SELECT JUST SKIN TONES and adjust only the faces (continued)

Making selections of skin or faces generally requires refining the selection. You can use the Quick Selection tool or the Lasso to add to or delete from the selection. With these tools, press and hold Option (Alt) as you click to remove areas from the selection or Ô (Ctrl) as you click to add areas to the selection. 

You can also use the Quick Mask mode to edit the selection by painting on the areas to keep with a white paint brush or painting with a black paint brush to remove areas from the selection. Once your selection is made, you can then use any tools to edit the area without affecting the surrounding pixels. 

You can use the Skin Tones selection option as in this task to quickly brighten faces in a snapshot with a Levels adjustment layer. However, you can also use this Skin Tones selection tool and then invert the selection to adjust the surrounding areas or clothes instead. 

The selection marquee appears on the photo. 

Note: You can adjust the selection using any of the selection tools as in previous tasks to more precisely select just the skin tones. 

11 Click the New Fill or Adjustment Layer button. 

12 Click the Levels adjustment layer. 

A A Levels adjustment layer and a mask are added in the Layers panel. 

13 Option+click (Alt+click) the layer mask thumbnail on the adjustment layer. 

The image shows only the layer mask in black and white. 

14 Click the Brush tool. 

Note: Make sure that black is the foreground color. Press X if necessary to change it. 

15 Paint with black over the white areas in the image that are not faces to remove them from the selection. 

16 Option+click (Alt+click) the layer mask thumbnail on the adjustment layer. 

The image returns to the normal view. 

17 Click the Levels button in the Properties panel. 

18 Click and drag the slider to the left until the skin tones are lightened or to the base of the curve. The adjustments are applied to the selected skin tones only. 

TIPS

Did You Know? 

You can click Invert ( changes to ) in the Color Range dialog box to invert the selected area. You can also click Select Inverse after the selection has been applied. 

More Options! 

Try clicking the Auto button in the Properties panel of the Levels adjustment layer. You can also click RGB in the Properties panel and adjust the levels for each channel individually. 

Important! 

The number of pixels required for the Feather Radius depends on the overall dimensions of the photograph. The larger the image, the larger the pixel radius needed to soften the selection edge.