How to Make Censor Bars in Photoshop

Create a censor bar in Photoshop using the Rectangular Marquee tool.

Censor bars, usually colored black, are used to cover up bits of pictures that the creator doesn't want others to see: identifying objects, such as signs or faces in a photo that the creator wants to remain anonymous, or inappropriate content. You can create censor blocks to cover up parts of a photo you want to hide using Photoshop's Rectangular Marquee tool. Use this tool to draw a rectangle, then fill it with color to censor part of your picture.

Instructions

1. Open the picture that you want to censor in the Photoshop program.

2. Click the "Layer" option in the program menu at the top of the window. Select the "New Layer" option to create a new layer.

3. Click the Rectangular Marquee tool in the upper left corner of your Photoshop tools sidebar menu to select it.

4. Click the mouse at the corner of the object you want to draw a censor bar around and drag the mouse across it and down to create a rectangular shape around the object.

5. Click the square lying on top of another square just below the Photoshop tools in the sidebar to bring up the foreground Color Picker window. Click on the color you would like the censor bar to be. Close the Color Picker window. Hold down the "Alt" key on your keyboard and press the backspace key at the same time to fill the censor bar with color.

6. Click the "File" option in the program menu and click "Save As." Select the "JPG" option as the file type to save the picture as and name your censored image. Click the "Save" button to save the censored image to your computer.

References

• Etsy Blog: How-to: Photoshop Techniques for Mature Listings
• MyJanee.com: Basic Shapes in Photoshop 1