Michael Brown

Michael Brown

Introduction to Selections

Slide Duration:

Table of Contents

Section 1: Introduction
Introduction to Photoshop Elements

19m 3s

Intro
0:00
Course Overview
0:10
What You Will Learn
0:11
Key to Learning Photoshop Elements
1:29
Photoshop Elements or Photoshop?
2:23
Elements Can Do Almost Anything that Photoshop can for Enhancing or Retouching Images
2:24
Photoshop Elements Has Several Features that Photoshop Does Not Have
3:54
Elements is Very User Friendly in It's Layout
4:49
Elements 11 Has Also Incorporated Some Great New Features from Photoshop CS6
5:18
Bottom Line
5:43
Three Separate Programs in One Package
6:12
Organizer
6:13
Camera RAW
6:55
Editor
7:45
Four Simple Categories for Working on an Image
8:01
Corrections
8:02
Selections
8:30
Retouching
9:23
Manipulation
9:42
Demonstration : Using Elements to Work on an Image
10:03
Editing in Camera RAW
10:04
Removing Parts of an Image
11:55
Selection Mask & Adjusting Color
14:06
Adjusting Overall Saturation
17:02
Important Axiom
18:08
The Importance of Quality

19m 6s

Intro
0:00
The Mantra of Quality
1:02
'Garbage In, Garbage Out'
1:03
Setting Up Your Camera
1:50
Camera Settings: JPEG vs. RAW
1:51
Setting Your Camera for RAW Files
5:10
Some Tips on Taking Quality Photos
8:23
Fill the Frame
8:31
Check Your Focus
11:23
Camera Shake
12:39
Exposure
14:05
Shoot Several Shots of a Scene
15:48
Shoot Multiple Angles and Different Focal Lengths
16:51
Lesson Summary
18:40
Light & Color

13m 11s

Intro
0:00
Lesson in Light & Color, Part 1
0:46
What is Light?
0:47
Brightness & Color
1:24
Example of Exposure & Color
2:47
Lesson in Light & Color, Part 2
4:30
Transmitted & Reflected Light
4:31
Why is This Important in Photoshop?
6:27
Color Spaces
7:18
Visible
7:19
Prophoto
7:36
Adobe RGB & sRGB
8:22
CMYK
9:37
To Make This Simple
10:32
Setting Color Spaces
11:28
Setting Color Spaces
11:29
Lesson Summary
12:42
White Balance & Monitor Calibration

17m 21s

Intro
0:00
White Balance
1:45
What is White Balance
1:46
Examples: Lighting Situations
3:03
How Does White Balance Apply in Photoshop Elements?
8:00
Monitor Calibration
8:42
Monitor Calibration Overview
8:43
Calibrating Your Monitor for PC & MAC
11:22
Calibrating to a Printer
14:24
Section 2: Workspace
Overview & Tour

14m 59s

Intro
0:00
Principal Objective of This Course
0:24
Practical Working Knowledge
0:25
Main Work Areas Overview
1:31
The Welcome Screen
1:32
The Organizer Workspace
2:14
The Editor Workspace
2:55
Demonstrations: The Welcome Screen
3:40
The Editor Workspace
5:21
Toolbox
5:22
Tool Options
6:09
Open Recently Edited Items
6:48
Quick, Guided, and Expert Mode
7:12
Create Button
8:37
Panels & Adjustments
8:46
Photo Bin
9:14
The Organizer Workspace
10:00
Importing Images
10:33
Folders & Albums
10:50
Bottom Tools
11:47
Tags and Information
12:18
Create & Share
13:00
Ratings
13:14
Media, People, Places, and Events
13:19
Organizer, Part1: Import & Sort

25m 43s

Intro
0:00
The Organizer Overview
0:17
Objective
0:56
What We Want to Do
1:04
Getting Organized
2:06
Primary Features
3:34
Drop Down Menus & Media Window
3:35
Star Ratings
6:07
Folders, Information Panels, and Albums
6:35
Create & Share Menu
10:20
Bringing Your Images Into Organizer
10:56
Photo Downloader
10:57
Get Images From Existing Files or Folders
18:11
Searching for Missing Items
19:40
Organizing Your Images
20:25
Folders & Albums
20:26
Organizer, Part 2: Sorting, Rating & Refining Images

22m 12s

Intro
0:00
Sorting, Rating & Refining Images
0:07
Albums & Folders Review
0:08
2 More Ways to Add Images to an Album
3:00
Deleting Images
7:56
Sorting and Refining Your Images
10:47
Adding & Changing Star Ratings
11:41
Full Screen View
14:22
Two Up View Comparison & Filtering Images
15:35
Organizer, Part 3: Keywords, People & Places

12m 43s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Sorting Methods
3:53
Sorting by Keywords
3:54
Sorting by People
7:28
Sorting by Places
9:35
The Photo Editor Workspace

29m 5s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Quick Edit, Guided Edit, and Expert
1:09
Photoshop Elements 10 Workspace vs. 11 Workspace
1:53
Setting Preferences
3:00
Color Picker & Step Back/Fwd
3:01
General Options
4:45
Allow Floating Documents in Expert Mode
5:49
Saving Files
8:02
Performance
9:14
Display & Cursors
10:45
Transparency, Units & Rulers, Guides & Grid
12:12
The New Interface Overview
14:02
The New Interface
14:03
The Menu Bar
15:41
The Options Bar
15:42
The Tool Bar
16:44
The Task Bar
17:28
The Photo Bin & Tool Options Bin
18:27
The Panel Bin
20:46
The Document Window
22:21
Options for Arranging Documents
24:35
The Tool Bar & Important Tool Shortcuts

