Targeted Adjustments in Photoshop CC

Exercise precise control over your image editing. Learn how to use selections and masks to create targeted adjustments in Photoshop CC.

Sometimes you want to edit just a small section of an image. Targeted adjustments allow you to restrict your changes to a certain area of a photograph, based on its shape, opacity, color, focus, or brightness. In this course, photographer and educator Tim Grey show you how to use the tools in Photoshop CC to create and apply targeted adjustments. First, learn how to build precise selections, layer masks, alpha channels, and quick masks. Then find how to edit and refine your masks using the Invert and Feather commands, dodging and burning, and filters like Dust and Scratches. The workshop places a special emphasis on understanding the underlying concepts, and then mixing and matching different tools and techniques to unleash the full power of what Photoshop can do for you. By the end, you'll be able to use targeted adjustments to fix exposure, swap backgrounds, change the colors of products, and much more.

Introduction

• Welcome

1. Basic Concepts

• Key concepts
• Balancing subtlety and accuracy
• Black, white, and gray on a mask
• Layer mask density
• Setting realistic expectations

2. Targeted Adjustments without a Mask

• Targeted color without a mask
• Shadows and highlights adjustment
• The curves adjustment
• Dodging and burning

3. Layer Mask Techniques

• Targeted adjustment ingredients
• Painting a targeted adjustment
• Shades of gray on a mask
• A selection-based adjustment
• Inverting a mask
• The best approach for feathering
• Creating a gradient mask
• Duplicating a mask
• Multiple adjustments in one area
• Using multiple adjustment masks

4. Improving Your Masks

• Evaluating the layer mask
• Fine-tuning with Select and Mask
• Dust and scratches for cleanup
• Mixing and matching methods
• Dodging and burning a mask