Photoshop Elements
Project 8
Making a New Layer with Selection

Getting Started

1. Open the file “Project 8 Bob Johnson”
2. Copy original image to a 5” x 7” canvas as we did in project 7.
3. Make sure the “Undo History” and “Layers” window are open.

Cut out Bob Using the Lasso Tool

4. Select the Lasso Tool on the Tool Bar (Second down on the left)
5. Right click on the Lasso Tool, select “Lasso Tool”
6. Make feather number 0.
7. Click on a point near Bob and draw a line around him, ending where you started. You will then have “crawling ants” around his image. Be careful not to get too close. We will polish up the cut later.
8. Now select from the main menu “Layer – New – Layer via Copy”.
9. Notice in the Layers window that you have two layers, the bottom layer is the complete picture and the top layer is just Bob with some “extra stuff” around him.
10. Turn off the bottom layer by clicking on the eye on the bottom layer.
11. Select the “zoom tool” from the tool bar and enlarge the image to at least 100%
12. You can use the Eraser Tool, the Polygonal Lasso Tool, Magnetic Lasso Tool, and the Lasso Tool to delete the “extra stuff” around Bob.
1. The Magnetic Lasso Tool will be useful to delete the image around Bob’s legs. Use the Magnetic Lasso Tool to trace around portions of Bob’s leg then loop around to complete a selection then hit the delete key.
2. Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select then delete enclosed areas like inside his camera bag strap.
3. Use the eraser with a large brush (100 to 300 pixels) to erase large areas not near Bob and with a very small brush (1 to 3 pixels) to erase fine points near Bob.

Blur the Background

13. Fit the image to the screen.
14. Make both layers visible.
15. Make the background layer active.
16. From the main menu select “Filter – Blur – Gaussian Blur”.
17. Move the Radius slider to get the blur effect most desired. For this example you might try 5 to 10 pixels.
18. Save the file as a Photoshop file (.psd) for use in project 9

ãcopyright 2004 by Albert L Crawford