15m 37s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Photoshop Elements 10 vs. Photoshop Elements 11
0:54
The Tool Bar
3:13
Primary Photoshop Elements Tools - Defined
3:14
Photoshop Elements 11 Tools and One Key Shortcuts
3:32
Important Tools and Their Shortcuts
5:09
Zoom Tool
5:28
Hand Tool
7:41
Move Tool
9:33
Selection Tools
11:00
Spot Healing Brush Tool & Rubber Stamp Tool
11:55
Sponge Tool
12:38
Brush Tool & Eraser Tool
12:54
Gradient Tool
13:11
Text Tool
13:15
Crop Tool
13:24
Brushes Shortcuts
14:24
Lesson Summary
14:56
The Menu Bar & Options Bar

18m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
The Menu Bar
1:46
File Menu
2:08
Edit Menu
3:54
Image Menu
6:27
Enhance Menu
8:00
Layer Menu
8:45
Select Menu
8:56
Filter Menu
9:08
View Menu
9:18
Window Menu
11:09
Help Menu
11:56
Summary
12:11
The Options Bar
12:44
Open
12:45
Quick, Guided, and Expert Overview
13:34
Quick Edit
14:05
Guided Edit
16:03
Expert Mode and Create Buttons
18:02
The Task Bar, Photo Bin, & Panel Bin

17m 7s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
The Task Bar
1:46
The Task Bar Overview
1:47
Photo Bin
2:26
Tools Option
4:14
Undo & Redo
5:50
Rotate
6:12
Layout
6:45
Panels
7:40
Layer
8:13
Effects
8:40
Graphics
11:38
Favorites
12:35
More
13:17
Customize Panels
13:48
Lesson Summary
16:42
Section 3: Camera RAW
Camera RAW, Part 1

10m

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:09
What is RAW and What is JPEG Files?
1:22
JPEG Files
2:03
RAW Files
4:10
JPEG vs. RAW
5:11
Camera RAW
6:30
What is Camera RAW?
6:31
Why Use Camera RAW?
8:13
Camera RAW, Part 2

21m

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Camera RAW: Tools
1:39
Tool Bar and Tools in Camera RAW
2:14
Camera RAW: Panels
5:15
Camera Calibration Panel
5:53
Basic Panel
7:02
Detail Panel: Sharpening & Noise Reduction
12:53
Saving Image
16:13
Opening JPEG's or TIFF in Camera RAW
18:26
Opening JPEG's or TIFF in Camera RAW
18:27
Section 4: Elements Basics
Image Size, Canvas Size, & Resolution

23m 59s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Image Size & Resolution
0:58
Megapixels
0:59
File Size
1:23
Resolution
1:42
Image Size
1:55
Changing Document Size Only, Maintaining Proportions
2:21
Re-Sampling
8:09
Re-Sampling to Maintain Proportions
8:10
Re-Sampling to Distort Image
13:46
Canvas Size
16:16
Canvas Size
16:17
Sizing for Print & Web
21:52
Sizing for Print & Web
21:53
File Formats

10m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
The Primary File Formats in Photoshop Elements
0:44
PSD
0:55
JPEG
2:00
PNG
3:50
Formats for Saving
5:02
GIF
6:01
PDF
6:43
TIFF
7:43
Photo Project Format
8:42
Lesson Summary
10:12
Saving Your Images

18m 29s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Save & Save As
0:38
Save & Save As
0:39
Save for Web
8:21
Preset: JPEG
10:25
Preset: GIF 32
11:44
Preset: PNG 24
12:28
Save for Web: JPEG Settings
13:04
Lesson Summary
17:30
Value of Using Shortcuts

11m 56s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Basic Categories in Photoshop Elements
1:11
Basic Categories in Photoshop Elements
1:12
Important Tools and Their Shortcuts
3:32
Key Shortcuts
4:08
Single Key Shortcuts
4:09
Two Keys Shortcuts
4:34
Using Shortcuts Demonstration
6:13
Using Shortcuts Demonstration
6:14
Lesson Summary
10:58
Image Sharpening

18m 17s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
What is Sharpening?
0:30
What is Sharpening?
0:31
Auto Sharpen
0:46
When and How Much to Sharpen?
2:58
Noise Reduction Before Sharpening
3:27
Sharpen Your Image When You First Open It
5:03
Do Not Oversharpen
6:16
Sharpening Methods
8:31
Adjust Sharpen
8:55
Unsharp Mask
11:35
High Pass Filter
13:25
Methods Summary
17:06
Image Enhancement: Quick Edit & Guided Edit Mode

11m 27s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Image Enhancement with Quick Edit Mode
0:24
Quick Edit Mode Overview
0:28
Sharpen
1:43
Exposure
2:11
Color
3:09
Demonstration 2: Flower
3:36
Image Enhancement with Guided Edit Mode
5:18
Sharpen
5:55
Levels
6:10
Enhance Colors
6:49
Recompose
7:25
8:51
Create Pop Art
9:40
Crop, Straighten, Correct Perspective & Distortion

