››D Y N A MIC RANGE› ›kelbyone.com047Step Six: Use the Quick Selection
tool (W) to select all the red bal-
loons by simply painting a selec-
tion over them. If the tool selects
an area outside the red balloons,
press-and-hold the Option (PC:
Alt) key to use the tool in Subtract
mode. If the selection appears too
rough or jagged, use the Select
and Mask option in the Options
Bar, increase the Smooth slider in
the Properties panel, and click OK.
Add a new layer by going to
Layer>New>Layer. In the New
Layer dialog, name the layer “Bal-
loon Color,” and set the Mode to
Multiply and the Opacity to 30%.
Click OK to create the new layer.
Then, click on the Foreground
Color swatch near the bottom
of the Toolbar, choose a bright-
red color (#e01c0b) in the Color
Picker, and click OK. Fill the selec-
tion with the red color by pressing
Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace).
Step Seven: The selection should
still be active. (Tip: If it isn’t, go
to Select>Reselect to get it back.)
Add a Curves adjustment layer
from the Adjustments panel, and
the selection will automatically
be used as a mask for the adjust-
ment layer. Then, in the Properties
panel, click-and-drag the bottom-
left curve point to the right about
25%, and the top-right curve
point to the left about 15%. This
will greatly increase the contrast of
the balloons.
Step Eight: Add another Curves
adjustment layer. Then, click to
add a curve point right in the cen-
ter of the curve line and nudge it
slightly upwards and to the left.
This will brighten the entire image.