Photoshop Lasso Tool is good for...

lifting your subject in order to make changes to it or to your background. The Photoshop Lasso Tool is needed here.

I like this picture except for the background. It is in focus detracting from the real subject, the old truck. Also, there are newer cars in the picture. I’m thinking if the newest cars in the background were from the late ‘60s I’d be O.K.

So- what I’m going to do is distort the background so that the only thing that really shows is the truck and the pump island lights. In order to do that I will need to lift the subject, the truck, from the picture using the Photoshop Lasso Tool.

There are other options. I could lift the truck out of this picture and drop it into a completely different background. I don’t have one I can use so I stick to the game plan.

Choose a picture you want the background blurred. Open Photoshop and load the picture. If you don’t know how, click here to learn the first steps.

Once the picture is loaded, I almost always complete the quick fixes first. Now before we can use the Photoshop Lasso Tool, we have to make a copy of the “Background Layer.”

To make the copy, hover your mouse icon over the existing layer in the lower right hand corner of the Photoshop screen.

Click and drag it up to the little icon as shown. It will create a second layer and you will see this.

Click the little eye next to the original layer. You can identify the original by the padlock on the right. Well, plus it says “background” next to it as opposed to “background copy.” The padlock means it is a locked layer. This will turn off the original background.

Now the original layer will never show in the main screen. I always turn off any layers I am not working with. It avoids confusion. One purpose for making a copy is there are certain effects you will not be able to use on the padlocked layer. They have to be applied to a copy.

Notice the background copy is highlighted in blue. Whenever you are working in Photoshop, the layer you are working on will be highlighted blue in the layers box. To switch layers, click in the box next to the desired layer. It will highlight in blue.

That means that any changes you make now, will be made only to that given layer. The exceptions are things like cropping and certain other stuff you will want done to the entire photo.

Let's recap. The eyeball left of the thumbnail is to turn on, or off, a layer. The area right of the thumbnail shows which layer you are working on.

O.K. in the upper left corner click on “Full Edit.”

You have to be in “Full Edit” in order to use the Photoshop Lasso Tool. Down the left hand column, click on the little lasso. The four matching lassos you see across the top Photoshop toolbar are the working tools for the Photoshop Lasso Tool.

Start with the third from the left. Click on the lasso with the magnet. This is called the TA-DA “Magnetic Lasso.” Once you have chosen it, choose a starting point on the picture. You are going to encircle your subject.

Click on that starting point. Now move your curser (the little lasso) around your subject. As you do notice it drawing a line around your subject. Don’t be too fussy about how closely the line outlines your subject. We will correct it momentarily. Right now it just has to generally encircle your subject.

As you get back to your starting point you have two options.

1) You can get real close with the lasso until you see a tiny, little square box come on, then click. That will complete your lasso.

Or, the easy way!

2) You can get fairly close and just double click your mouse. This will automatically close up the lasso.

Once it is closed your lasso will look like a million black and white ants marching around your subject, as above. Only they are on the march around the lasso.

Now zoom in. You can see the places that did not quite follow the outline of your subject. We start to correct it anywhere you choose. We will go all the way around your subject until you are satisfied.

This step with the Photoshop Lasso Tool can take quite some time. It is well worth the time investment. Sit back, take a swig of Cherry Pepsi and get ready to learn some patience. It’s gotta be Cherry Pepsi, understand, cuz that’s the rule! Least wise in my house it is. I guess you can down the liquid refreshment of your choice. I won’t penalize you - - - much!

Zoom in how ever far you must in order to clearly see the outline of your subject. First thing I’m going to do is fix the line along the hood and the windshield post. No, it’s a hood because this is an American car. If I were doing my ’68 XKE it would be the bonnet and windscreen.

The truck is what I want outlined, so above the hood is extra that I will subtract. Go up to the top Photoshop toolbar. Choose the “Subtract from selection” icon. The words "Subtract from selection" will show up as you hover over the correct icon. A picture really is worth a thousand words!