18m 21s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Correct Camera Distortion
3:13
Distortion
3:14
Vignette
4:08
Perspective Control
5:03
Edge Extension
6:00
Correct Perspective
6:25
Perspective Transform
6:26
Distort Transform
7:45
Cropping
9:21
Cropping
9:22
Straightening
12:03
Straightening
12:04
Recompose
14:45
Recompose
14:46
Brushes

23m 6s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Basic Brushes
1:23
Size & Opacity
1:24
Brush Shapes
4:33
Brush Settings
5:20
Hardness
5:21
Spacing
5:57
Angle
7:39
Scatter
9:03
Fade
10:23
Creating a Custom Brush
11:46
Creating a Custom Brush Demonstration 1
11:47
Creating a Custom Brush Demonstration 2
13:17
Creating Pattern Brush
14:20
Impressionistic Brush
16:57
Impressionistic Brush
16:58
Color Replacement Brush
19:03
Color Replacement Brush
19:04
Gradients & the Paint Bucket Tools

31m 19s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
The Paint Bucket Tool
0:46
Color & Pattern
0:47
Opacity, Tolerance, & Blend Mode
1:09
Paint Bucket Demonstration 1: Filling a Layer
1:27
Paint Bucket Demonstration 2: Creating a Sepia Tone
2:20
Paint Bucket Demonstration 3: Changing Color Using Blend Mode, Opacity, 7 Tolerance
4:15
Paint Bucket Demonstration 4: Adding Pattern to an Image
6:44
The Gradient Tool
8:53
The Gradient Tool
8:54
The Gradient Editor
12:50
The Gradient Editor Overview
12:51
Solid Gradient vs. Noise Gradient
14:20
Color Midpoint
16:37
Creating a Gradient
21:19
Gradient Map Feature
23:57
Gradient Map Feature
23:58
Using Gradients for Layer Masks
28:21
Using Gradients for Layer Masks
28:22
Exposure & Color Corrections, Part 1

27m 54s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Mantra for Exposure & Color
0:49
Mantra for Exposure & Color
1:06
Auto Exposure/Color Controls
2:19
Auto Exposure/Color Controls: Demonstration 1
2:20
Auto Exposure/Color Controls: Demonstration 2
6:48
Manual Exposure Controls
9:12
Adjust Lighting: Brightness/Contrast
9:13
Adjust Lighting: Shadows/Highlights
11:40
Adjust Lighting: Levels
14:23
Manual Color Controls
19:25
Adjust Color: Hue/Saturation
19:26
Correcting in Quick & Guided
23:58
Exposure & Color Corrections in Quick
23:59
Exposure & Color Corrections in Guided
26:54
Lesson Summary
27:30
Exposure & Color Corrections, Part 2

22m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Comparing Camera RAW Results with Editor's Manual Exposure and Color
1:01
Comparing Camera RAW Results with Editor's Manual Exposure and Color
1:02
Removing a Color Cast
4:45
Removing a Color Cast
4:46
Color Variations
7:24
Correcting Skin Tones
10:49
Correcting Skin Tones
10:50
Converting to Black & White
13:59
Converting to Black & White
14:00
Creating a Sepia Tone Image
18:14
Creating a Sepia Tone Image
18:15
Section 5: Selections & Layers
Introduction to Selections

24m 47s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating Selections
1:04
Creating Selections Overview
1:05
Principal Selection Tools & Options
4:40
Marquee Tools & Feather
4:41
Lasso Tools
5:34
Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Selection Brush
6:30
Layer Masks
8:09
Basic Selection Shortcuts
9:02
Tools Shortcut
9:03
Add & Subtract Selection
9:51
Hide Selection
10:08
Deselect & Select All
11:02
Selection Demonstration 1: Landscape
11:33
Selection Demonstration 2: Commercial Composite
18:49
Selection Demonstration 3: Portrait
21:46
Basic Selections

23m 28s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Basic Selection Tools
1:05
Marquee Tool
1:06
Lasso Tool
6:20
Polygonal Lasso Tool
7:56
Magnetic Lasso Tool
9:57
More on Lasso Tools
11:01
Demonstration 1: Quick Selection & Magic Wand Tool
12:58
Quick Selection Tool
12:59
Magic Wand Tool & Tolerance
15:02
Quick Selection Tool, cont.
16:29
Demonstration 2: Quick Selection & Magic Wand Tool
17:40
Quick Selection Tool
17:41
Magic Wand Tool & Tolerance
19:08
Adding & Subtracting with the Lasso Tool
20:23
Adding & Subtracting with the Lasso Tool
20:24
Lesson Summary
21:54
Making Efficient & Flawless Selections

26m 20s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Feather
1:06
What is Feather?
1:07
Feather Demonstration
1:55
Selection & Feather Demonstration
7:18
Making Selection & Applying Feather: Water
7:19
Making Selection & Applying Feather: Shoreline
15:26
Selection Brush Tool

18m 33s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Selections & Masks
1:03
Selections & Masks
1:04
Selection Brush Demonstration 1: Landscape
4:36
Color Adjustment
4:37
Painting a Selection with the Selection Brush
6:24
Selection Brush Demonstration 2: Portrait
14:27
Using Selection Brush to View & Correct a Selection
14:28
Lesson Summary
17:44
Refine Edge, Part 1

