Select areas in an image

Adobe Photoshop has selection tools tailored for different selection tasks. In this tutorial, you’ll learn some good uses for these tools.



1. Use the Magic Wand tool to select the background

If the object has a well-defined shape against a background that’s primarily one color, you can select the background using the Magic Wand tool.
Select the Magic Wand tool, and then click anywhere in the background. The marquee around the background area indicates that the background is now editable. Try dragging a paintbrush over the whole image to verify that only the background, and not the object, is affected.



2.Invert your selection

Because the background is easy to select, inverting the selection is a simple way to select the object. Choose Select > Inverse. Notice that the selection border changes to outline the object.
This technique is useful for selecting objects that are sharply delineated against a background. Now you can make edits on the object, leaving the background intact. Choose Select > Deselect to try another selection tool.



3. Use the Elliptical Marquee tool to select a detail

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool, and then drag to draw a selection border around a detail in the object. To reposition the selection border as you draw it, hold down the spacebar and drag the selection border to a new position. To move the selection border after it’s created, click anywhere inside the border and drag.



4.Use the Magnetic Lasso to select part of an object

Select the Magnetic Lasso tool (hidden in the toolbox behind the Lasso tool), and then click and drag around part of the object in your photo. As you drag, Photoshop “snaps” the selection to the edges of the object.
The Magnetic Lasso tool is especially suited for making freeform selections because it traces the edges of an object. It works best on areas with clearly defined edges.
The tool places anchors as you drag (you can remove anchors by pressing the Delete key). To finish the selection border, click the starting anchor point (or double-click). Try moving the selection using the Move tool. Choose Edit > Undo to return the selection to its original position. Then choose Select > Deselect to deselect the object.



5. Add to a selection

Select the Marquee tool, and make a rough selection of the object in your photo. After you make the selection, you can add to the selection border without having to start over. Select the Magnetic Lasso tool, and select the Add To Selection option in the options bar. Refine your selection by dragging around the outside of the object (notice the small plus sign below the tool pointer). Release the mouse. The selection border now includes the area you selected with the Magnetic Lasso tool.

Correct defects

Some otherwise excellent photos are marred by blemishes or red eye (the reflection of the flash in the retina of the subject). The Red Eye tool fixes red eye with a single click. The Spot Healing Brush easily removes blemishes, unwanted objects from a uniform background, and other defects. In this tutorial, you’ll see how to correct red eye and remove blemishes.



1. Fix the red eye

Zoom in so that you can easily see the problem area. Select the Red Eye tool in the toolbox and click in the red area of the eye to correct it. If you aren’t satisfied with the result, choose Edit > Undo and try again using a different Pupil Size and Darken Amount setting. You can change these settings in the option bar at the top of the application window.



2. Fix spots and blemishes

Select the Spot Healing Brush tool in the toolbox, and then set options for the tool. In the options bar at the top of the application window, click the triangle next to Brush to open the Brush picker. Drag the Diameter slider to change the brush size. Use a brush size that is about the size of the defect you want to fix.
To remove any unwanted spots, click on the spot or drag the pointer over it.

Correct color and tone

You can fix photos that are dull, lack contrast, or have a color cast by adjusting the shadows, midtones, and highlights. In this tutorial, you’ll see how to adjust tonality and color.



Evaluate your image.

Evaluate the image brightness, contrast, and color. This image is dark, has little contrast, and its overall color is shifted toward blue. We can fix this image quickly using the Photoshop Levels dialog box.



Create a new Levels adjustment layer.

Choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels and click OK in the New Layer dialog box. Rather than working directly on the image, we are going to make the tonal correction in an adjustment layer. Working in an adjustment layer leaves the original image untouched so you can discard your changes and restore the original image at any time.

Evaluate the image histogram.

The histogram in the center of the Levels dialog box shows how pixels are distributed in an image by graphing the number of pixels at each intensity level. It displays the relative number of pixels in the shadows (left part of the histogram), midtones (middle), and highlights (right). You can see that this image is not using the entire tonal range. Pixels don’t extend across the entire length of the histogram.



Set the shadows and highlights.

Move the black point input slider and the white point input slider (the black triangle and white triangle located directly beneath the histogram) inward from the edges of the histogram. The black point input slider adjusts pixels to value zero. All pixels at the level you set and any pixels below become black in the image. The white point input slider maps values at its position or above to 255, or pure white. After you adjust the sliders, the image will have more contrast.



Adjust the midtones.

The middle input slider (the gray triangle below the histogram) adjusts the gamma, or contrast, of the midtone values. It moves the midtone (level 128) and changes the intensity values of the middle range of gray tones without significantly altering the highlights and shadows.
Move the middle input slider to the left to lighten the image or to the right to darken the image.



Remove the color cast.

Select the Set Gray Point Eyedropper tool in the Levels dialog box (the middle eyedropper). Click an area in the image that should be gray. That area becomes neutral gray, and the color cast is removed.
The Set Gray Point Eyedropper tool works best on images with easily identified neutral tones. Advanced users often use the Levels command to adjust individual channels and remove a color cast.



Finish up.

When you’ve made all your adjustments, click OK to close the dialog box and accept your changes. Because you’ve used an adjustment layer, you can reopen the dialog box and see the adjustments you made. You can readjust any of the settings.
To reopen the Levels dialog box, in the Layers palette double-click the left thumbnail in the adjustment layer.
You’ve seen one way to adjust the color and tonal values in your image. Photoshop has many more tools to make these adjustments.