Extract Image in Photoshop Elements

Whether for photo manipulation artists, or for family related cards and newsletters, this handy little technique can help you extract one part of an image and use it in other images. So if you want to move just someone's head, or if you want just one part of a certain image (such as one family member, or bird amongst trees) you can easily extract them.

This tutorial will talk about how to do this with Photoshop Elements. While it is slightly different for Photoshop (such as where the tool is) some still applies. However, since there are few PSE articles out there, and I happen to own PSE, the tutorial applies more toward that program.

First, you need to open your picture. This can be done from CTRL+O or simply going to File>Open. After the image is opened, go to Image>Magic Extractor. The selected image will open in a new window. You will see several buttons you can click on. The most important are the top two, which look like marker tools, but one has a + and one a -.

Take the + marker, which is defaulted to the color red but you can easily change it, and fill in the area you want extracted. You don't need to be perfect, but try to get the outline as close as possible so none of it gets cut off. Anything the + marker is on (ie: anything that is red) will be kept when you perform the actual extraction.

Next, take the - marker, defaulted to blue. Simply draw around the red of the picture. This again does not have to be perfect, but make sure you get a good amount of the undesirable portions covered. This will tell the program that you do not wish to have when the extraction occurs.

After this step, hit preview. Depending on file size and how much needs to be extracted, this could take a few seconds or minutes. When the preview is up it will probably show you a few parts that you may not want. If so, make sure to go over them with the - marker again, and hit preview until satisfied. Then hit OK, and simple as that, the desired part of the image is extracted.

You can now easily take that portion and apply it to any other image, or use it solely by itself.