Thread: *** Photoshop Help Thread ***
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Old Nov 21, 2007 | 05:51 PM
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HoosierDaddy
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I added new rules, make sure to check them out.

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Desaturation

Some photos look good with a black and white background, or in black and white all together. In Photoshop terms this is called Desaturation or Grayscale. In this summary I am going to show you how to desaturate the background out of a photo and make a certain item the main focus.

1). Open the image it is that you would like to edit.

2). Duplicate the image layer once. You will end up with 2layers total. After you do this, delete the original background layer that is locked (Right Click the layer >> Delete Layer) It will say 'Background' and have a lock appear next to it.

3). With the layer (the one you duplicated) selected, select the Polygonal Lasso Tool. With this tool you are going to trace around the item you want to be in color. To make this easier, you will want to zoom in. Simply click the Zoom Tool and click anywhere on the image. Everytime you click, it zooms in more. Once you get to a desired zoom and is easy for you to trace with, click a starting point with the Polygonal Lasso Tool.

4). Trace your way around the image, make sure to include any colored parts of the item that you are keeping colorized. If it has a shadow or dark spots, it is ok to not be as precise around these. Since the background will be desaturated the shadows and dark spots will basically blend in. Remember -- I did not worry about the cars shadow.

5). With the car traced and selected, go to Edit >> Copy. Now go to Edit >> Paste to paste the traced out image onto a new layer. You will now have two layers.

6). Finally, select the bottom layer, the original picture. Go to Image >> Adjustments >> Desaturate. Don't worry if you have some color left! We will fix this.

7). Now, if you have a little bit of unwanted color here and there, simply click the layer that the pasted item is on. Click the Eraser Tool and use a small brush stroke size to erase the unwanted color. Basically you are erasing the car and the original photo will show through.

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