Outline a part of an image in Photoshop Elements?

Question

I want to outline the person in this picture:

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/8963/sungmin20.jpg

It should be simple, but it's not working out for me. And it's very frustrating.
I tried using the magnetic lasso, the regular lasso, and the pen tool. Whenever I use Element's pen tool, it just comes out completely wrong. It doesn't work, even though I'm using it correctly. But that's not my question.

I want to select the person ONLY, not the background, and then outline him with the stroke edit thing. But I need to select him first.
I managed to do it before with another picture, but I don't know how I did it.
Please help!

Answer 1

I can't believe the Magnetic Lasso Tool didn't work on this image. The subject in the photo has a very good edge that separates it from the background. I'm also wondering about the Pen Tool since Elements doesn't have a Pen Tool. All of the tools you've tried should do the job for you. Click on one of them. Over on the far left side of the Options Bar, click on the little arrow and click on Reset This Tool...see if this helps.



It would also be really helpful if you could add a description of what the problems are with these tools and include what version of Elements you're using.



It might be easier for you to: open the image, duplicate (copy) the Background Layer. Poke (click on;-) the eye on the Background layer to make it invisible (not useable). Click on the copy to highlight it and go to Image>Magic Extractor. The instructions on how to use th extractor are given on the new window that will open with your image in it. Extract the subject and close the Extractor.



Back in the workspace, if you're using Elements 7, 8 or 9, open the Effects Palette and apply a Stroke Layer Style. If you have Elements 6 or earlier, use a selection tool to select the extracted object and Edit>Stroke (Outline) Selection.



Finally, poke the eye of the Background layer again to make it visible. With this layer highlighted you could add a little more blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) or some other Filter to it without changing the person.

Answer 2

Use Magic Wand with a low tolerance, I'd suggest a tolerance of about 20. :)

Answer 3

Try extracting the person in the image.