Working with selections and Layer Adjustments
1. Open Photoshop (From
your Start Menu > Programs > Adobe CS5)
2. Open your image by
going to the File menu and selecting Open.
3. Choose the file
“Elephants.psd” and click Open
4. Make sure the Layers
Palette is visible, if not go to Window > Layers
5. Copy your background
using the keyboard shortcut CNTRL + J (Command J)
Magic Wand
6. Click on the Background Copy and then choose the Magic Wand
from the toolbar (keyboard
shortcut is W). (You can use
Quick Selection Tool if you prefer)
7. Set the Magic Wand Tolerance to 30. Select the biggest
elephant in the photo by clicking with the Wand. Add additional areas with
Shift+click. Subtract areas with Alt+click. Adjust the tolerance of the Wand
for fine areas.
Save Selection
8. To save the selection go to Select > Save Selection.
The window should look like this:
Document: elephants.psd
Channel: New
Name: (give the selection a name) “big elephant”
Click OK
Refine Edge
9. Refine the edge of the selection by clicking the Refine Edge
button while the selection you just made is visible. Set the following:
Radius 1.0px.
Contrast 10%
Smooth 30
Feather the selection by 1px
Contract 0%
Levels
10. Click on the Cookie and select Levels. Drag the White slider to
the bottom right edge of the histogram. Adjust the Gray slider to about .80.
Click OK.
Load Selection
11. Click on the Background Copy and load the selection of the
big elephant.
To Load
Selection click: Select > Load Selection > Channel > “big elephant”
Hue / Saturation
12. Click on the Cookie and select Hue/Saturation. Drag the Saturation slider to +100. Drag the Hue slider to -83. Click OK.
Poke the eye in the
layers palette to see the before and after preview. Leave the preview off for
now.
Load Selection
13. Click on the Background Copy and load the selection of the
big elephant again.
To Load
Selection click: Select > Load Selection > Channel > “big elephant”
Refine Edge
14. Refine the edge of the selection by clicking the Refine Edge
button while the selection you just made is visible. Set the following:
Radius 1.0px.
Contrast 10%
Smooth 0
Feather the selection by 30px
Expand +15%
Hue / Saturation
15. Click on the Cookie and select Hue/Saturation. Drag the Saturation slider to +60. Drag the Hue slider to +180. Click OK.
Poke the eye in the
layers palette to see the before and after preview.
Try combining hue and
saturation layers by previewing two Hue and Saturation layers at the same time.
Now turn off both of the previews.
Repeat steps 13 and 14
to make your own original hue/saturation adjustment.
Invert
16. Click on the Background Copy and load the selection of the
big elephant again. To Load Selection click: Select >
Load Selection > Channel > “big elephant”
Click on the Cookie
and select Invert.
Select & Save Selection
17. Use
the Quick Selection Tool to select the small elephant in the front of the
photo.
18. To save the selection go to Select > Save Selection.
The window should look like this:
Document: elephants.psd
Channel: New
Name: (give the selection a name) “small elephant”
Click OK
Curves
18. Click
on the Cookie and select Curves. Choose one of the preset curves adjustments
such as Darker or Increase Contrast. Click OK.
19. With
the Curves Adjustment Layer Highlighted, Click
CNTRL + E (Command + E) to Merge Down (Or choose Merge down from the Layers
Palette Menu).
Copy
and Paste Selection
20. With
the Background Copy Highlighted, Load the selection of the small elephant.
21. Copy
(CNTRL + C or Command + C) and then Paste the selection (CNTRL + V or Command +
V).
22. Use
the Move Tool (V) to move the small elephant.
23. Use Free Transform (Control + T or
Command + T) to flip and resize the elephant. Place the elephant somewhere in
the background.
Advanced Students: Use the warp mode to adjust the elephant. You
should also be able to make specific selections of the elephant’s ears and
trunk, and using free transform or warp, make him look like a new
elephant.
24. Use Smudge and Blur
to make the elephant look far away and blurry.
25. With the small
elephant layer selected Click CNTRL + E (Command + E) to Merge Down (Or choose
Merge down from the Layers Palette Menu).
26. Use the Clone Stamp tool to cover any
part of the elephant that should be hiding behind the bush. Clone Stamp (S),
hold down the Alt Key and Click to target the area you want. Let go of all
keys, then click with the mouse to cover up unwanted areas.
27. Choose a combination
of Adjustment layer you like. Drag
unwanted layers to the trash. Choose Flatten Image in the Layers Palette menu.
SAVE
File > Save As >
Finished Elephants
Choose:
JPEG for Finished Images
PSD for Unfinished
images.
The End.
