I have no idea what I'm doing with Photoshop. My goal is to select an area of a photo that I do NOT want affected by the next change...for instance brightness or contrast.
Is there someway to select an area to prevent a change to it? I have tried the brush selection tool, as I thought that might work, but all I'm getting is blue coverage of the area!
If there is information on this elsewhere in the forums, please let me know. None of my other searches have come up with the answer I'm looking for. Thanks!
Not sure if there is any thread, but you can try
rectangle select ( if your areas is rectangular )
Lasso tool for any shape
Magic wand tool ( then add subtract what you want using lasso )
Use layer mask to hide what you don't want to change
Use the photoshop help menu and search for these to find the steps requierd
I would add one more step to Gaurawa's advice. It is often easier to select the area you want to change. After you have done that, hit select-inverse to select the rest of the picture. That way, the part you want doesn't change and the rest does. Be ready to hit edit-undo or control-z if you selected the wrong part of the picture. If that should happen, hit select-inverse to select the other part of the picture. Hope this helps.
If you are using the Lasso tool (which is what I use, after creating a layer) use ALT or SHIFT to make your selection either tighter or looser from around the object.
If you want to select ONLY the body of a person and none of the background, than you'll have to zoom in and hold down ALT (I think) while using the Lasso to fine tune the selection.
Great help! Thanks so much. It's really time I learn how to use this program. I think I'll set a goal of learning the basics about one tool or effect every day. I'm sure I'll learn more about each as I go along.
I've used "Picture It" for so long, that I know it's capabilities (and drawbacks) very well, so it's hard to start over with something new (but definitely better and more usable.)
You can also use the paintbrush tool to mask out what you don't want affected by whatever change you are doing. Choose paintbrush - then from the drop down menu that comes up chose "mask".
