Fluid Mask vs. Mask Pro vs. Primatte / Round 4th & Maybe Final

  Special thanks to test subject Leah

Why do a 4th Round of Fluid Mask vs. Mask Pro vs. Primatte when Fluid Mask seems to have wrapped up the number 1 position?

1st, because I’ve chosen simplified tests for Rounds 1, 2 and 3.  The photographs were more or less ideal for the tests and the masking procedures utilized only the basic or primary tools of the plugins.  Primatte, for example, includes an array of tweaking tools which were not employed in Rounds 1 and 3, a definite disadvantage when these tools are not utilized.

2nd, I felt that, since time is money for most photographers, I deliberately spent as little time and effort as I reasonably could to produce the masks for the 1st three Rounds.  I am familiar with all 3 plugins, so I do not believe I short-changed any of them, and I don’t believe most photographers would want to spend more time than I did in Rounds 1 through 3 in order to make their masks.  ( I work painstakingly slowly enough as it is. )

3rd, I wanted to give Primatte a fair shake.  It seemed that by choosing not to use their extra tools in Rounds 1 and 3, I might be creating a scenario in which Primatte could not put its best foot forward.

4th, I wanted to use test samples shot with less than ideal lighting.

5th, I wanted to use one or two sets of more difficult to mask hair than were utilized in Rounds 1, 2 and 3.

One last chance to give everyone a fair and level opportunity to strut their stuff.

The first test photo was shot with no lighting on the green background and only a single Photogenic strobe for the subject.  Following the original are the test results for Primatte, Fluid Mask and Mask Pro.

All three plugins produced decent results from a less than ideal photograph.  Fluid Mask, as it has in all three previous Rounds, produced more detail, but this time it also produced a bit of noise around the image.  Mask Pro also produced fairly good detail, but it too  produced noise, and more of it than Fluid Mask.  Primatte’s image was the cleanest with no perceptible noise.  Primatte also produced slightly less detail.

The next test photo was also shot with no lighting on the green background and with only a single Photogenic strobe for lighting the subject.  Following the original are the test results for Primatte, Fluid Mask and Mask Pro.

In this test, Mask Pro,  Primatte and Fluid Mask all performed well.  On close examination, you can find more detail in the Fluid Mask hair, but slightly more green as well than in the Primatte and Mask Pro examples. 

The 3rd test photo was also shot with no lighting on the green background and with only a single Photogenic strobe for lighting the subject.  I chose this image for the test because the subject is blonde and the lighting is a little on the low side, especially of the sides of the face where good definition is important for masking and minimizing green spill.  Following the original are the test results for Primatte, Fluid Mask and Mask Pro.

Well! Primatte finally looks like a winner here.  It did require two hits on the “spill sponge” tool to reduce the amount of green that was visible after the mask was initially created, but the final result is pretty good.

And this time, the surprise is that Fluid Mask brought along a lot of green.  Actually, that shouldn’t really be a surprise, because the extra green is the trade-off for the extra definition visible in most of the Fluid Mask test photos.  In addition, Fluid Mask does not contain a mechanism for removing green spill or other color contamination.

Mask Pro also produced a very acceptable mask.  There is excellent detail visible, and most of the green spill has been automatically removed.  All that was required to remove most of the green contamination was to check the “use color decontamination” box in the “magic brush” tool options palette.  Note:  the only place you can tell Mask Pro to decontaminate is in the magic brush options palette, and it is easy to overlook.

One of the beauties of Primatte is that it is both actionable and batchable in PhotoShop.  If you are working with a group of photos shot against the same background under the same lighting conditions and, most importantly, of the same subject, you can do a lot of work in a short time.  In my tests, it took about 80% less time to produce a subsequent mask once the initial keep-delete parameters had been established.  Plus, you can walk away while the work is being done!  Check out the batching and action info at: www.digitalanarchy.com/primatte/primatte_t-action.html.  There is a “how to” pdf file at the same link.

Primatte is therefore a great tool if you’re shooting against green or blue backgrounds and can take advantage of its batching capability.  You save a lot of time and trade off only a little detail.

Mask Pro does not offer a batching capability, but it does retain the settings for a previous mask.  This means you can jump into creating the mask without having to establish new keep-drop settings.  A great time saver.  ( Mask Pro also offers six views of the mask as it is being constructed, compared to three for Primatte and two for Fluid Mask. )

Fluid Mask automatically analyses each image and therefore offers neither a memory of previous settings nor a batching capability.

Conclusion:  my preference is Fluid Mask and for most of my work, it is my first choice.  I’ve shot multi-subject jobs and batched the masks in Primatte, but each time the subject changes, the results become problematic.  And for portraiture work, I avoid green backgrounds whenever possible.  Removing the color spill from hair and skin is often time consuming and annoying, especially if the subject is blonde and the skin tone is light.  As a result, Primatte has limited applicability for me.

As for Mask Pro, I find that it produces more hair detail than Primatte, but slightly less hair detail than Fluid Mask, and it takes greater effort to accomplish the task.  However, once you establish the keep-drop parameters for an initial image, you can work very quickly on subsequent similar images.  In most of my work, I like to see every detail, but many photographers prefer a soft focus look in their portraits. And many others don’t want or need to see every strand of fly away hair.  Once again, that’s what the demos are for.

Bottom line for me:  Fluid Mask for speed, simplicity and detail.  Please refer to Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 for more information.

Link to Fluid Mask download and tutorials:  www.vertustech.com/fm_tutorials.htm

Link to Mask Pro download and tutorials:  www.ononesoftware.com/tutorials_mp.html

Link to Primatte: www.digitalanarchy.com/section/section_psd.html

email me: johnyonko@gmail.com