Selection methods in PP- Discussion.

[Bibudesh]

There are n number of different ways of making selection in PP. The techniques are useful based on subjects or personal preferences.

I mostly rely on the quick edit mode which is quite powerful for uneven subjects with or without contrasting color images.
All are welcomed to share their ideas of selections using various tools like lasso, pen, brushes etc.
Discussions/Comments are welcomed.

I am going to achieve a selective coloring for this image


http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/DSC_0417_01.jpg


to get this result
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/DSC_0417_resize.jpg

Open the image in pp and perform basics such as layer duplicate ,level, curve etc.
We'll try to make a rough selection to isolate the yellow flower.
Goto Select->Color Range.
Using the dropper click on the petals. Adjust the fuzziness to grow or shrink the color range selections-

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide1.jpg

Click ok and u can see the moving ants over the selected area. Inverse the selection using Select->Inverse
http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide2.jpg

I am going to use the quick edit mode to precisely select the flower in foreground.
Press q from keyboard or select the 'Edit in Quick mode' from the toolbar. In quick edit mode u'll see the selected flower in pinkish colour.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide3.jpg

We want to deselect other flowers in the background. To achieve this use an eraser and increase/decrease the brush size and erase the pink colour from the flower like this-

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide4.jpg

Now to check how the selection is press Q. This will switch to standard edit mode. You can see the pollens are not under the selected flower-

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide5.jpg

Press Q to switch back to quick edit mode.
Select the brush tool and check the hardness and size by a trial painting on canvas . You can see that it writes in pink colour. Erase that trial sketch.
Using the brush carefully paint the leftover parts in the main flower including the pollens.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide6.jpg

Press Q to switch to standard edit mode
Goto Select->Inverse select to invert the selection.
Now you can the flower is correctly selected.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide7.jpg

I want to do a selective coloring by making the background as BW.
Do an inverse selection again and use a BW layer

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii35/bibudesh/slide8.jpg

Rest-
I played a more with BW to get the sepia, played with levels, burned the edges, framed got the result :-)

[KrishnenduKes]

Discussion Approved

Thanks SP for the detailled explanations. I will try this out and let you know if I can get anywhere with this. If I get stuck, means there are loopholes and will get back to you. I hope others join in as well with their methods.

[rio008]

good tutorial SP :)

thanks for sharing with us

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

nice initiative SP.

my question to u is that isnt masking a faster way to this??u select that foreground flower.mask it.apply channel mixer or gradient map or black and white any to the layer below.u get selective coloring.

just i was thinking..

anvancy.

[Bibudesh]

nice initiative SP.

........
u select that foreground flower.

...
.

I wanted to discuss the techniques to do this ^^...

Let us know other tenchiques to achieve this with lesser labour.

With this flower example the color range selection was easier, and I used the quick edit mode for a precise selection .
There may be more ways, but in general what is the best suited technique for a given subject is the question.

For an example using a pen tool to select a car or a bike for selective coloring. Well honestly, I tried but couldn't learn how to use the pen tool.

[anvancy-(macro analyst)]

I wanted to discuss the techniques to do this ^^...

Let us know other tenchiques to achieve this with lesser labour.

With this flower example the color range selection was easier, and I used the quick edit mode for a precise selection .
There may be more ways, but in general what is the best suited technique for a given subject is the question.

For an example using a pen tool to select a car or a bike for selective coloring. Well honestly, I tried but couldn't learn how to use the pen tool.

if u use CS3 or above then magic wand is fast.easy selection.

the option to magic wand is a more precise magnetic lasso tool.

simple steps.

make duplicate background layer.

select duplicate

apply either magic wand or lasso to select flower.check for tolerance level.

once selected mask it.(front loading washing machine icon).

apply gradient map or BW filter or any of ur choice to the layer below the duplicate.

end result is u get one yellow and rest BW.

anvancy

[Bibudesh]

^^ make sense. I have not used magic wand till date. wil give it a shot today.

The quick edit mode works good for portraits editing.