Outlining the Action By Brisa Waechter

Usually sport or action shots are best but you can use any photo you like.

Duplicate the Background Layer  There are two ways you can do this step. Duplicate this layer by going up to the Layer menu at the top of the screen, choosing New, and then choosing Layer via Copy.  OR, for a faster way, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+J.  Look at your Layers Palette and make sure there is a copied version of the layer, named “Layer 1.”

Select the Main Subject of Your Photo  Use the selection tool of your choice (Pen tool, Lasso tool, etc.) and outline the main subject of your photo. I used the magnetic Lasso tool because it seemed easiest to use. When you’re done, you should have a selection outline visible around your main subject.

Copy the Selection to a New Layer  Next you need to copy the selected area to its own layer so you can work on it separately from the rest of the image. Do this by using the same method in step 1. Nothing will seem to have happened to the image in the document window, but if you look in the Layers palette, you can see that you now have a new layer named "Layer 2" sitting above "Layer 1.”

Apply a Stroke Layer Style  To place an outline around your main subject, you can use Photoshop's layer styles. Click on the Layer Styles icon at the bottom of the Layers palette, which will pop up a list of all the available layer styles that you have to choose from. Select the Stroke layer style from the bottom of the list.

 This brings up the Layer Style dialog box set to the Stroke options in the middle column. By default, the stroke color is set to red. I changed it to white but you can use any color you would like. Click on the color swatch to the right of the word "Color" This brings up Photoshop's Color Picker. Select white (or any other color) from the Color Picker. Click OK.

 With the color of the stroke now set to the chosen color, adjust the width of the stroke. You can do that using the Size slider at the top of the Stroke options. Dragging the slider to the right increases the stroke's width, while dragging to the left decreases it. For my image, I used a stroke size of 4 px (pixels): Don’t click OK yet. If you look at your photo, you should now have a colored line around the subject of your photo.

Add an Outer Glow Layer Style  With the Layer Style dialog box still open, click directly on the words Outer Glow on the left of the dialog box. Make sure you click directly on the words themselves, not just inside the checkbox to the left of the words This changes the middle column of the Layer Style dialog box to the options for the Outer Glow. By default, the color of the glow is set to yellow. You can choose any color that you think will work best with your photo. I used the default color. Increase the Opacity of the outer glow to 100%, the Spread to around 6% and the Size to around 30 px

Boost the Color of the Main Subject with a "Hue/Saturation" Adjustment Layer  Hold down ALT, click on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and then select Hue/Saturation from the list of adjustment layers that appears. By holding down the Alt key as you click on the New Adjustment Layer icon, Photoshop will pop open the New Layer dialog box which allows you to set some options before the adjustment layer is added. Directly below the Name option is an option called Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask. Click inside the checkbox to select this option, then click OK to exit out of the New Layer dialog box

 As soon as you exit out of the dialog box, the Hue/Saturation dialog box appears. You want to use it to increase the color saturation of your main subject, so click on the Saturation slider in the middle of the dialog box and drag it towards the right. Drag the Saturation slider to a value of around +35 (depending on how saturated you want the image) Click OK to exit out of the dialog box.

Apply the "Gaussian Blur" Filter to "Layer 1"  Click on "Layer 1" in the Layers palette to select it. Go up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choose Blur, and then choose Gaussian Blur. This brings up the Gaussian Blur filter dialog box. Set the Radius of the blur to around 10 pixels. Click OK to exit

Reduce the Color Saturation of the Background with "Hue/Saturation"  Finally, lower the color saturation of the background, which will help the main subject stand out even more. With "Layer 1" still selected, click once again on the New Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette and choose Hue/Saturation from the list. There's no need to hold down the ALT button this time.

 When the Hue/Saturation dialog box appears, drag the Saturation slider to the left to reduce saturation. I set mine to a value of -25. Click OK to exit out of the dialog box.