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USING PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 8
Selecting parts of an image
Last updated 7/26/2011
The Magic Extractor makes it easy to select people or objects so that you can superimpose them on other backgrounds.
For example, you can remove yourself from a photo of you on your bicycle at home, and superimpose it on a photo of
cyclists in the Tour de France. You can save the extracted image as a file that you can use again and again.
Using the Magic Extractor
A. Area you want to extract marked with red dots B. Background marked with blue dots C. Extracted image
1 Open the photo containing the object you want to extract.
2 To limit what appears in the Magic Extractor dialog box, make a preliminary selection using the Oval or
Rectangular selection tool.
3 Choose Image > Magic Extractor.
The Magic Extractor dialog box opens with the Foreground Brush tool selected by default.
4 Click multiple times or draw lines to mark the area you want to extract.
5 Click the Background Brush tool and click multiple times or draw lines to mark the area that you do not want
included in your selection.
When selecting objects with varied colors and textures, drag across all the colors and textures to ensure a more
accurate selection.
6 To help mark your selection, use the Zoom tool or the Hand tool to magnify and navigate around the photo.
Press Option as you use the Zoom tool to zoom out.
7 To specify a different brush size or color, do any of the following:
• Choose a new size from the Brush Size menu.
•
Click the Foreground Color or Background Color swatch, choose a new color in the Color Picker, and then click OK.
8 Click Preview to see the current selection.
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B
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