From the course: Photoshop CC 2017 One-on-One: Mastery

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Tracing an image, point-by-point

Tracing an image, point-by-point - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Photoshop CC 2017 One-on-One: Mastery

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Tracing an image, point-by-point

- The stuff that I showed you in the previous chapter works great, and I mean absolutely great, for selecting people against contrasting backgrounds and preserving fine filigree details, such as the strings in that guy's tennis racket and, of course, hair; but it doesn't always fare as well for smooth, well-defined contours, such as those associated with faces, man-made objects, and product shots. In which case, what you need is the pen. This elegant but demanding drawing tool allows you to trace any sometimes cornered, sometimes smooth, but always well-defined contour on a point-by-point basis. Like the shape tools that I reviewed back in Chapter 22 of the advanced course, the pen tool always draws a vector-based outline; but instead of creating a shape layer, it results in a freeform path outline that you can use to select even the finest elements of a photographic image. Now call me a sick puppy, but we're going to use the pen to select this little boy's face, add it to this…

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