In this tutorial you will learn how to extract the background from an image using the extract filter in Photoshop. Extracting removes the background and leaves the object in place. You can also use the pen tool or the quick mask tool to remove the background, but I find using the extract filter easier.

Using the extract filter in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop. I have used a free stock image, but you can use whatever image you wish.

Step 2

Select the Extract filter by going to Filter > Extract. On the Tool options to the right, adjust the brush size to your liking. Then paint over the areas of the image to create an edge of where you want to retain like below. Notice that you don’t have to be too accurate with the paint brush as any mistakes can be later corrected.



Step 3

Select the Fill tool (G) on the tools panel on the left and fill in the selection. The selection will appear in a blue colour. If you wish to see what your image will look like you can click the preview button, otherwise click ok.



Step 4

My extracted image has not come out perfectly, but this can easily be fixed. Select the History Brush tool and recover any missing areas. Then select the eraser tool to remove any extra areas.


Once you have corrected the damaged area you will be left with the following image.


Now you can add any background of your choice to the image.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a black and white sketch effect using the threshold adjustment and various filters. The black and white sketch gives the effect of a hand drawn picture using black and white paint. I have used a free stock image of a woman, a full list of free stock images can be found here. This effect works best if you use a self portrait image.


Black and white sketch effect

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop.




Step 2

Select Image > Adjustments > Threshold and adjust the threshold levels to your liking and click ok. I have set my level to 109.




Step 3

Add a diffuse filter by selecting Filter > Stylize > Diffuse and select the option Anisotropic and click ok.




Step 3

Now add a sharpening filter by selecting Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen edges.



You should now have a black and white sketch effect.

In this tutorial you will learn how to perform colour correction in Photoshop using the Hue/Saturation adjustments settings and the Quick mask tool. I will be correcting the man’s t-shirt colour in this tutorial.

Colour correction in Photoshop

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop and the reset the colour palette by pressing the ‘D’ key on the keyboard.

Step 2

Select the Brush tool with an appropriate size and then enter the quick mask mode by selecting the Q key. Then paint over the areas of the image where you don’t want to change the colour. Since, I only want to change the t-shirt colour this would be most of the image like below.



Step 3

Exit out of the Quick mask mode by selecting the Q key, and you should see the area around the t-shirt selected.



Step 4

Select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation and then drag the sliders to your liking. I have added the following settings: Hue = 50, Saturation = 69 and Lightness = -18. Make sure you select the saturation checkbox.


You should now be able to perform colour correction in Photoshop.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a spotted border effect using the Pixelate filter. I have used a free stock image for this tutorial which can be found here.

Spotted border

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop that you wish to add the spotted border to.




Step 2

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and make a selection around the image like below. The closer you place the Rectangular Marquee to the centre of the image the greater the spotted border effect, and the further away to place the Marquee the smaller the border.




Step 3

Choose Select > Feather and give a feather radius of 5 pixels. You can increase the radius if you wish to create a more rounded border.


Step 4

Hit the Q key on the keyboard to enter the quick mask, and you see a red border around your image like below.




Step 5

Select Filter > Pixelate > Colour Halftone and set the max radius to 10 pixels. If you wish to have larger spots on your border then increase the size of the radius.


Step 6

Exit the quick mask mode with the Q key then choose Select > Inverse and hit the delete the key. Then deselect the selection and you should get a spotted border like below.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a blur focus effect in Photoshop. You will need to use the Gaussian blur for this effect. I have used a free stock image of a dog which is available from www.sxc.hu. You can find a list of places for stock images here.

Blur focus

Step 1

Open an image you wish to add a blur focus effect to.




Step 2

Make a selection around the area you wish to add a blur focus to. You can either use the polygon lasso tool or the quick mask tool for creating a selection.




Step 3

Inverse the selection by choosing Select > Inverse and you should get the following image like below.




Step 4

Select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and add a 3 or 4 pixel radius, depending on the size of your image.



You should now have a blur focus effect.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create a cross stroke border effect. You will need to use spray strokes filter for this effect. I have used a free stock image which is available from


Cross stroke border

Step 1

Open an image in Photoshop and then select Layer > New > Layer from Background.




Step 2

Select the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection around the image like below:




Step 3

Create a new layer mask by selecting Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal selection and you should get the following image below:




Step 4

Select Filter > Brushed Strokes > Sprayed strokes and you should get the following image.



You should now have a cross stroke border.

In this tutorial you will learn how to create icicles in Photoshop. Icicles are basically hanging ice formed when water freezes. This icicle effect uses the stylize and distort filters.


Create icicles in Photoshop

Step 1

Open a new Photoshop document with the size 640 x 480.
Select the rectangular marquee tool and drag a rectangle shape. Then fill the shape in white colour as shown below.




Step 2

Deselect the marquee tool by pressing the Ctrl + D. Select Filter > Stylize > Extrude and add the following settings:

• Type: Pyramids
• Size: 20 Pixels
• Depth: 255 Random

Step 3

Select Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and choose ‘Polar to Rectangular’ and you should get the following image effect.





Step 4

Now you need to give your icicles some colour. Select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation and adjust the sliders to your liking. I have given 202 for the Hue, and 75 for the saturation. You also need to check the ‘Colorize’ checkbox.

The opacity refers to the amount of transparency of a layer. So, if the opacity is at 100% the layer is completely opaque. Whereas if the opacity is at 0% the layer will be transparent, which will mean you can see the layer below.


How do you change the opacity?

Changing the opacity of a layer simply involves moving the slider shown in the example below. To increase the opacity you move the slider to the right. And to decrease the opacity you move the slider to the left.




Opacity example

The image below is at the opacity of 100% which is the default value.



The image below is at the opacity of 50%, as you can see the image look transparent.

In this tutorial you will learn how to remove the red eye from an image using the red eye tool. Red eyes are caused by the refection of the flash in the camera. This problem is quite common, but it very easy to fix in three steps.


Remove red eyes from image

Step 1

Open an image of red eye in Photoshop.
Select the red eye tool. This tool is next to the brush tool in the tool bar.




Step 2

I would like to drawn your attention toward the options for the red eye tool. The options include: Pupil size and Darken Pupil. The Pupil size set the size of the pupil in the image, and the Darken Pupil option sets the darkness of the pupil.

I have given the following options below, but you can experiment with your image.




Step 3

Move the red eye tools cursor on top of the red eye and click the mouse once.



You should now have no red eye on your image.

Turning an image black and white is actually quite an easy process. The process involves converting the colour image values in greyscale values. Below i will discuss three methods of turning an image black and white.

Method 1

• Open an image in Photoshop.
• Select Image > Mode > Greyscale.
• Done!

Method 2

• Open an image in Photoshop.
• Select Image > Adjustment > Desaturate.
• Done!

Method 3

• Open an image in Photoshop.
• Select Image > Adjustment > Hue/Saturation.
• Drag the Saturation slider to -100.
• Done!

As you can see above the process is very short and simple. Below I have shown an example of the before and after black and white transformation.