How to erase or remove background from your photo - part two

This post is actually update of the previous post on the same topic. In the meantime I learned something new. First, the Clippingmagic is not absolutely free of charge any more - you can try it, but can't download photo without subscription: the lowest one is still very cheap - 2.99 $ for a one month usage and 15 downloads (15 photos edited, you can download as many intermediate results as you wish - this is quite sufficient for me) or 7.99 $ for 100 downloads per month.

How to improve the final result

Second, I would  like to show you how to improve the final result. Using Clippingmagic you can't achieve sometimes the result you expect - it depends on the background contrast and probably some other things. For the furniture pieces I couldn't get the straight edges everywhere. So, I used another (free) tool - PhotoScape to make corrections. Silly me, in the first place, used Clone stamps tool and Paint brush, but there is no possibility to draw the line with this tools. And, out of desperation, found easy and fast method - just used lines objects - this tool is present in the majority of photo editing software.

Photo above is related to the PhotoScape, but steps are the same in other software.

Step 1: Choose the 'line' shape

Step 2: Choose the white color of the the line (or the color of the background)

Step 3: Choose the thickness of the line (the very thin line probably won't work good enough)

Step 4: Draw the line just next to the edge you want to correct

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Side table remake tutorial

This side table is now living new life in my kitchen. I always need more space for the kitchen tools - thing left in the pantry are forgotten forever. Recently we made some refurbishment in the kitchen and i found a right place for the small side table. Remembered I have one old in the garage and decided to paint it. This is the result.

And short tutorial follows.

Tutorial how to remake an old side table

This is the photo of the table before the remake, just to get the picture.

Material:

- usual suspects for this type of project: acrylic paints (including black school board paint), napkin and decoupage glue (for the black dots), primer, sanding paper, filler, brushes and roller, protective tape, stencils, transparent varnish for the final coat.

Table came with the holes on the upper side - I decided to keep those in the middle and fill the ones on edges - used acrylic filler for wood. As the holes were cca 5 mm deep, put the filler in few steps. After each step, left few hours to dry. In the meantime, put the coat of primer on the table legs.

Once I was happy with the 'filler' work, sanded the table and painted it using cream white for the legs,  black paint for the upper side (school board black), red for the shelf.

Now, the best part of the work started  (at least for me). Used protective tape to get the stripes and then painted them with red color. 

For the stenciling and stripes used little sponge (you can see it on photo). What is important here is to dry the sponge before you use it for stenciling (or stripes) - meaning, put the sponge in color and then on the paper to get rid of the excess paint. With this approach you avoid leakages under stencil or tape and get the neat work.

For the black dotes I used such napkin and decoupaged it on the table sides.
Finally, put the two coats of transparent varnish, for the protection (not on the upper side of the table painted with the school board paint).

I had to put the photo of my trivet - I regularly use it when working on projects, it really helps to save the back.

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