Expert: LizaL - 3/5/2005

Question
Hi Lisa -

Somehow I must have accidentally deleted the email with the URL to your reply to my question - fortunately I had printed it!

Many thanks indeed for your prompt and very detailed notes: I'm sorry to bother you again but I am 'stuck' with an early problem. Incidentally, I am using Photoshop 6.0 and I found 'Extract'in a menu via 'Image'.

I outlined the sky in a photo( first two sections separated by the overhead power pickup on a train- then just one section) which was 'burnt out'and then filled the area concerned: thinking I could do a better job I started again - but this time the whole picture was filled - and I can't see that I have done anything differently.

I'll be grateful if you can give some guidance here please.

Regards -

Denis

Answer
Hi Denis,

No problem, you're not a bother! And I'm glad you posted back, because now I know you're using Photoshop 6 -- I forgot to ask you what version you were using, which can be critical sometimes. Sorry!

Anyway, without seeing the file you're working on, my first instinct is that perhaps when you made the selections of the sky in your photo, you weren't on the right layer -- that is, if your image indeed has more than one layer. So that would be one thing I'd check, if I were you.

Another thing you might do -- once you've selected these areas of the sky you want to change, you can copy or cut them to another layer, which sometimes makes things easier.

To do this, go to the Layer pulldown menu, and select New, and then from the flyout menu to the right, select Layer via Cut:
http://little-works.com/all_experts/layer.png

(In that screen shot, I didn't have a file that was appropriate to activate the Layer via Cut command.)

Most of the time it's best if you can isolate areas of a photo like that, since you might find you want to treat them differently -- i.e., change their opacity, color, contrast, etc. And if they're on a different layer, you can do this without altering the rest of the photo.

I hope this helps, and if it doesn't, please don't hesitate to post back!

Lisa