Photoshop User - USA (2021-01)

STEP THREE: Click the Select and Mask button in the

Options Bar to launch the Select and Mask workspace.

Set the View to On White (T) and adjust the Opacity

to help you see the selected areas better. Click on the

Refine Hair button in the Options Bar so Photoshop will

take another look at the selection around the hair. If it

still needs work, use the Refine Edge Brush tool (R) to

gently brush the selection along the edges where the

ladies’ hair needs to be selected from the background.

When you’re fully satisfied with the selection edges, set

the Output To drop-down menu in the Output Settings

section of the Properties panel to Layer Mask and click OK.

STEP FOUR: Hold down the Command (PC: Ctrl) key

and click on the newly formed layer mask to load

that as a selection. Then

make the BG Blur layer

the active layer and go to

Select>Modify>Expand.

Set Expand By to 5 pixels and click OK. Then go to

Edit>Content-Aware Fill. Let Photoshop fill in the selection

to remove the ladies from this layer. This doesn’t need

to look good, it just needs to be done so the blurring

effect that we’re going to apply doesn’t create a halo by

blurring the figures. Set the Output To drop-down menu

in the Output Settings in the Content-Aware Fill dialog

to Current Layer, and click OK. After the selection has

been filled, press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to cancel

the selection. [For more on Content-Aware Fill, check

out “Cracking Open Content-Aware” in this issue.—Ed.]

Step Three

Step Four

 HOW TO

PHOTOSHOP USER

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JA N U ARY 20

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