Operation Manual

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 12 CLASSROOM IN A BOOK 121
Two new layers have been created for the adjustments; each displays a colored
icon representing the gradient used for the Blue Skies effect and a black and white
thumbnail representing the layer mask through which the adjustment has been
applied. Colored markers—Smart Brush adjustment pins—mark the points in the
photo where you started dragging with the Smart Brush for each adjustment.
8 Deselect the Blue Skies 2 adjustment by clicking the Background layer in the
Layers panel. Open the Smart Brush presets picker by clicking the Blue Skies
thumbnail in the tool options pane. Select the Lighten Skin Tones preset from
the Portrait category. Press Esc to close the Smart Brush presets picker.
9 Drag over the two girls, including their hair and swimsuits. If your selection
expands to include areas of water; hold Alt / Option as you paint out the
unwanted areas. Make sure the selection includes hands, elbows, and at least
a little of the base of some of the windswept wisps of hair. You won’t see a dra-
matic effect in the selected areas yet; you’ll tweak the adjustment a little later.
A new adjustment pin appears on the image; in the Layers panel, a new adjustment
layer is added for the Lighten Skin Tones effect. To the left of its layer mask thumb-
nail, the new adjustment layer displays a different icon from the Blue Skies effect,
indicating that it applies a different type of adjustment through the painted mask.
10 Right-click / Control-click the new adjust-
ment layer (not its black-and-white layer
mask icon) and choose Duplicate Layer.
Type Lighten Skin Tones 2 to name the
new layer; then, click OK.
11 Hold down the Alt / Option key as you
carefully paint the girl on the right out
of the selection completely; then, drag
the new Smart Brush adjustment pin
aside a little to see the marker for your
original Lighten Skin Tones adjustment.
Each Smart Brush edit
occupies its own layer,
where it remains active
and separate from the
image itself—so you
can add to or subtract
from the selection,
tweak the effect, or
even change which pre-
set is applied, without
permanently affecting
your original photo. The
adjustment pins will be
visible whenever the
Smart Brush is active.