Page 57 - CC2018_WD_Look_Inside

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Many images have both hard and soft edges, and/or very fine detail that needs to be
isolated from its background (think of a model’s blowing hair overlapping the title on
the cover of a magazine). In this type of image, more sophisticated selection tools can
be used to create a very detailed selection based on the color in the image.
Rather than simply deleting pixels, as you did for the lightning image, another
option for isolating an object with a path is to create a layer mask that hides unwanted
pixels. Areas outside the mask are hidden, but not deleted, so you can later edit the
mask to change the visible part of the image.

1. With aftermath.psd open, hide all but the Skyline layer. Click the Skyline
layer to make it active.

2. Choose the Magic Wand tool (under the Quick Selection tool). In the
Options bar, make sure the New Selection button is active and set the
Tolerance field to 32.
The Magic Wand tool is an easy way to select large areas of solid color. The first four
options in the Options bar are the same as those for the Marquee tools (New Selection,
Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, and Intersect with Selection).

Tolerance is the degree of variation between the color you click and the colors Photoshop
will select; higher tolerance values select a larger range based on the color you click. If
you’re trying to select a very mottled background (for example), you should increase the
tolerance; be careful, however, because increasing the tolerance might select too large a
range of colors if parts of the foreground object fall within the tolerance range.
The Anti-alias check box, selected by default, allows edges to blend more smoothly into
the background, preventing a jagged, stair-stepped appearance. Note:
When Contiguous is selected, the Magic Wand tool only selects adjacent areas of the Anti-aliasing is the
color; unchecking this option allows you to select all pixels within the color tolerance, process of blending shades
even if some pixels are non-contiguous (for example, inside the shape of the letter Q). of pixels to create the

By default, selections relate to the active layer only. You can check Sample All Layers to illusion of sharp lines in
make a selection of all layers in the file. a raster image.

The Refine Edge button opens a dialog box where you can use a number of tools to
fine-tune the selection edge.

3. Click anywhere in the blue sky area of the image.

New Add to Subtract from Intersect with
Selection Selection Selection Selection

Marching ants indicate
the selection area.
Magic
Wand tool Fine areas of detail can’t be
distinguished by the
marching ants, so you don’t
know if they’re selected.

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