16m 28s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Refine Edge Demonstration 1
1:35
Part 1: Making & Saving a Selection
1:36
Part 2: Refine Edge Dialogue Box
6:51
Part 3: Refine Edge View Mode
8:42
Part 4: Edge Detection & Smart Radius
10:10
Part 4: Compositing a New Sky
14:33
Lesson Summary
15:42
Refine Edge, Part 2

20m 4s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Selecting Hair & Correcting Clean Edge Problems
1:58
Selecting Hair
1:59
Smoothing, Contrast, Expand & Contract
5:39
Correcting Clean Edge Problems with Edge Detection
7:03
Shift Edge Demonstration
15:07
Making the Selection
15:08
Shift Edge
17:07
Lesson Summary
19:16
Layers & Adjustment Layers

20m 57s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Layer Basics
0:40
Layer Basics, Part 1
0:41
Layer Basics, Part 2
8:51
Layer Panel
9:48
New Layer
9:49
Adjustment Layer
10:17
Add Layer Mask
10:56
Layers Lock
11:14
Blend Mode
11:40
Opacity
11:51
Adjustment Layers
12:58
Adjustment Layers Overview
12:59
Example: Using Adjustment Layers
15:20
Layer Masks

25m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Layer Mask Overview
1:04
What is a Layer Mask?
1:05
Why Use Layer Mask?
6:34
Create & Modify Layer Mask Example
6:49
Sharpen the Image
7:22
Assessing the Image
9:47
Selection of the Sky & Ocean
10:50
Cove: Selection & Color Adjustment
13:16
Ocean: Selection & Color Adjustment
16:46
Sky: Selection & Color Adjustment
19:23
Land: Selection & Color Adjustment
22:40
Lesson Summary
24:00
Section 6: Retouching
Basic Retouching: Tools & Techniques

27m 18s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 1
0:43
Making a selection of the Sky
0:44
Applying the Gradient Tool to the Sky
4:38
Making a Selection of the Window
3:40
Applying the Gradient Tool to the Window
8:05
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 2
10:13
Color Variations
10:14
Adjust Color for Skin Tones
10:40
Spot Healing Brush Tool
12:08
Healing Brush Tool
14:33
Clone Stamp Tool, Part 1
15:53
Clone Stamp Tool, Part 2
21:58
Retouching Tools & How to Use Them: Part 3
25:03
Pattern Stamp Tool
25:04
Retouching People, Part 1

31m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Basic Techniques for Retouching Skin
1:22
Image Overview
1:23
Retouching Spots on the Skin
5:48
Retouching Wrinkle Around the Eyes
9:10
Retouching the Smile Line
18:02
Retouching the Neck
20:55
Basic Techniques for Retouching Eyes
25:04
Basic Techniques for Retouching Eyes
25:05
Retouching People, Part 2

12m 49s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Retouching People Using the Liquify Filter
1:27
Retouching the Cheek
1:28
Retouching the Eyes
6:47
Retouching the Body
9:31
Retouching People, Part 3

24m 47s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
More Techniques for Retouching Skin
1:16
Retouching Teeth & Lips
1:17
Retouching Skin Texture
7:34
Adjusting Levels for the Neck Area
16:36
Non-destructive Body Contouring
18:56
Non-destructive Body Contouring 1
18:57
Non-destructive Body Contouring 2
22:01
Lesson Summary
23:02
Section 7: Photo Composites
Creating Photo Composites

22m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:05
Selecting the Composite Pieces
1:11
Selecting the Composite Pieces Overview
1:12
Size & Lighting
3:20
Perspective & Color Match
7:22
Creating the Composite
9:23
Creating a Flawless Element Edge
9:24
Moving Layer From One File to Another
17:31
Moving the Rose Behind the Petals
18:31
Changing the Color of the Rose
20:24
Lesson Summary
22:03
Section 8: Text
Creating Type

22m 42s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Creating Type: Part 1
0:39
Type Tool Overview
0:52
Inserting, Deleting, & Moving Texts
4:02
Font Families
5:06
Font Styles
6:03
Font Size
7:05
Leading
7:32
Font Color
9:17
Alignment
9:23
Faux Bold, Faux Italic, Faux Underline, & Faux Strikethrough
10:53
Creating Type: Part 2
12:08
Orientation and Warping
12:09
Clipping Type to a Photo, Texture, & Pattern
14:19
Adding a Layer Style(s) to Text
18:02
Section 9: Filters & Effects
Filters & Effects

24m 20s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
The Filter Gallery
0:38
Filters Overview
0:39
Mosaic Tiles
1:17
Texturize
1:40
Craquelure
2:48
Bas Relief
3:34
Applying Blend Mode with Filter 1
4:16
Photocopy
5:19
Applying Blend Mode with Filter 2
5:44
Glass
7:20
Blend Modes
9:00
Blend Modes Overview
9:53
Effects
12:41
Vintage Photo
13:49
Monotone Color
14:44
Old Photo
15:28
Misc. Effects
17:48
Faded Photo
19:33
Lesson Summary
21:56
Photo Effects with Guided Edit
22:34
Section 10: Cool Features
Creating Black & White Photo and Using the Colorize Option

