Sept 14: Making and manipulating Selections (topics from chpt 4and 5)

First In class assignment: Selecting
In our first class I whizzed through making selctions using only 3 selection tools. Today we will take a slower pace and have you work with all the selectin tools to compose a new image.

The instructions will be itialicized; please follow them as we go through them in class or on your own.

From the tutorial in PS Elements:

Tool 1: Rectanglular marquee tool Task:

1. First create a new empty image approximately 8 by 8 inches : try 98 pixels per inch ( windows) or 72 dpi (mac) for resolution.
Note how big the file size is. The size is =_______Can you afford to build an image this large for a web site? Usually images for web sites should be only 40-70 K. If the image you are creating is too large we will compress it later on by using the "saving for web" command.
For now just note the size. This is located on top where it states Pixel Dimensions.
While you have the image size slide open play with the resolution. If we were to make it a printable picture ( 300 dpi) how big will the image ( pixel dimensions) size get? _________
Give a name to your new file so you know what it is called and name it "composite". Make sure your save it periodically as you make your changes to it, and let me see what the final product is.

2. Still keeping your new image open ( saved as composite), now Open the image entilted rectangular image.

To use the marquee tools:
Select a marquee tool in the toolbar:
* Rectangular marquee to make a rectangular selection.
* Elliptical marquee to make an elliptical selection.

In the options bar ( NOTE the horizontal bar at the top!), specify whether you want to create a new selection , add to a selection , subtract from a selection , or select an area intersected by other selections .What do you think these other options do? we'll try them later on.
For now You will create a new selection.

If you had a complex background you might want to blend in your selection In that case to soften the selection border so that it blends into the area outside the selection, you would enter a Feather value in the options bar. However for now you will be creating a clean background so ignore the feather feature ( set to 0)

Note also there are 3 choices under Style ( right - after the anti-aliased choice)

When making a:
* Normal selection, You could press the Shift key as you drag to constrain the selection to a square or circle (useful for some of the images you need to select next.
* Fixed Aspect Ratio to set a width-to-height ratio for the selection border. Enter values (decimal values can be used) for the aspect ratio. For example, to draw a marquee twice as wide as it is high, enter 2 for the width and 1 for the height.
* Fixed Size to specify values for the marquee's height and width in inches, centimeters, or pixels. If you use pixel measurements, enter values in whole numbers, and keep in mind that the number of pixels in one inch depends on the resolution of the image.

At this point we will just use a regular non-fixed marquee to select and copy the green rectangular object in the image called recatangular.

Select the whole rectangular object, ( so you see the dotted line completely enclosing the object) and copy it by using the control at the same time you hit the letter c button ( c = copy; x = cut out: v = paste) You will save time if you use these quick button shortcuts.

After you copy it, then move to the empty "composite" image page and paste it ( control v)

Now choose the elliipictal tool to select, copy and paste the red figure onto a NEW layer in your composite file! Thus before you choose the red ellipse, go to Window: layers and go ahead and make a new layers for you to paste the ellipse onto, as well as a circle layer and a layer for the star. You can hit the name for each layer ( double click twice) and give it a unique name to keep them straight! To make a new layer go the bottom of the layer screen and there is a "page" in the middle between the garbage can and adjustment layers. Just click on it for your new layer. It looks like a "post-it"

Why paste these selections on different layers? So you can move each image later on indepentenly which is quite important for fine composition and also to idividually adjust each layer by using different filters.

Note, if you chose the elliptical marquee, you can select Anti-aliased in the options bar to smooth the edges of your selection.
Try to use the ellipitical marquee to select the red ellipse and copy it. Its not easy but try anyway even if you don't get a perfect tracing.
Next use the ellipse/shift to copy the circle and paste the circle onto to the circle layer. One trick is to make the initial selction in the elllipse or circle smaller than the actual shape.. then go ontop to the column marked SELECT and go down to GROW or Similiar.. you circle will grow to the size you want! try it out..this makes creating a selction so much easier. However this generally only works for clearly delined or solid objects.

Lasso Tool

For the star it wouldn't make sense to use the marquee tools. Now move on to the lasso tool. YOU have three options here.. the free form, the polygon magnetic and the free magnetic tool. In this case either the polygon shape or the magnetic would do. Use either to paste the star onto its proper layer. You can adjust the precision of the magnetic lasso tool by going tothe top --> options bar and adjusting the width, the edge contrast or frequency of the anchor points. Try adjusting these to see how they affect your ease of selecting an object. Remember to click twice at the end of your selecting process to complete the selction or you can click twice within the selection image to complete it on its own.

You can move the stacked layers ( higher to lower) down a lower position to place one object over another. You pull from the upper layers down to move the layers.

When you have all 4 layers completed, move the objects within them by using the "move " tool which is to the right of the rectangular/ellipse marquees, to create a "nice" composition, and save it as .psd file or a .jpg file. Wow.. your first composition!

