Learn how to make precise selections and edit colors in Photoshop through this detailed tutorial. This guide will lead you through the process of creating, refining, and colorizing a shirt selection, using a variety of Photoshop tools.
Key Insights
- The tutorial covers specific Photoshop topics like loading selections, creating channels, using Hue/Saturation to colorize, and making rough selections with the Lasso tool.
- The exercise focuses on selecting a shirt from an image, a task which can be simplified by reusing previous work done on skin selection.
- The Lasso tool is used to make a quick initial selection of the shirt, including areas shared by the skin selection.
- The skin channel is subtracted from the initial shirt selection to give a more accurate outline of the shirt.
- The new shirt selection is saved as a separate channel, allowing for further refinement by painting away unwanted parts.
- The colorization of the shirt is achieved through the creation of a new Adjustment Layer, using the Hue/Saturation option to apply the desired color.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Photoshop training materials and is compatible with Photoshop updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Photoshop, check out our Photoshop Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Common Photoshop Tools
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Brush Tool
Paint with custom brushes, opacity, and flow control.
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Clone Stamp
Sample one area and paint it elsewhere — perfect for repairs.
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Healing Brush
Smarter than clone — blends texture and tone of the source.
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Pen Tool
Create precise vector paths for selections or shapes.
Topics Covered in This Photoshop Tutorial:
Loading Selections, Creating Another Channel, Using Hue/Saturation to Colorize the Shirt, Making Rough Selections with the Lasso Tool
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
In this exercise, we’ll be selecting the shirt. It shares a lot of edges with the skin, so we can reuse the work we did on the skin selection to make the shirt selection easier and faster.
Roughing Out the Selection
If it’s not still open, re-open yourname-lifestyle.psd.
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Because the skin selection shares a lot of its edges with the shirt, we can use it to create our shirt selection. As shown below, Lasso
a quick selection around the shirt (don’t worry about slightly sloppy edges).
To subtract the skin channel, go to Select > Load Selection.
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Set the following:
Channel: skin Operation: Subtract from Selection -
Click OK.
NOTE: You can also do this with a keystroke. If you hold Cmd–Option (Mac) or CTRL–ALT (Windows) and click on a channel, Photoshop will subtract that channel from the current selection.
Refining the Selection
To save this as a channel so we can refine it, go to the Channels panel and click the Save selection as channel button
.
Name the new channel shirt.
Get rid of the current selection by pressing Cmd–D (Mac) or CTRL–D (Windows).
Select the shirt channel and show
the composite RGB.
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Paint away the unwanted parts where too much was selected.
Remember that painting with white removes, and painting with black adds.
Colorizing the Shirt
Hide
Hold Cmd (Mac) or CTRL (Windows) and click the shirt channel to load it as a selection.
In the Layers panel, add a new Adjustment layer
, choosing Hue/Saturation.
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In the Properties panel, check Colorize and play around with the sliders until you get a color you like. If you need a place to start from, try these settings:
Hue: 36 Saturation: 35 Lightness: –25 Save and close the file.
