You may recall that I invested in Adobe Photoshop Elements some time ago to deal with visual edits that could not easily be made. Being quite frugal with my money (unless we’re talking Starbucks or Diet Dr. Pepper), I was not thrilled at the time with having to shell out $100 for software I did not think I was going to use that often. Honestly, though, I feel that the investment has paid off after only a couple of uses. In our Zoom call on Thursday, Josh mentioned his dislike of the background in Aliann Pompey’s headshot because of a man standing behind her. I assume the photo was meant to be an action shot of Aliann working at a meet but I will have to admit the man is a bit of a distraction.
Here is where Photoshop comes in. I remembered from previous use that a tool exists known as the magnetic lasso, which allows you to draw edges around your subject and only make changes to the area you define. If I had more time, I could actually take you through the process but to summarize, I checked the background areas and was able to use the other tools in Photoshop to completely remove it. It really is like being a magician–now you see the man, and now you do not. Photoshop has saved me a lot of time and aggravation, well worth the $100 I spent on it.