21m 16s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating Black & White Photo
1:50
Grayscale Mode
1:51
Desaturate with Hue/Saturation
3:51
Converting to Black & White: Example 1
4:41
Converting to Black & White: Example 2
8:25
Colorizing an Image
14:01
Colorizing an Image
14:02
Adding a Vignette
14:59
Adding a Border
19:22
Creating a 3D Photo Frame

23m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Creating a 3D Photo Frame
1:14
Part 1: Creating the Matte Board
1:15
Part 2: Adding Shadow
6:31
Part 3: Adding Texture to the Frame
10:50
Part 4: Adding a Frame
14:12
Part 5: Adding a Signature
17:50
Lesson Summary
22:35
Creating a Photo Book, Part 1

12m 24s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:07
Preparing Your Photographic Images
2:00
Creating a New Album & Arranging the Images
2:01
Photobook Basic Layout Option
6:25
Photobook Basic Layout Option
6:26
The Photobook Workspace
9:12
The Photobook Workspace
9:13
Creating a Photo Book, Part 2

17m 24s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:08
Adding, Adjusting, & Modifying Images
1:06
Adding, Adjusting, & Modifying Images
1:07
Editing Types
6:55
Replacing an Image
7:55
Customizing the Photobook Appearance
8:50
Modifying Page Layouts
8:51
Adding Frames & Graphics
3:13
Saving & Printing Your Photobook
15:47
Saving & Printing Your Photobook
15:48
Lesson Summary
16:32
Creating a Photo Calendar

23m 26s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Preparing Your Images for Photo Calendar
1:23
Organizing Your Images
1:24
Calendar Layout Options
4:20
The Calendar Workspace
5:23
Adjusting & Modifying Images
5:24
Customizing the Photo Calendar Appearance
14:41
Lesson Summary
19:41
The Photomerge Feature

25m 54s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Overview
0:06
Shooting Images for a Panorama
2:06
Hold the Camera Steady
2:07
Overlap Your Images
3:23
Use the Same Exposure for Each Image
4:54
Apply Exact Same corrections to Every Image
5:24
Incorrect way to Shoot Images for a Panorama
6:03
Correct Way to Shoot Images for a Panorama
7:22
Photomerge: Panoramas
8:18
Panoramas Layout
8:19
Cylinder& Perspective
12:32
Spherical & Collage
14:34
Photomerge: Group Shot
16:08
Group Shot
16:07
Photomerge: Style Match
20:02
Style Match: Example 1
20:03
Style Match: Example 2
23:57
Lesson Summary
25:09
Section 11: Course Summary
Lesson Summary

9m 40s

Intro
0:00
Lesson Summary
0:06
Organizer, Camera RAW, & Editor
0:59
Corrections, Selections, Retouching, & Manipulation
2:02
Two Important Axioms
4:20
Demonstration Review
5:26
Personal Philosophy
8:31
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Lecture Comments (1)

0 answers

Post by David Löfqvist on March 1, 2016

Hi! The subtitles in this video is sometimes really hard to read because there are so many lines. One or two lines at the time on the screen is enough. I loved this introduction! I never realised how important masks are before!

Introduction to Selections

Lecture Slides are screen-captured images of important points in the lecture. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.

  • Intro 0:00
  • Lesson Overview 0:07
  • Creating Selections 1:04
    • Creating Selections Overview
  • Principal Selection Tools & Options 4:40
    • Marquee Tools & Feather
    • Lasso Tools
    • Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Selection Brush
    • Layer Masks
  • Basic Selection Shortcuts 9:02
    • Tools Shortcut
    • Add & Subtract Selection
    • Hide Selection
    • Deselect & Select All
  • Selection Demonstration 1: Landscape 11:33
  • Selection Demonstration 2: Commercial Composite 18:49
  • Selection Demonstration 3: Portrait 21:46

Transcription: Introduction to Selections

Hi, everybody--Mike Brown back with you again, with another lesson in Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 from Educator.com!0000

Well, in the last two lessons, we dealt with exposure and color--making exposure and color corrections overall, to an entire image.0007

It worked pretty well; however, we could still have done much better than that by isolating specific areas for correction.0016

In this and the following two lessons, we're going to deal with the most important technique in Photoshop Elements.0026

If you remember my four categories--selections, corrections, retouch, and manipulation--you have now learned the corrections, which are exposure and color, but selections are the most important technique in Photoshop Elements.0032

We're going to talk about what they are, the importance of selections, the primary selection tools, panels, and options in overview, and selection shortcuts, and I'm going to show you a few samples that will show you precisely the value of using selections.0047

So, let's get started!0062

Creating selections is the most important technique in Photoshop Elements.0066

What is a selection? A selection allows you to precisely isolate an area of your image for making specific and precise modifications or corrections.0072

When I mean precise, it doesn't mean necessarily a very sharp edge; sometimes you need a broad, soft selection to blend slowly into something; sometimes you need a very sharp-edged selection to cut out a specific element.0084

Accurate selections immediately provide you the means to take your images to a quality and creative level far beyond just making the overall adjustments.0100

This feature alone sets Elements apart from any of the many plug-ins and apps that claim to be able to work wonders to your images.0111

In today's world, we have smartphones; we have tablets; we have laptops; we can even have iWatches coming out pretty soon; all of these have photographic capabilities, and they all have little apps that you can buy to take your photographs and retouch them and fix them up, and then put them up on the Web or print them.0121

