Photoshop Tutorial - Beginner: Lesson 1

Rather than focusing on WHAT you want to accomplish while editing images with Adobe Photoshop, it’s better to focus on HOW to accomplish it.

The idea of “layers” and what exactly they do is often difficult to grasp until you know how to use and edit them properly. So, the idea of a “layer mask” can be even more strange, but learning the foundation of masking with Photoshop and applying it to a practical situation is one of the first steps in becoming proficient with the software.

While there are many tools that enable you to make selections in Photoshop, this tutorial will introduce and give guidance specifically on the “magnetic lasso tool”. Making good selections/paths goes hand-in-hand with using a layer mask so the two techniques will be discussed simultaneously in this beginner’s tutorial.

Recommended Software:

• Mac OS X 10.5+, or Windows XP+
• Photoshop CS or higher

I’m a fan of hands-on learning and real-world application examples so this lesson will provide detailed instructions on the process of selective coloring or ‘selective de-saturation’. The technique of selective coloring is a popular one and typically is performed to help draw attention to certain subjects or aspects in a photo. While the end-result of this tutorial can undoubtedly be accomplished more quickly and easily using other methods, the idea of this lesson is to explore and understand the fundamentals of two Photoshop building blocks.

Example of image prior to Selective Coloring Technique discussed in this tutorial

Example of image after performing Selective Coloring Technique discussed in this tutorial

To begin, open up the image you want to manipulate in Photoshop. I recommend editing at the largest size/resolution possible and then down-sizing later if necessary but a high resolution image is not required.

First thing to do is duplicate your ‘Background’ layer. With your background layer selected, press Command J (or CTRL J on your PC). Alternatively you can right-click on the background layer and click Duplicate Layer. You Layer’s palette should now look similar to the image shown right.

At this point we’re ready to select the portion of the photo that will remain in color. Select the Magnetic Lasso Tool from the tools palette, location indicated below.

Locate the Magnetic Lasso Tool

Once you’ve got the Lasso tool selected check the tool’s settings in the dialouge bar above the image pane, displayed below:

Middle of the road settings for Magnetic Lasso Tool

The settings shown above are a happy median but adjust the ‘Contrast’ and ‘Frequency’ numbers as you see fit. In essence what the Magnetic Lasso does is samples the area you’re outlining and automatically snaps to the main ‘subject’ based on different contrast in the surrounding pixels – try it out for yourself to get a better understanding. Your initial outline should be fairly clean but it will take some fine tuning.

To begin making a selection on your TOP layer, loosely go around the subject that will stay in color with the Magnetic lasso. Once you’ve got your basic selection, (shown above) you can refine it a bit. To do so, get out the regular Lasso or Poly-Lasso (or keep the magnetic lasso if you prefer). If there is an area that you want to add to your selection hold the SHIFT key and outline that area. If there is an area you do not want in your selection hold the ALT/OPTION key and select the undesired area and it will be removed.

Spending a little extra time on getting the selection clean makes a big difference but it does not need to be perfect.

With the subject selected, save your selection so you can get it back easily incase you make a mistake. To do this, go to Select > Save Selection … Pictured below:

Save selection from Magnetic Lasso Tool

Give the selection a name or number and click save.

Press Command D (CTRL D for PC) to deselect the currently active selection.

Now you can Desaturate your top layer. With the top layer selected (probably called ‘Background copy’ or ‘Layer 1′) Go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate (I prefer to use the channel mixer and if you’ve got CS3 use the “Black & White” feature instead of denaturation).

Now we can add a layer mask. With your top layer active, click the Add Layer Mask button, shown below:

Add a mask to top layer in Photoshop

(You’ll see a little white box come up on your top layer in the pallete, thats your “mask”.)

Now go to your Channel’s Pallete – it’s location varies depending on your version of Adobe Photoshop but if you do not see it, go to Window > Channels.

You should see your saved selection from earlier with the name you gave it – shown below:

Load saved selection from channels palette

While holding the Command(CTRL for PC) key click the little thumbnail of your outline. This will make your selection active again.

Now go back to your layers pallette, make sure your top layer is active and click on the white box in your top layer pallete. This makes the mask active. Shown below:

Select layer mask in layers palette

Press D on your keyboard to get the default Black and White colors active in your colors pallete, then press X on your keyboard to make sure that your foreground color pallete is WHITE. Now hit B on your keyboard or select your brush from your tools. Size it accordingly and begin painting within your selection. You should see the bottom layer start to come through. White REVALS the bottom layer and paint black HIDES the bottom layer. So if you accidentally bring too much back from your bottom layer, simply switch to black and paint the top layer back in.

Painting mask in progress:

Painting layer mask within created selection

If you want the background of the picture to be blurred, select your bottom layer and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur…. but becareful, too much blur action looks pretty corny.

Here’s the selective color with a slight BG blur:

End result after using layer mask and lasso tool