JRsbugs said: I have difficulty drawing freehand around images,

Me too, but you can enlarge the photo and work with close-in detail. Just work in short strokes and if you make a mistake Control+ z erases the the mistake instantly.

Paint.NET has a lasso tool, I guess I might be able to do it on that with enlarging the photo as it can be enlarged to 3200 %! Did you mean 3 pixels to 1/2"? It uses Control+z to erase too, might just try GIMP as well. I wonder if the same instructions would work for Paint.NET, it was developed by students under Microsoft guidance.

http://www.getpaint.net/

JRsbugs said:Paint.NET has a lasso tool, I guess I might be able to do it on that with enlarging the photo as it can be enlarged to 3200 %! Did you mean 3 pixels to 1/2"? It uses Control+z to erase too, might just try GIMP as well. I wonder if the same instructions would work for Paint.NET, it was developed by students under Microsoft guidance.

http://www.getpaint.net/

While I'm working with a photo I zoom way in so I can get close, sometime when I zoom in 3 pixels on the photo are about 1/2 across on my monitor. After you use the lasso to isolate the subject you use the pencil tool to erase the remainder of the unwanted parts. If you make a mistake and erase to much you can use Control + Z to quickly undo your mistake. That is a quick undo but should be used only if you work in short strokes. The instruction link I posted above explains it much better than I can. It's really very easy.

Lol, I tried to cut out the background in sections using the lasso on Paint.NET and found the 'cut' tool to remove the areas, once I started to use the eraser my head had had enough! GIMP might be easier, but I was determined to see if I could work it out on the one I have. With time I could perhaps perfect it, wow, 3 pixels to half the monitor is big, my monitor measures 16" horizontally so that would be too big I think!

I found that short strokes are the best thing to use if you are going to undo, else a lot of work can be undone at once! You have made it look easy, I'm not so sure!

I didn't care for GIMP when I used it. My favorite is still Photoshop Elements VERSION TWO. After that, Adobe started trying to think for me. I now use a free program from Serif.com -- it's one version behind their pay version, but it works for me.

JRsbugs said: , 3 pixels to half the monitor is big, my monitor measures 16" horizontally so that would be too big I think!

wow is right, that would be big but they are not that big. I guess I should proof read better. It should have read 3 pixels take up 1/2 inch on my moniter. But even that is for really close in work.

Glad you sorted that. Still, 3 pixels to half an inch is well spread!

Mary, now I'm banging my head against the wall looking at Serif.com. There is a free programme for all sorts, the Photo Plus starter edition is free, is that the one you use? It says it removes unwanted objects which is different to removing backgrounds.

http://www.serif.com/free-phot...

The link which is under 'How to' .. Cut out images, takes you to a demonstration of Draw Plus x4, the cut out job looks really easy! They are selling the x5 version, which must be an update I guess on x4, it's expensive though!

http://www.serif.com/?MC=SERPP...

yeah, the starter edition. I never do fancy stuff, though. However, you can select your object and move it to a different layer or different image entirely, which would in effect remove that unwanted background

Hmm, so you could have a plain coloured image, somehow, and drop the object onto it! I can see I will end up with a lot of editing programmes to try them out!

Yes, Janet it is kind of spread but I only do that for small detail working with a one pixel pencil. like the small patches between the flowers and leaves.

The new badge looks wonderful and beautiful! I got mine hours ago! I love it!

Thanks for all your work!

Jay, using a 1 pixel pencil sounds like something I really have to try! So far I haven't come across any numbered pixel pencils so it should be an experience! I think I can visualise it though.

Glad you like it Marilyn, joint efforts, maybe it's time I purchased some badges.

Janet -- when you select the pencil tool, you have an option as to how large you want it to be. Sometimes it's a sliding scale. I would imagine the left end of that scale would be '1'

Back when MS Paintbrush was the only affordable graphic editor, I would use it to edit screen prints for software manuals. The stuff Jay is describing in terms of enlarging the view size was one of my standard tricks.

Thanks Mary, it's good to get tips from yourself and Jay, until now I had no idea there were free programmes with these capabilities. It seems the free market is getting better all the time! I don't do any editing other than the normal photo editing as a rule, but I did a few with Microsoft paint using the invert colours and using colour enhancements to make some interesting effects when I first had Vista. I got Windows7 recently and the colour inverter was missing from the newer version, it is included in Paint.NET though and it does look to have some very good features if I can work out how to use them. So far I haven't found a pixel pencil but they probably have one somewhere, the link to their forum has postings with some people involved in the development and some from others who have found out how to do things but it would be nice to have a complete guide of 'how to'. There seems to be lots of plugins too such as wave effects etc. but I have yet to explore those if I find time and the desire.

a "pixel pencil" is just the pencil tool. Look for a pencil-looking thing in the same place you find your select tool, lasso tool, etc.

I can only find a pencil and a magic wand, not sure what the magic wand does. It doesn't appear to have a colour palette either, maybe they didn't want to compete with their standard 'Paint' but it seems strange not to include it. There's a paint bucket, left click to fill area with primary colour or right click for secondary colour. Maybe they have plugins to add for colour palette. Maybe GIMP would end up being easier until they decided to make it more complete.

When you select the pencil, it should give you the option to specify the size of it

I don't know where that option would be Mary, I just put the whole pic in and selected the pencil although I haven't done anything else to the photo. At the bottom it says "left click to draw freeform, one-pixel wide lines with the primary colour, right click to use the secondary colour". Trying it with a blank screen it's black, but I can't see how to get a secondary colour nor pixel width.

Up on the top...see the down-arrow by the pencil? What do you see if you click the down-arrow? (I've never used paint.net)

Right now, that pencil is 1 pixel in size - that's what it's telling you at the bottom (sorry if i'm insulting your intelligence - it's not intentional)

When I get back from the chiro, I'll look up paint.net and see what I can learn

I looked at the drop box where it says "tools", all it gives are the same symbols but with a name of what each is next to it, the same as you would get with hovering the arrow over the symbol.

Ah YES I found it! The top option under Tools drop box is to "choose options"!!

You can still download it though, you are used to using these so might be able to teach what I can't find out.