Next! Add or subtract from a selection

Choose any of the shapes. First add a small selection area within the shape using the rectangular or elliptical marquee tools.. Then go up to the horizontal options bar above, and go to the 5th image from the left which is the "add to selection" button. Add some more area with a smaller sized marquee. Can you eventually fill up the whole shape this way? The icon next to the above is "subtract from selection". Try this as well.

Magic Wand

Now lets use the magic wand to select a similiar colored object. Click the magic wand tool. Type a number from 0 to 255 into the Tolerance field.. to select a narrow range of colors use a small number, for a wide range of colors use a bigger number.

With the examples I gave you earlier to work with: Rectangular this should be easy Now click on the parliment picture: parliment river pic . In this latter picture, make the sky more sunny-like by:

selecting the sky only,
the go to Enhance>adjust lightness>levels.
First take the traingular maker on the bottom left of the histogram to adjust the darkness by shifting it to the most left edge of the histogram above.
Then take the right triangle (light/white) marker and move it to the right most end of the histogram above.
Finally adjust the sky's lightness by moving the center marker carefully.
There, you've made a gray day into a sunny one!

NOTE : If you want to add to your selection as you go along on a more difficult object, you press SHIFT and click elesewhere in the image. Photoshop will add to your selection. To delete selected pixels press DELETE. This technique is use for selecting wide broad areas like the sky to lighten etc.

More specifically:
1. Select the magic wand tool .
2. In the options bar, specify whether to create a new selection , add to an existing selection , subtract from a selection , or select an area intersected by other selections .
3. For Tolerance, enter a value between 0 to 255. Enter a low value to select colors very similar to the pixel you click, or enter a higher value to select a broader range of colors.
4. To define a smooth selection edge, select Anti-aliased. (See Softening the edges of a selection.)
5. To select only adjacent areas using the same colors, select Contiguous. When this option is deselected, pixels using the same colors are selected throughout the entire image.
6. To select colors using data from all the visible layers, select Use All Layers. When this option is deselected, the magic wand tool selects colors from only the active layer.
7. In the image, click the color you want to select. If Contiguous is selected, all adjacent pixels within the tolerance range are selected.

________________________________________________________________________________________

II. Second In/Out class assignment: Painting and Masking Selctions

Open the image entitled: rectangular again
To use the selection brush tool:
1. Select the selection brush tool in the toolbox.(below the lasso)
2. In the options bar, choose a brush from the brush presets pop-up palette .
3. To set the brush size, drag the Size pop-up slider.
4. From the Mode menu, choose one of the following:
* Selection to drag over the area you want to select, and to display a selection border with moving dashes. If a selection already exists, this option adds to the selection. To remove from the selection, press Alt (Windows) while dragging.

Next: Set the Mode option to Mask, set the color (green) and opacity of the overlay color:

* Mask to drag over the area you want outside the selection, and to display a color overlay over that area. If a selection already exists, this option subtracts from the selection. To add to the selection, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) while dragging.
* To set the color, click the Overlay Color swatch and select a color in the Color Picker.
* To set the opacity, drag the Overlay Opacity pop-up slider, or enter a percentage between 0 and 100 in the text box.
If you use a soft-edged brush with the selection brush tool, changing the Mode option to Mask can help you see the soft edges of the selection.

Paint the red ellipse with a green paint so it is completely covered. Now go to Filter--> Texture--> Mosaic. Note that everything will be converted to mosaics except that part you protected with the mask. This is great where you have a complicated shape and a brush will work more effectively!

If you have time: Editing the layer mask of adjustment or fill layers Try out the below. Otherwise we will do this later.

A layer mask protects sections of a layer (or the entire layer) from being edited, and can be used to show or hide sections of an image or layer effect. When the layer mask is attached to an adjustment layer, it's used to control which areas of the underlying layers are affected by the adjustment layer. When the layer mask is attached to a fill layer, it's used to define the area that's filled in the fill layer.
You can edit the mask of an adjustment layer or fill layer. If you made a selection before you added the adjustment or fill layer, a mask is automatically created for the selected area. If you didn't select an area beforehand, all areas of an adjustment or fill layer are "unmasked".
Editing a mask involves painting or erasing with black, white, or shades of gray. When you select an adjustment or fill layer in the Layers palette, the color swatches in the toolbox are black and white. To add to the mask, paint with black or erase with white. The mask defines areas that aren't affected by an adjustment or fill layer. To subtract from the mask, paint with white or erase with black. Subtracting from the mask increases the area affected by an adjustment or fill layer. Painting or erasing in shades of gray will remove areas from the mask and add areas to the mask in various levels of transparency.
Adjustment layer with triangular mask added

