How do I select a object in a Photo?

majiktripp

Following one of the tutorials above for creating a black and white image with unique colour objects using a saturation filter, I was wondering is there any easy way to highlight say an individual persons body or face in a picture using the "magic" wand in CS? Just as its quicker & neater than having to try and brush the colour back onto the area you want without going over edges etc and applying colour to areas you dont want.
Hard to explain but I hope someone understood!

Fenster

CS3 has the (incredibly handy) Quick Selection tool, for CS2, you could always use a quick mask and paint their face. It's much faster and easier than using the Magic Wand tool.

elven

http://www.phong.com/tutorials/mask.tree/

A bit of a tutorial on using channels to pick out an element of an image - something Guy Gowan showed us and I've used it a lot since then. It's tricky, but worth persevering to try and understand.

majiktripp

Cheers for those guys, both interesting and helpful, tried my hand ala
Dont think its all that great really.

majiktripp

bump, any opinions on the result of the trial of suggestions from boardsters..

5uspect

Its a pretty good, tho I don't find it particularity interesting tho, maybe it need more contrast to liven it up.
Your selection is grand (did anyone mention the magnetic lasso tool? Love that tool ) there are a few soft edges to it around the head and flame but its barely noticeable.

majiktripp

Thanks for that, I know myself the pictures a bit bland, was looking for something where there was an object ot make stand out, if ya get me, didnt really work out so well tho'! I'll try it again on something more inspiring

5uspect

Its a good start, I'm not sure the shot is a write off tho. I'd say some nice dodgine and burning might bring out the detail a bit.

Here is a very quick attempt to add that oomph...



Basically I duplicated the layer and changed the blend mode of the duplicate to multiply then did some curves, burning etc on the first layer to darken it up some more. I also did another duplicate of the first layer, blurred it a good bit with Gaussian blur and changed the blurred layer's blend mode to soft light to add that glowy look.

majiktripp

Very nice! looks a lot better ,especially the silver "towel" (for want of a better word) wrapped around his manhood, looks much better. Man I have a lot to learn!

5uspect

I can be fun learning tho and very rewarding. I'm pretty confident with PS but I'm rubbish at taking photos so I can tend to rely on it as a crutch a bit.

I really learned a lot from the Photoshop TV podcast. Its a bit silly at times but they know their stuff.

Blend modes are really useful way of messing with pictues. Just play about with them to see what effects you get. Multiply darkens images and makes whites transparent. Screen does the oppisite (Put a lens flare from the filter>render menu on a totally black layer above a photo and change it to screen and see what happens)

The dodge and burn tools are a great way to hide detail of bring it out. Think of them as darken and lighten brushes.

Don't be afraid to ask for help!

Fenster

You overdid the shadows around the base of the statue, 'tis all black.

5uspect

it was just a quickie!

Fenster

For shame!

5uspect

feels all dirty now, me runs to the corner to hide..