Making smooth lines

[DVX100Shooter]

What tool is best to use to make lines smooth after youve done some cutting and extracting, etc. I have seen some photos before that were photoshopped and it look like some sort of highlight was added around the edges almost like a halo effect. I just need to know how to smooth out the jagged lines. The lines are not that jagged I could be exxagerating but I would like to see them smoother than what they are.

 

[Hectorxd]

I sometimes use the smudge tool for stuff like that. but dont overdo it. the healing brush might work, I am not sure how that one works exactly yet.

 

[pookie_old]

The blur tool.:thumbsup:

 

[Matt Grunau]

What tool is best to use to make lines smooth after youve done some cutting and extracting, etc. I have seen some photos before that were photoshopped and it look like some sort of highlight was added around the edges almost like a halo effect. I just need to know how to smooth out the jagged lines. The lines are not that jagged I could be exxagerating but I would like to see them smoother than what they are.

Your best bet would be to use a Layer Mask, and not actually erase anything. Once you erase something, it's gone for good, and you then have the edges to worry about, which is what you are dealing with.

The Layer Mask is located at the bottom of your Layers pallet. When you select it, you will see an additonal white box appear to the right of your layer's thumbnail. You will also see at the top of your image window a change from 8,RGB to 8,Layer Mask. A Layer Mask is a 256 shade grayscale which tells Photoshop what to see, and what not to see. 100% Black has no opacity, 100% white has full opacity, and something like 50% gray would be the same as loweing the opacity of that layer to 50%. You are then able to use your paint brush and paint "out" areas which you do not want. Not only that, but since you are using the paint brush, you have the option of choosing a hard or soft edge. Additionally, if you paint out an area you later decide you want, you simply paint that portion of the Layer Mask with white and reveal the part of the image you want.

You really should never use the eraser tool or delete sections at all. But, if you decide you have to, Ctrl+click on your layer once you have discarded all the image info you want. This will form a selection around the image (which should be on a transparant background), and by applying a feather based on your image's resolution you then invert the selction and hit delete two or three times. The feather will soften the edges as it erases from the outside in (since you inverted your selection).