Teach_Yourself_Photoshop_Elements_2

ADVANCED IMAGE EDITING SKILLS

S

elections allow us to isolate parts of our

images, making it easier to target, adjust or

cut out those areas. When working with

photographs, these areas are usually quite

complex, so attempting to select them with basic

selection tools such as the Lasso would take ages.

This is where Element’s advanced selection tools –

Quick Selection and the Magic Wand – show their

worth. They work by making selections based on

similarities in colour and tone, so they excel at

selecting large areas such as skies in just a few clicks.

Here we’ll show you how to adjust the Magic Wand so

that it will select a sky without selecting similar

coloured or toned pixels in other parts of the image.

You‘ll then be able to make a selective tonal adjustment

to make the sky look more punchy and dramatic without

changing the rest of the image.

The Magic Wand shares its compartment in the

toolbox with two other selection tools – the Quick

Selection tool and the Selection Brush tool. Like the

Magic Wand, the Quick Selection tool recognises

changes in colour and tone – but it works like a

brush, allowing you to paint over areas while the tool

seeks out the edges for you. Once you’ve made an

intelligent selection with the Quick Selection tool, you

can manually add to or subtract from it using the less

intelligent Selection Brush tool. All these tools make a

marching ants selection marquee that defines the shape

of the selection. As well as modifying the marquee’s

shape, we’ll show you how to change the softness of

the edges to help the selected and adjusted pixels blend

Use intelligent

selection tools

Modify the shapes of selections to help

the selected and adjusted pixels blend

using Elements’ selection tools

BEFORE

AFTER

GET THE START FILES HERE: http://bit.ly/type-files