Photoshop Creative

I took a group picture and my background was not big enough to get coverage for everyone. I now need to get a background expanded around everyone. I used the magic extractor to get the people separated from the background. What is a simple way to get them on a separate solid color background? or should I be trying to just expand the background I have? thanks

I attached the original picture.

The way I would do it (which may not be the simplest) if all you're looking for is a solid color background, is to create a new file, set your dimensions on it, and since you've already selected the group move them onto that new file. They will appear in their own layer and you can then play with the background itself using the Paint Bucket and Eye Dropper tool and fill it in with the color of our choice. Or, if you have a picture of something that would make a nice background, move the selected group onto it.

Hope this helps......

OK...I couldn't resist so I played a little with it. Mind you, this is a very, very rough extraction, but hopefully will give you some ideas.....

Like I said, a very rough extraction as all I wanted to do was demonstrate. On the background layer, I used the eyedropper tool and selected the color from your background in the original photo and then used the Paint Bucket to fill it in, and then played with some filter effects to arrive at the finished photo. You could just as easily use another photo for the background instead.

The sky's the limit and there are some real artists around here (I just hack at it) that could give you even better ideas than this.