps

That's a great video! Thanks for sharing.

Yes, Julieanne Kost is quite good with PS. Glad you found it useful, Marisa.