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Posted on 15/12/06 09:47:20 AM  | 
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					Steve Caplin
 Administrator Posts: 7072 Reply  | 
				
					Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 There's no escaping it - Christmas is not far away. Time to think about getting the decorations up! Except, of course, due to the 100K limit we don't have room on the forum for a full sized tree. So here's a bonsai version instead. Can you give it some of that yuletide spirit? High res is here. ![]()  | 
Posted on 15/12/06 9:53:12 PM  | 
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					Cat
 * Posts: 3 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 A bridge troll's christmas tree. ![]()  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 07:51:44 AM  | 
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					stefan
 Detail Demon Posts: 401 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Here's my "Zen" version...... ![]()  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 11:43:11 AM  | 
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					Eggbox
 Ovoid Opportunist Posts: 797 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Tree lights! ![]()  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 11:53:36 AM  | 
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					Eggbox
 Ovoid Opportunist Posts: 797 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 It took me ages to extract the tree and it is still not quite right. I tried the extract filter, I tried the 'darken the blue channel, make mask .. ect' but that left a white surround which I finally figured was the JPEG 'noise'. I then went over the tree and erased the noise and ended up working with the magic eraser. There has to be an easier method of extracting fine detail like trees and stray hair short of expensive extracting software or PSD files? Welcome back Becky and Hi to the new posters of recent weeks. Ted  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 4:32:38 PM  | 
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					GKB
 Magical Montagist Posts: 4060 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Happy Christmas everybody  
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Posted on 16/12/06 5:00:28 PM  | 
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					GKB
 Magical Montagist Posts: 4060 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Steve, I know the physics of the refraction is wrong on this one but I just couldn't bear to have all those images inverted so I thought that I would let this one go in as if there was no liquid in the glass.  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 6:06:32 PM  | 
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					michael sinclair
 Off-Topic Opportunist Posts: 1871 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Hi Eggbox, I expect there are many ways to remove the remaining white speckles from the tree; however, as a tree creator, I use a combination of three ways to climb this particular mountain: 1. Select the Magic Wand. 2 Set the tolerance to 50. 3. Inverse the selection and click Control J to put it on its own transparent layer. 4. create a separate black Fill layer, and put that below the tree with transparent background. 5. Now select the Magic Eraser and set the tolerance to say about 8 . 6. Zoom right in so that you can get select the white/light speckle with the Magic Eraser. 7. Click and keep clicking as much as you can dare: too much and you have a "Swiss cheese" effect. 8. To remove or to lesson the effect of the remaining light speckles you need to go into REPLACE COLOR as shown here  
9. 1. select the left-hand eye-dropper and click on a light speckle; 2. left -click on the color box Result and darken in the Color Picker window; 3. Vary Fuzziness to suit. 10. Finally increase the contrast.     
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Posted on 16/12/06 6:19:57 PM  | 
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					paul_2006
 Guest Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Why not use the blend sliders on the Layer Styles box?  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 7:45:27 PM  | 
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					michael sinclair
 Off-Topic Opportunist Posts: 1871 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Will you show us what you mean Paul?    | 
Posted on 16/12/06 8:22:23 PM  | 
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					Wayne
 Printer’s Devil Posts: 312 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Page 60 - 61 of HTCIP Michael. Trouble is, it still leaves a white fringe, or if you go too far with it, the green starts to disappear. I suspect there's no quick fix for this, to do it right will probably take lots of patience.  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 8:31:19 PM  | 
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					josephine harvatt
 Gag Gadgeteer Posts: 101 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Or you could always cheat like I do, filters can be very forgiving. Sorry to have ducked out lately - family crises (broken leg variety) plus the usual Xmas hoo-ha have conspired to keep me from my desk. Anyway here 'tis... ![]() _________________ I'm not really bad - I just draw that way  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 9:14:35 PM  | 
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					dave.cox
 Marquee Master Posts: 518 Reply  				 | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 The way I extracted the tree was simply to use the color picker, and then jump to quick mask mode to clean up the selection. I then toggle between a white a black background for comparison and either erase, or use the history eraser tool to un-erase any problem areas. Had the tree cut out and ready to use in shor order. Any one care to buy a tree? ![]()  | 
Posted on 16/12/06 10:01:29 PM  | 
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					Ben Mills
 Luminous Luminary Posts: 570 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Christmas comes but once a year (whether you like it or not) ![]()  | 
Posted on 17/12/06 00:49:29 AM  | 
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					james
 Surreal Spoofer Posts: 1194 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 ?  | 
Posted on 17/12/06 05:59:55 AM  | 
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					mguyer
 Incisive Incisor Posts: 799 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Happy Holidays Everybody ![]()  | 
Posted on 17/12/06 09:44:50 AM  | 
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					Eggbox
 Ovoid Opportunist Posts: 797 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Michael, thank you so much for your thoughts and for the great illustration. I am stuffed for time today but I will go through your method and post a better sample in the week.  | 
Posted on 17/12/06 09:47:05 AM  | 
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					Eggbox
 Ovoid Opportunist Posts: 797 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 OOps double post!!  | 
Posted on 17/12/06 5:16:27 PM  | 
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					2bfree
 Twilight Trickster Posts: 81 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 Well!! It was a big mistake with my choice of decoration... But it was good for the birds   ![]()  | 
Posted on 18/12/06 07:48:16 AM  | 
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					yx_Tay
 * Posts: 7 Reply  | 
				
					Re: Contest 126: Decorate the tree
					 My giant Christmas bonsai. ![]()  | 
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