SELECTING ATMOSPHERE WITH TONES
> PHOTOSHOP USER>^ FEBRUARY 2020[ 84 ]
In this issue, we’re going to continue with our previous themes of selecting things that are more
atmospheric. Even though artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies are being added
to Photoshop (see recent article here), the truth is that machines can still only be taught what a
particular thing is: pizza, car, person, dog, building, clock, etc. But, as an editor, there are often things
that can’t be seen as an object or thing. That’s where we still have to solve the problems for our
projects by applying some awareness of tone, physics, and light.For this image, let’s imagine your edit request is to select
the rays of light, and add warmth to the image. What do
you do? You could attempt this with luminosity masks, but
that gets a bit complicated with partially selected elements.
Instead, let’s use an old feature in Photoshop that has been
evolving quietly in the background: Select>Color Range.
In this dialog, you can choose Highlights, Midtones, or
Shadows from the Select menu at the top. This will auto-
matically segment a tonal range of your image into a poten-
tial selection. What this means is that, if you were to choose
Highlights and then adjust the Range slider, which acts as a
form of tolerance or threshold, you can refine the selectionMARKHEAPS
The Perfect Selection
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