It would take a page in itself to verbally guide you to the “Subtract from selection” icon. But just look below.

Now start above and outside your selection area. Place the cursor there, click, and continue. Carefully move the cursor to where the line should be. Click again. This will anchor the line.

Keep moving like this as you trace your subject with the line. Click at each end of a perfectly straight line. Click very often as you round a curve. Each click will anchor the line there. You will get the hang of how often you need to click.

Generally speaking, if you make a mistake, keep moving. Finish up what you are doing and return later to repair the mistake.

Once you have repaired a given section of outline, merely move outside the selected area and double click. Photoshop Lasso Tool will automatically draw a straight line from there back to the starting point.

The only trick to this is it has to be “line of sight” so to speak in order to not cut across the subject, or the excess area, as it returns to your start point. If it cuts across either, it will dissect your subject/selection area, and cause some havoc.

Not to worry though. All you have to do is simultaneously hit the “control” button and the letter “z” on your keyboard. This will undo your last step. You will, however lose the change you just made and you will have to remake that change.

Any time you do something you don’t like you can merely hit “control, z” and revert the picture to what it was. That is so cool! You can undo as many as about 20 steps, one at a time. What this means to you is that you never have to worry about fluppin’ a duck! You can fix it! Cool, huh!?

The next area in need of the Photoshop lasso Tool repair is on my windshield pillar.

This time it is the opposite. It is less than I wanted in the selection. I need to add some. So, once again I go to the top of Photoshop. This time I click on “Add to Selection.”

Before I was subtracting from the selection, so I started outside the selection. Now I’m adding to the selection. I will start inside the selection. Then carefully click as I trace what it should be. At the end I double click and the lasso closes.

Once again; TA-DA! It magically changes and perfectly outlines my truck.

I continue like this until I am happy with the entire outline. Once it is outlined the way I like, go to the top of the Photoshop screen. You will see the word "feather" in the tool bar.

I start by changing from 0 to 2 pixels. When you "layer" the section you want, this will feather the edge so it is not sharp and abrupt. If you don't feather it, it will show in the finish picture. You will be able to tell that your subject was lifted from one picture and placed in.

Next, move your cursor back inside the selection area. Right click your little mouse. Up pops this window.

For this particular picture I “Layer via Copy.” There are times you will want to “Layer via Cut”, but that is something we will have to touch on at a different time. You can layer via cut if you like, just to see what happens. Then you can always revert it by hitting “control-z.”

When the layers are complete, via copy, you will see something like this. Your subject will be the only thing in the created layer. The other layer will remain unchanged because you are copying your subject in a new layer.

With only your subject layer turned on the main screen will look something like below. I left the foreground in the selection area. I didn’t want the foreground customized.

With it layered, I turn off all the layers except the one I am working on. In this case I will leave the middle layer on as I am going to be customizing that layer with a couple of Photoshop effects.

This puts me back to working with the unchanged background copy. I will now leave the Photoshop Lasso Tool in favor of other effects. I start by going back to the top of the Photoshop window. Click, Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur.

This is the resultant screen.

Set the adjustment slide to what you like and click O.K. I chose this much blur.

The next step may or may not be necessary for you. I had to do more than just blur it because the vehicles still showed when I reinserted the truck. I twirled the picture. It is so cool that one can be so creative in customizing pictures in order to get the result one desires.

So, back to the top and click Filter, Distort, Twirl.

You can twirl a little or you can twirl a lot. Try ‘em and see what happens. Don't like the result? "Control-z" and do it again.

This is my result.

Now I go back to the “Layers” Bin in the lower right hand corner. I turn the subject layer back on by clicking the eyeball.

This is the result when they are stacked on one another.

No Truck!

Truck!

I love it!

Go back up to the top of the Photoshop screen and click “Layer.” Near the bottom of the drop down window you will see the option of “merge visible.” Merge them and save your work.

There you have it. The Photoshop Lasso Tool and an example for using it. These Photoshop Tools are sooo cool!

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