Change contrast in part of frame?

T
Posted By
terwise111
Aug 30, 2005
Views
163
Replies
3
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Closed
I have a shot of two people sitting at a table. I’d like to make the background dark without changing the brightness of their faces.

In PhotoShop Elements 3.0 I use the Selection Brush Tool to out line the area behind their heads. When the area is completely encircled, and the ends connect, the dotted lines start to shimmer, showing me the selection is complete.

But when I go into Enhance / Adjust Lighting I get an error message saying "Could not complete the lebels command because no pixels were selected".

How do I select an area of the frame so that I can lighten or darken or change the color of just that section?
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change contrast frame part

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R
Roy
Aug 30, 2005
"T. Wise" wrote in message
I have a shot of two people sitting at a table. I’d like to make the background dark without changing the brightness of their faces.
In PhotoShop Elements 3.0 I use the Selection Brush Tool to out line the area behind their heads. When the area is completely encircled, and the ends connect, the dotted lines start to shimmer, showing me the selection is complete.

But when I go into Enhance / Adjust Lighting I get an error message saying "Could not complete the lebels command because no pixels were selected".
How do I select an area of the frame so that I can lighten or darken or change the color of just that section?
Hi.

Not quite sure about your description.

Are you selecting a complete enclosed area?

The end of the selection boundary (marching ants) must join up with the start point.

If it goes from one edge of the picture to another edge, then you have to take the selection tool right round the edges until you get back to the starting point.

Hope this explains it a bit.

Roy G
CK
Charles Kerekes
Aug 30, 2005
T,

When I get the error that no pixels were selected, the problem always has been that I was doing the selection in a layer OTHER than where the actual image was. Make sure you are painting with your selection brush onto the layer (or background) that contains the image. Then, the rest of your steps should work.

If you are new to layers, my article on this topic may be helpful: http://flyingsamphoto.com/digital-photo-guide-art-elements-l ayers.shtml

Charlie
http://FlyingSamPhoto.com
T
terwise111
Aug 31, 2005
You’re right – the problem was the photo was a composite of two pictures, and the area I was trying to change was in a separate layer. Now I know I need first to open the palette bin and select the layer I want to change.

Thanks so much.

tw

"Charles Kerekes" wrote in message
T,

When I get the error that no pixels were selected, the problem always has been that I was doing the selection in a layer OTHER than where the actual image was. Make sure you are painting with your selection brush onto the layer (or background) that contains the image. Then, the rest of your steps should work.

If you are new to layers, my article on this topic may be helpful: http://flyingsamphoto.com/digital-photo-guide-art-elements-l ayers.shtml
Charlie
http://FlyingSamPhoto.com

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