open image in a mask

[JoeB]

Do you actually want the birds on a blue circle to add to that background, or just the birds themselves without all of that blue ellipse around them?

In either case, if you used a mask to isolate the circle and birds, then I imagine that the reason for the blue tinge around that circle and birds in the image is that you didn't paint out that area. There are others here who are much more familiar with using masks to isolate parts of images who will likely chime in with a more detailed explanation and details of how to mask and isolate the parts of that image you posted that you wish to use.

If I was doing it, I would just use the Selection tool with the Ellipse option, anti-alias checked, and some feathering if you want to soften the edge around the elliptical blue area containing the birds, then Copy (to copy the selected area) and then (after putting your background image in focus) Paste as New Layer on that background image. There wouldn't be any rectangular blue tinge because all you are copying is the part of the bird image that had the selection marquee around it.

[Ken Veal]

Thanks for the reply joeB. First of all I must tell you that this is the 1st time I have ventured into masks and using them (except in Video Studio)so I am completely green with no previous experience in editing them. I have obtained the images used here just as an example and not for any particular project, so as regards your 1st question I have no preference. What I am trying to do is just to get a workflow for future reference.
A I have followed items 1 to 5 above and got the mask on the background but got stuck- should I have followed this work flow ? If not, what should I have done?
B You said “, I would just use the Selection tool with the Ellipse option, anti-alias checked .Does this mean not to use item 3 above ?If not where is the selection tool you talk about.
C I cannot find the anti alias option anywhere
D I know what feathering is but where is this option

[JoeB]

Your questions indicate that you might be thinking that there is only one preferable method of achieving the results you want, and that is not correct. A mask will work and also using selections will work. As I said, others more experienced with masks than I am will have to provide the best method of using them with the images you posted to allow you to separate the birds from the background. I'm just partial to using selections.

Your questions also indicate that I think you have missed an important step in learning how to use PSP (besides using the Help files and online tutorials available). Before you can take full advantage of the Help files and tutorials you have to become familiar with the program interface and the actual tools available. The best way to do that is to hover your mouse over every single tool on the toolbar and read the tooltip that describes the tool. Any tools with a small arrow on the right indicate that there are other similar tools hidden in there, so clicking the arrow will produce a flyout with the other tools listed that can be selected. Also right click in various palettes and workspace areas and see what options are available in the context menus that you get.

Also, all tools have different options that you can change to change the behaviour of the selected tool. The Tool Options palette is located under the menu items at the top and changes depending on the tool you have selected. That's where, if one of the Selection options is the tool you select, you can change things like anti-alias, feathering, smoothing, etc.

NOTE: Rather than using the Help>Help Options to learn about PSP, I suggest you instead use Help>User Guide (PDF). It provides actual graphic illustrations showing the program's interface with labels and descriptions. Open that PDF guide and in the menu on the left find Workplace Tour and click on that. Then scroll through and read that whole section, getting familiar with all of the workspace components with descriptions. You can save that pdf file also if you don't want to have to access the internet to read it.

That all said, I have attached an image where I isolated just the birds from their image, then copied that selection and then pasted as new layer on a background I had available. To do this I first promoted the bird image from a background layer to a raster layer using the options in the Layers palette. This allows me to delete portions of the image and in the place of the deletion there will be transparency as shown by the checkerboard pattern.

Rather than select the birds first, I instead opted to delete everything around the birds, which would leave me with only the birds against transparency. To do this I clicked the little arrow beside the Selection tool and, from the flyout, I selected the Freehand tool. Then in the tool options palette, for Selection Type, I selected Point to Point. I think I had Feather set to 5, smoothing at 2 and Anti-Alias checked. I Then I zoomed in on the image and carefully started to trace a portion of the birds, just a portion at a time, with the intention of making my selection complete around the sky and portions of the image outside of the birds I wanted to isolate. As I made my portion selections I hit Delete to delete that part of the sky/background, and continued doing this until everything except the birds was deleted (i.e., showed transparency). Then I did Image>Copy. Then I put the background in focus and did Image>Paste as New Layer, which placed the birds in the center of my background image. Then I used the Move tool to move it into place where I wanted it.

Others might have chosen instead to trace around the birds and then do the copy paste thing without having to do deletions of the background, but I just found I could control the feathering better doing it in reverse and deleting the background. (Feathering softens the edges of the selection). Also, other might prefer using masking options, and hopefully will chime in with their method.

All of the steps I set out are simple enough once you have familiarized yourself with the tools, tool options, context menu items available, etc. But you first have to become familiar with the actual tools, their locations and their options. This forum is great at helping people with using PSP, but it's not meant to be a replacement for users to at least first become familiar with the PSP workspace and its tools. And then you should start out with simple projects to practice with the tools. Many people find that it's easier to work with selections when starting out because that concept seems to be somewhat more intuitive than the term masks or masking. But that's just my opinion, of course.

I'm attaching an image I made with your birds. Given the high contrast around the edges of the birds it's not actually an ideal image for starting out with and particularly finding an appropriate background in which to place them to best advantage. But I'm just posting it for you to see an example of getting the actual object you want (the birds in this case) out of an image and placing it elsewhere.