Shady Dog Tutorial

• Download this dog picture
  
  We will make the dark picture look like the light one.
   

1. Open up Photoshop and then open the downloaded dog picture.

2. Duplicate the background layer and make sure the copy is highlighted.

3. Next select the magnetic lasso and trace closely around the dog so that he is highlighted. If it is not exact, don't worry. We will fix it.

4. If there is some area at the edge of the picture where part of the dog was not
   selected, choose the regular lasso tool. In the options bar at the top choose the
   second option from the left, which will add to the selection. Start your lasso at
   bottom where the dog meets the bottom of the picture. Continue into the dog inside
   where the existing selection line goes along the inside of the edge to the point
   where the dog meets the right edge, cross through that and continue to finish the
   loop around the outside of the picture toward the bottom until you get back to the
   starting point. Click on this point to add your selection. Now it should reach to
   right and bottom edges.

5. If there are some areas where the selection goes out into the grass or sticks in
   the background, choose the regular lasso with the third option from the left
   selected, which will subtract from the selection. Start your loop outside the
   selection near the edge of the dog. Cross the selection line and follow the edge
   of the dog until you cross the selection line on the other side. Follow around to
   complete the loop. When you let go of the mouse, the excess area should be gone
   leaving the selection following the line of the dog. If there are any other areas
   like this, continue this procedure to make a fairly exact outline of the dog.

6. With the dog still selected, go to Image, Adjust (or Adjustments), Brightness/
   Contrast. Set the brightness at 50 and the contrast at 30 to get the results in the
   second picture.

7. At this point you can either experiment with the adjustments of it or leave as is.
   You could also blur the background or you could make the dog a mask and add any
   other background that you like. You could also drag the dog into another project
   and incorporate it into that image. This is where the creativity begins.

I hope you enjoy this!

Rubytuesday