But, they really only do generalizations; they are not super precise, because you are dealing with--first of all, the tablets are pretty small, and you're dealing with your fingers, not working with graphic tablets to make precision stuff; they're not really what...but they do a decent job; but if you're working seriously in photography, and you want your stuff to look absolutely flawless, even better than you can do with any of these apps, that is what Photoshop Elements is all about.0142

That involves selections--the most important technique--my mantra is very simple.0171

Even if some of those apps, by the way, can do a decent job of improving, none of them are able to make the quality precision selections you can here in Elements.0178

If you can't select it, you can't correct it: it's that simple.0187

If a selection is not perfect, and blends perfectly, the effects or corrections that you apply to the selected area will not blend flawlessly into the image, and will immediately scream, "Photoshop!"0192

You have all seen it; you have seen pictures where somebody has stripped a person into an image, and the edges are not perfect; you can see the little outline around it; you know perfectly well that it was fake.0206

You have seen all sorts of stuff--hands; everything you look at; "Oh, yes, that's Photoshop"; that is why "Photoshopped" is a term in the dictionary--because of mistakes, not because of how great it is.0217

In this series of lessons, I'm going to be showing you the entire array of tools and techniques of selecting, and how to use them to create perfect selections for any situation.0230

You're going to learn to do this easily and efficiently, and that is the key; if you get bogged down, spending a lot of time trying to make an accurate selection, you're going to give up and just move on.0241

But, if I make it easy, quick, and flawless, you're going to use it, and what is going to happen then is, once you understand what type of selection you need for a situation, and how to quickly and accurately create it, the quality level of your images will go up dramatically, and the creative possibilities become endless; because now, you know what you can do to your image, and how well you can do it, it allows you to visualize photographically entirely differently.0251

So, let's get started looking at selections!0280

Let's go over the principal selection tools, and their options, very quickly; in the next lesson, we'll attack them specifically.0284

All of these selection tools are gathered under the Select category in the Toolbar.0292

We have the Marquee tools up here in the upper right, and if you'll hover, you will see the shortcut: the letter M, for Marquee tools.0297

We have an elliptical or a rectangular; the elliptical draws ellipses or circles; the rectangular does rectangles.0308

You have an option for feather, which is the thickness and softness of a selection edge; and feather is so vitally important--we will probably have a lesson on it specifically, because that is the blend area where things blend in and make it perfect.0316

There are your Marquee tools; under the Lasso tools, which are right below the Move tool: we have three of them.0332

We have the Freehand lasso, which does freehand selections; we have the Polygonal lasso tool, which allows you to make precise straightedge selections; and the third one is the Magnetic lasso, which I am not a believer in, because it tries to find edges, and ostensibly it does a wonderful job--but if the edge isn't absolutely perfect, it searches around, and it's going to drop points all over the place, and you're going to spend more time correcting it than you will making it.0340

The other two tools will do a better job 99% of the time.0370

And, with the Lasso tools, we have the Refine Edge dialogue box, which, by the way, appears with all selection tools.0376

That takes care of the Lasso tools.0386

Now, the Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Selection Brush--all three of these are under the lower-right-hand one.0390

Here is the Quick Selection tool, the Selection Brush, and the Magic Wand.0398

If you are working in Adobe Photoshop Elements 10, the shortcut for the Magic Wand is W, and it sits separately as a singular tool.0403

The Quick Selection and Selection Brush are grouped, and their shortcut is the letter A.0414

Now, the wand also is grouped in here, and it has the shortcut of A, not W.0424

Now, the Quick Selection tool looks for edges of contrast and color--that is how it does its selection; so it defines edges.0431

The Magic Wand tool: what it does--it works on areas of similar color--for example, the sky--and you can adjust the range of color by adjusting what is called the tolerance slider.0441

The larger the tolerance, the wider the range of color; so, you can tighten it or broaden it to suit your needs.0454

The third one is the one that you're going to use an awful lot; this is the Selection Brush.0462

It allows you to just simply paint selections and masks (masks are the blocked-out area; selections are the active area).0466

You can actually painting, and see what you are painting, of a mask, and then, once you have made the mask, just simply reverse it, and it's now a selected area--very cool tool.0477

There you have all of them; and the fifth and final one would be layer masks, which we will be dealing with when we attack layers.0488

A layer mask is a saved selection that is attached to a layer, so that it affects whatever the function is, only of that layer; very cool, but it's basically just a selection.0500

So, Marquee, Lasso, Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and Selection Brush are your selection tools, and we have feather, the tolerance for the Magic Wand, and the Refine Edge box, which allows all sorts of modifications--softening the edges, making it expand and contract--all sorts of cool stuff--and it allows you (this is new for Photoshop CS6) to select hair and fine details accurately--it's absolute magic.0513

All right, let's take a look at our selection shortcuts very quickly.0542

I'll be putting these in the Quick Notes for this lesson.0546

The tools: Marquee tools--the shortcut for Marquee tools (which starts with the letter M) is the letter M; all you do is hit the letter M, and you notice that the Marquee tool highlighted and popped up.0550

The shortcut for the Lasso tools is the letter L; if I hit L, notice it highlighted and popped up the options for the Lasso tools.0564

