ASK JIM
Every month, Jim will answer a question from his online students, from people who participate in his tours and workshops, or from subscribers to this magazine. If you have a question you’d like Jim to answer, please drop him a note at photos@jimzuckerman.com.
Q:
Jim . . . I took this picture of a California poppy, and the light background always bothered me. But the real problem, I feel, is the upper right corner. It draws the eye away from the flower. How would you fix this in Photoshop? Jan Ackerman, Tallahassee, Florida
A:
There are two options for you. First, you could carefully select the subject flower with the pen tool (the most precise selection tool), and then paste it onto a background of your choise. For example, dark out of focus green foliage. Second, you could clone from another picture that was mostly or completely out of focus green foliage onto this picture. I would select the flower, again with the pen tool, then choose Select > inverse, which selects everything except the flower, and then clone the blurred green foliage background into this shot. The selection will prevent the new background from encroaching on the flower. §
© Jan Ackerman
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