Welcome back to another very exciting tutorial here at the Photoshop Training Channel.com
My name is Jesus Ramirez, and you can find me on Instagram @JRfromPTC
In this tutorial, we are going to discuss the Select Subject feature in Photoshop.
This is a new feature available in the 19.1 release of Photoshop CC 2018
The Select Subject button in the select and mask workspace allows you to select prominent
objects in an image automatically with one click.
This tool is great for beginners who want a fully-automatic selection suggestion.
And it is a great time saver and starting point for advanced users.
This feature of Photoshop was released a week after I made a tutorial on masking out hair
from busy backgrounds.
So, I recommend looking at that tutorial as well so that you can understand how masks
and the select and mask workspace work, and how you can enhance your initial masks and
selections.
There is a link to that video in the description.
However, in this tutorial, we will focus on the Select Subject feature!
By the way, if this is your first time at the Photoshop Training Channel,
don’t forget to subscribe and to click on that notification button!
OK let’s get started!
We will be working with this image and this background.
If you select the Quick Selection Tool, you will notice a new button in the Options bar.
Select Subject.
If you click on it, Photoshop will automatically create a selection out of the prominent objects
of the image.
In this case the model.
I’m going to press ctrl D. Command D on the mac to deselect.
If I press the select and Mask button, you will see that we also have the Select Subject
button in this workspace.
I prefer to use this feature in this workspace since I will need to come in and refine the
mask anyway.
Again, my last tutorial covers what all these slider controls do.
So, check it out of you are unfamiliar with them.
There is a link to that video in the description.
Clicking on the Select Subject button will create the same selection.
Adjust the transparency slider if you need to get a better view of the selection.
Select Subject is powered by Adobe Sensei, an advanced machine learning technology, and
it is trained to identify a variety of objects in an image such as people, animals, vehicles,
toys, and more.
After Photoshop determines what the prominent subject is, you can then refine the selection
using other selection tools or edge refinement sliders.
I’ll start with the Refine Edge brush tool, to bring back some of the hair.
And then adjust the global refinements.
I’ll shift the edge.
Smooth it.
Add Contrast.
To try to make a better mask.
Then I’m going to select the Brush Tool.
Hold Alt and paint around the shoulder to remove that area.
When you are done, you can press OK, to remove the background.
I’m curious to know what your thoughts on this tool are.
Let me know in the comments how you feel about it and if you think that it will help you
in your workflow.
Here are a few more examples that will show you how this feature works on photos with
different subjects.
Here’s one with a full body shot.
Notice that Photoshop did a really good job and we only keep her
This is photo of multiple people.
And again, Photoshop did a good job on determining what the important subjects were.
And this is a photo of a dog.
And he is only thing that is kept.
And a photo of a car.
And again, Photoshop does a great job determining what the prominent object is.
Keep in mind that these are not perfect selections.
You will have to refine them.
But they are a great starting point.
Again, my last video was all about that.
So, check it out if you would like to learn more about refining selections and extracting
hair from busy backgrounds.
By the way, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that I have created a new
group on Facebook for the PTC family.
The PTC group is a safe hub where like-minded photographers, designers, and Photoshop lovers
can come to support and help each other!
This group is not just about me or PTC.
There is a lot of people who have a lot of knowledge and expertise in areas that I do
not.
So, I hope that this will be a great place where we can all learn and help each other
and grow as creatives!
You can get to it by going to ptcvids.com/group There’s a link to it in the description.
And that’s it for this tutorial!
I hope that you enjoyed it and that you learned something new!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Thank you so much for watching, and I will talk to you again soon!