Quick Selection, Magic Wand, and the Selection Brush are all the letter A, and there you see: when I hit A, up came those options.0574

The operations (we'll deal more with this in detail) that make making selections so easy: if you are making a selection, and you need to add a piece, you very simply hold down your shift key and keep going with the tool.0583

If you make a mistake and go too far, and need to subtract something, you hold your Option key on a Mac/Alt on a PC, and fix it; so, you can just do this on the fly.0599

To hide the crawling ants--and let me identify what crawling ants are--I made a selection here, and you see the little dashed line that keeps moving around here?--the colloquial term for this is "crawling ants."0609

What that is defining is just the edge of your selection--not the thickness of the edge; just the broad border of a selected area.0625

So, you can tell where the selection is.0635

To hide these crawling ants (because, if you're making an adjustment, you really don't want to see that edge--you want to see that blend), you do Command on a Mac/Control on a PC, and the letter H (which I'm going to do--Command+H).0640

Now, you saw that it went away; it did not deselect the selection; it's still there; it just hid the crawling ants; Command+H brings them back.0653

If I want to deselect a selection, what letter do you think we might use in combination with Command on a Mac/Control on a PC?--D for deselect, H for hide, A for all.0662

Command/Control+D deselects; Command/Control+A (notice the crawling ants are around the entire image) selects all; Command/Control+D...these are your basic shortcuts that you use while you are working with selections.0676

That sums up the generalities; let me show you the value of selections, using three different types of pictures: a landscape, a commercial composite with very fine detail, and a portrait.0691

We're going to start with a landscape; this is the landscape that you guys remember (I want to get rid of this right now) from our last lesson in exposure and color.0705

We first took this raw image, and we applied overall Brightness and Contrast--did that; overall Levels--did that--it looks a lot better; but it was still a little bit bright in the rocks and the sky and the water, so we went to Shadows and Highlights.0717

Now, the water looks pretty decent; so does the shoreline; but it flattened things out, because it brought the highlights down and the shadows up; it looks good, but it's a little flat.0734

We would like to fix some of those things.0744

Then, we took the Shadows and Highlights, and we added Levels, which popped it just a little bit, and it looks nice; but watch how easily and how quickly we can make it even better by using selections.0746

I'm going to go to the Selection Brush tool, and I'm going to put it as a mask.0760

I'm going to have a soft brush, with a hardness of 0, because we'll paint, and the first thing we're going to attack is the river.0766

We're going to just select the water area by painting, and notice--soft-edge brush--all I'm doing is painting very generally--I don't care if the edge goes over just a little bit--because it's going to blend in pretty well.0774

Make the brush a little smaller to pick up that area, and pick up that in there, and that is it.0788

Now, I'm going to go open the options, and I'm going to turn the mask--now, the mask--in a selection, masking blocks the effect; if I apply an effect right now, it's going to affect everything but the water.0794

I turn it into a selection, and the way you can tell that it's not going to be affecting the water is--see, out on the outer part of the image--the crawling ants are there, and around the water, and if I bring the mask back, you see that the water is masked; everything else is not.0809

You say, "Well, how do I fix that?"; I have the selection--I simply reverse it by doing Inverse, and now, you can see, everything else is masked--very simple.0829

You have the water ready, so I'm going to leave it as a selection, and I'm going to make an enhancement, but I'm going to do it with what is called a layer adjustment.0839

The same controls for lighting and color are right up here on the top, and apply as layers.0849

This is the power of Photoshop Elements that we will be dealing with; right now, I'm going to take our Levels and apply it.0854

I want you to look right up at the top; a layer appeared for Levels, and you notice (I'm going to just turn off the box) the thumbnail that is black and white; if I hold my Option/Alt and click it, there is the selected area, right there, that we made by painting.0863

The black area is protected, and the white area is the only place where the adjustment will occur.0883

Now, let's take that Levels, and let's work it.0890

Watch the water; I'm going to snap the contrast, and notice that it only affects that water area where I made the selection; so I'm going to snap the contrast, which darkened it, and then I'm going to take the white point and brighten it up just a little bit.0894

Snap it just a little bit more, and we'll turn it off and on; there was the water before--kind of flat and blended in with everything; and now, I popped it a little bit--it got dark.0910

But, we're not done yet: we're going to reload that same selection; there it sits; and now, I'm going to do an adjustment for hue saturation that will only affect the water.0922

We're just going to bring up the color in the water, and there we have it; so now, look at the difference: here is where we were from our overalls--it looks kind of cool: we put in exposure and hue saturation, and look at the river now--a distinctive difference from what we could do with just the generals.0934

Now, we have that; so now, let's work on the trees and pop them a little bit.0956

Make another mask by painting with the selection brush, very quickly--just the greenery is all we're going to work with on this.0960

The trees right there--we painted that--and I'm doing it generally, because we can let it blend right in with everything else.0972

I'm going to take these trees and greenery right here, and see how easy that was?--we have it; I'm going to come back, and I'm going to now open up the Options, make a selection--see, it's on the outside; we'll invert the selection; I'll show you again by making a mask.0979

Now, I'm only working on the greenery.0995

Go back to the selection; let's go up here, and we'll use our Levels again, and snap the contrast in the trees, and bring up the color.0999