To edit the layer mask for an adjustment or fill layer:
1. Select the adjustment layer or fill layer in the Layers palette.
2. Select the paintbrush tool, or any painting or editing tool.
3. Use the following methods to view the layer mask:
* Alt-click (Windows) or Option-click (Mac OS) the layer's leftmost thumbnail to view only the grayscale mask. Alt/Option-click the thumbnail again to redisplay the other layers.
* Hold down Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Mac OS), and click the layer's leftmost thumbnail to view the mask in a red masking color. Hold down Alt/Option+Shift and click the thumbnail again to turn off the red display.
4. To constrain editing to part of the mask, make a selection. (See Selecting pixels.)
5. Edit the layer mask:
* To remove areas of the adjustment effect or fill, paint the layer mask with black.
* To add areas to the adjustment effect or fill, paint the layer mask with white.
* To partially remove the adjustment effect or fill so that it shows in various levels of transparency, paint the layer mask with gray. (Double-click the foreground color swatch in the toolbox to choose a gray shade in the Color Picker.) The extent to which the effect or fill is removed depends on the tones of gray you use to paint. Darker shades are more transparent; lighter shades are more opaque.
Shift-click the mask thumbnail (the layer's rightmost thumbnail) in the Layers palette to turn off the mask; click the thumbnail again to turn on the mask.

Once you have an object selected you can copy it, move it, paste it, duplicate it and so on. Lets try some of these actions.

Deleting selected areas
-To delete a selected area in your image, choose Edit > Clear, or press Backspace (Windows).. To cut a selection to the Clipboard, choose Edit > Cut.
NOTE : If you delete a selection on a background layer or a layer that uses the Lock Transparency option (located in the Layers palette), Photoshop Elements replaces the selected area with the current background color, which appears in the toolbox.

To copy a selection:
1. Select the area you want to copy.
2. Do one of the following:
* Choose Edit > Copy to copy the selection to the Clipboard.
* Choose Edit > Copy Merged to copy all layers in the selected area to the Clipboard.

To paste one selection into another selection border:
1. Use the Cut or Copy command to copy the part of the image you want to paste.
2. Make a selection in the image into which you want to paste the copied image.
Note: The copied image appears only within the selection border. You can move the copied image within the border, but if you move it completely out of the border, it won't be visible.
3. Choose Edit > Paste Into.
4. With your pointer within the selection border, drag the pasted image to the proper location.
5. When you're satisfied with the results, deselect the pasted image to lock the layer.

To rotate or flip a layer, selection, or shape:
1. Select the layer, area, or shape you want to transform.
2. Choose Image > Rotate, and choose one of the following commands from the submenu:
* Layer/Selection 90° Left to rotate counterclockwise by a quarter-turn.
* Layer/Selection 90° Right to rotate clockwise by a quarter-turn.
* Layer/Selection 180° to rotate by a half-turn.
* Flip Layer/Selection Horizontal to flip horizontally.
* Flip Layer/Selection Vertical to flip vertically.
To freely rotate a layer, selection, or shape:
1. Select the layer, area, or shape you want to rotate.
2. Choose Image > Rotate > Free Rotate Layer/Selection. A bounding box appears in the image.
3. By default, the rotation occurs around the center of your selection. To change this behavior, click a square on the reference point locator in the options bar.
Each square on the reference point locator represents a point on the bounding box. For example, to set the reference point to the top left corner of the bounding box, click the top left square on the reference point locator.
4. Do one of the following:
* Move the pointer outside of the bounding border (it becomes a curved, two-sided arrow) , and then drag. To constrain the rotation to 15° increments, hold down Shift as you drag.
* Type an angle of rotation (-180 to 180) in the angle degree text box of the options bar. A positive value rotates clockwise, and a negative value rotates counterclockwise.
5. Do one of the following:
* To commit the transformation, double-click inside the bounding box, click the Commit button in the options bar, or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
* To cancel the transformation, click the Cancel button in the options bar, or press Esc.

To freely transform a layer:
1. Select the layer, area, or shape you want to transform.
2. By default, any rotation occurs around the center of your selection. To change this behavior, click a square on the reference point locator in the options bar.
Each square on the reference point locator represents a point on the bounding box. For example, to set the reference point to the top left corner of the bounding box, click the top left square on the reference point locator.
3. Choose Image > Transform > Free Transform. If you are transforming a shape with the custom shape tool selected, choose Image > Transform Shape > Free Transform Shape.
4. Do one or more of the following:
* To scale, drag any handle on the bounding box. To scale the width and height proportionally, either press Shift as you drag a corner handle, or click the Maintain Aspect Ratio button in the options bar and then drag a corner handle.
* To rotate, move the pointer outside of the bounding box (it becomes a curved, two-sided arrow) , and then drag. Press Shift to constrain the rotation to 15° increments.
* To distort freely, press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and drag any handle. When positioned over a handle, the pointer becomes a gray arrowhead .
* To skew, press Ctrl+Shift (Windows) or Command+Shift (Mac OS), and drag a handle in the middle of a side of the bounding box. When positioned over a side handle, the pointer becomes a gray arrowhead with a small double arrow .
* To apply perspective, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS), and drag a corner handle. When positioned over a corner handle, the pointer becomes a gray arrowhead .
To undo the last handle adjustment, choose Edit > Undo.
5. Do one of the following:
* To commit the transformation, double-click inside the bounding box, click the Commit button in the options bar, or press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS).
* To cancel the transformation, click the Cancel button in the options bar, or press Esc.

For those with extra time on your hands....