How to Edit a Portion of a Photo

You can choose from a number of different selection tools to edit part of a photo.

To edit a portion of a photo, you will need some kind of image-processing software, such as Adobe Photoshop. Editing parts of an image is all about selection. Before you can edit any specific area, you will need to select that area precisely so the computer program knows what exactly you want to change. Although the selection process is not particularly difficult, it can be time consuming, so your best strategy is to be patient until you get used to all of the programs tools and abilities.

Instructions

1. Open the photograph you want to edit in your image-editing software. Identify the specific area you want to edit. This can be small, like a person's eye, or large, like a sky in a landscape.

2. Click on the magnifying glass and zoom in so the image you will edit fills your screen. If you are selecting a very large area, you may need to zoom in even more than that and move the image across your screen as you go along.

3. Choose a selection tool from your toolbar. This tool may change depending on the shape. Many programs provide square, rectangular and circular selection tools that allow you to easily select objects of this shape. However, in most cases, your selection won't be so uniform. In these cases, you will have to choose the manual selection tool, or if your software is capable, a magnetic selection tool. The magnetic selection tool identifies well-defined edges and follows them as you move the cursor. This can help a great deal if you have trouble keeping your mouse steady.

4. Click and drag the selection tool around the perimeter of the area you want to work in. This is sometimes a slow process because the more exact you are in your selection, the better the image will look when edited. If your selection job is sloppy, you will not be able to achieve a good effect after editing.

5. Make any modifications to expand or subtract the selection as needed. By holding shift while using the selection tool, you can add smaller parts you might have missed the first time around into the overall selection. By holding control while selecting, or possibly another key depending on the program, you will be able to subtract your selection wherever you may have gone too far away from your desired image.

6. Choose "Select >Feather" from the menu and enter a number between 2 and 10 pixels, depending on how big your image is. This smooths the selection border to avoid any hard lines when you make your changes. However, If you want hard lines, you can skip this step.

7. Make any changes you want to the image. Some programs allow you to save specific selections, which can be a big time saver if you plan to make any more modifications in the future. If you have such a program, save your selection before deselecting your image or quitting the program.

References

• Tutorial 9: The Selection Tools
• PSD Tuts+: A Comprehensive Introduction to Photoshop Selection Techniques