Look at the dramatic difference there; I snapped it from just kind of flat to snap--we could even pop that just a little bit more, bring it on up...look at that--wow!1009

That really brought it out; so, look at the distinct difference in the greenery--it just jumps at you and has some depth to it.1021

The only other thing we're going to deal with (we can deal with the sky, and we could also deal with the mountains, but just in reference to time here)--I'm going to work on the shoreline very quickly--once more, with a mask.1027

We're going to paint the shoreline--just go in and just do the same thing with a soft-edge brush.1040

I'm going to avoid the dark rocks, because I don't want to make them any darker; we have that; go to the Options; make a selection; invert it; and I'll show you again that now, the protected area is everything except just the rocks and the shoreline.1046

Now, we're going to do the same thing again; let's get rid of that; let's go do a Levels exposure control, snap the contrast--and look at the color that came up with that!--up the white just a little bit, and now I'm going to reload that selection and do a hue saturation, and we're going to pop the saturation in the earth; and look at all the color that came out in that, right now!1063

What we did: (let's turn it all off) this is where we are right now--look at the drama in that image; I can do a little more here in the sky, but watch.1088

This is where we had worked it to, overall--it looks nice; then, we put Levels and color in the water; then we adjusted the greenery, and then we adjusted the foreground area.1095

Look at the dramatic difference: before...and after--all taking selections to make some additional modifications after we had done all of our overalls.1107

A really dramatic result, and very easy.1120

OK, let me show you a couple more examples, and then we will get on to the next lesson and actually use them.1124

Here is a commercial composite that I made for the Chevrolet dealer.1129

What I have here is a new Camaro, in speed, driving around a corner in the mountains, with the logo of the dealer in the background.1135

Well, the original photograph--this is the Chevrolet right here; I shot it in the dealer's lot, and if you can see, when I got finished with it, the wheels are now spinning; the background (which--let's see if I can bring the background out)--there was our original background there; I have actually made the background move.1144

But, I want you to notice that the car has been stripped in, or composited in, a background, and look at the difference: you can't see any evidence along the edge of the car that it was composited.1170

Look at how perfect the edge of that car is.1185

I'm going to show you the selection for the car, right now; this is the power of making a precision selection, which you can only do here in Photoshop Elements or in Photoshop.1189

Here is the selection of the car: take a look at the selection edge.1201

Let me bring this brush way down; I'm going to blow it way up.1206

Look at how precisely--just a little clean smoothness--how smoothly and perfectly that edge goes around the automobile.1209

That can be done very easily; and then, we have other areas where I needed to make selections.1221

Let's go up to the top here; here is one for the logo for the dealer that need to be stripped in.1228

If I undo that, you will see that the logo has a perfectly clean edge with at drop shadow; you can't see any evidence that it was composited--you know it was, but it's a perfect job.1237

Then, for the wheels, where we did the spinning, right here (I think this is the front wheel)--there is your front wheel, and you notice it's a little, tiny bit soft, right in this area, where there was some shadowing, but look at the precision around the edge of the tire, so that it looks perfect when it's stripped together.1248

There is the power of using extremely precise selections; and oh, by the way, we have some more; let me just show you really quickly.1271

There is the roadway; there is the shadow of the car, and look at the base of the car--how perfectly that fits around the wheels; everything is absolutely precise, so that there is no way that this is a giveaway that this particular shot was not an original photograph.1279

That is the value of selections, there.1304

Let's show you the last one: here is a portrait that was taken by a friend of mine of this young lady.1306

Here is the original photograph (let's zoom it out one time and come up slightly); she looks really nice, but you can see that the lips are imperfect; her skin needs to be smoothed out a little bit; she has these bags under the eyes--just a hair; the eyes are not white, and in the area of her chest and chin, it's a little dark from the lighting.1315

Let's show you how selections worked right here.1340

Here are the selections, as masks attached to layers; right here is a selection that was painted fairly easily, just like we did with the landscape, to isolate just the skin area down there for color and exposure.1344

And, if you will see, notice how that has been cleaned up, and it blends perfectly--you cannot see any evidence at all of any edges in there.1360

Now, with the lips (let's go find the lips; I think they are right here--no, that is below the lips; let's see--they should be here somewhere; perhaps...there we are): there are the lips; we made a pretty precise selection with a little smoothness--just a little bit, so that it's not absolutely a sharp edge, so that the exposure--notice; and I'll turn it off and on--we have no evidence; you can't see the edging at all--perfect blend.1371

Let's go up to the eyes and take a look at that.1406

Here are the eyes right here; hue saturation cleaned up the area (let's just load that so you can see it); that was to whiten up the eye--notice, it took a little pink out; there is the selection right there.1411

At any rate, what you see is that we have broad selections; we have precise selections with smoother edges, and all.1427

Oh, the one big one--let's show you the one here--was the face; and a multiple-painted selection here, so that we could isolate the skin areas and not affect the eyes, the eyebrows, the nose, or the mouth when we smoothed the skin out.1434

Let me show you the difference right up in here; you can see absolutely no evidence of edging.1456

That is the whole key with all of these selections: perfect, flawless blending.1464

There we did a landscape--very easily, a very precise commercial job, and a portrait, all utilizing selections from Photoshop Elements 11.1470

In the next lesson, I'm going to show you how to do this--so I'll see you back in the next lesson!1481

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