Many of my students and the people who travel with me on my photo tours ask me how to replace a background with a subject like this. I always tell them that it's impossible. Photoshop can do a lot of things -- pretty much anything you can imagine -- but hair and whiskers make it impossible to separate the subject from the background so it looks believable. The only exceptions are (1) when the subject is photographed against green screen, or (2) when the contrast between the subject and background is so strong that Photoshop can easily distinguish between the two. For example, a white puppy against a black background, or a brunette photographed against a white background, allows the software to choose either the light or the dark areas of the picture. Hair and whiskers, when photographed against typical outdoor backgrounds, can't be separated such that all of the ultra fine details are believably removed from the original environment. In a picture like this leopard I captured in Kenya last week, Photoshop, Topaz Remask 4, or any other software will work in cutting out the cat, but upon close examination (100% magnification), you will be able to see the flaws.
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