Portrait Photoshop 5: How to use Object Selection Tool in Photoshop 2020


With Photoshop CC 2020, we have a powerful new AI-powered Object Selection Tool which makes our photo-editing life much, much easier. Today, I would like to share my experience using the new AI-powered Object Selection Tool with you.

  1. Duplicate the image.

2. Object Select tool (W)

3. You have two options: Rectangle and Lasso. In out case, we use Rectangle.

4. If some area is not selected, you may want to use Select and Mask from Select menu.

5. You have option to choose View Mode.

6. Choose Brush Tools (B) to select missing areas.

7. For hair, choose Refine Edge Brush Tool (R).

8. Scroll down on the right side of the workspace to the Output Settings > Output to menu, and choose Layer Mask as the output type. This is the Result.

How to use Content-Aware Fill in Photoshop 2020

You may know how to use Healing Brush Tool and Stamp Tool to
clone or replace areas. However, sometimes, they don’t work well. Photoshop 2020 offers a new Content-Aware Fill which is simple and more complex object removal. Here is the example.

  1. Open the image you would like to work on.
  2. Use the select tool to select the area you want to be cloned.

3. Click Edit>Content-Aware Fill.

4. By default, the Photoshop will select sample area (green color) for you. In most cases, Auto works fine.

5. If it doesn’t, you have options such as Recalculation, Custom, Color Adaption, Scale, Mirror, Output Settings. If you want to pick the sample you want, click Sample Tool.

6. Click OK to complete it.

“The Lightroom catalog cannot be opened because another application already has it opened.”

Situation: You have a problem to run Lightroom with this error:
“The Lightroom catalog cannot be opened because another application already has it opened.“

Troubleshooting: delete *.lrcat.lock.
When Lightroom is running, it creates a *.lrcat.lock file next to the *.lrcat file. if Lightroom is not shut down properly, the *.lrcat.lock file remains in the same folder as the .lrcat file, which prevents Lightroom from opening. In this case, you may delete or rename *.lrcat.lock.

By default, Lightroom *.lrcat.lock is located in the following folders:

  • Windows: \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom
  • Mac OS: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom

Note: Close Lightroom when you delete the
*.lrcat.lock.

Can’t open Lightroom Catalog

Situation: You have a problem to open catalog in Lightroom or Lightroom doesn’t show any opened images.

Troubleshooting: delete *.lrcat.lock.
When Lightroom is running, it creates a *.lrcat.lock file next to the *.lrcat file. if Lightroom is not shut down properly, the *.lrcat.lock file remains in the same folder as the .lrcat file, which prevents Lightroom from opening. In this case, you may delete or rename *.lrcat.lock.

By default, Lightroom *.lrcat.lock is located in the following folders:

  • Windows: \Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom
  • Mac OS: /Users/[user name]/Pictures/Lightroom

Note: Close Lightroom when you delete the
*.lrcat.lock.

Best Time to Visit High Island for photographing birds

There are some bird sanctuaries at High Island, Houston Audubon, Taxis. Boy Scout Woods ( 2088 5th St, High Island, TX 77623 ) is the headquarters, which is staffed by volunteers during peak spring migration season from mid-March to mid-May. Smith Oaks is the largest sanctuary. The High Island sanctuaries are fee sites. In 2020, a day pass costs $8, or for $30 a patch may be purchased which gives you an unlimited number of admissions to all High Island sanctuaries for one year.

The best time for photographing birds ate Spring. High Island sanctuaries are open daily throughout the year. Peak spring migration season is from mid-March to mid-May. During fall migration, late September to mid-October usually produce the best results.

Lightroom: “This page didn’t load Google Maps correctly. See the JavaScript console for technical details”

Situation: When lick Map model in Lightroom, the user receives this message: “This page didn’t load Google Maps correctly. See the JavaScript console for technical details”

Troubleshooting: Based on Adobe, “Map module is no longer supported in Lightroom 4, Lightroom 5 and Lightroom 6. Read this article for the reason and a workaround”. They recommend to upgrade the latest version.

The workaround is clicking arrow icon in the GPS as shown below. This will open the map with your default Internet Browser.

Google Pixel 3 WiFi Limited connection in China

Situation: The user brings her Google Pixel 3 phone to China. When she tries to connect a wifi, it shows Limited connection. She has tried disabling/enabling WiFi, restart the phone, but none of them fixes the problem.

Troubleshooting: Search Google, we find some people have the same issue and they post: It is because Pixel/Android was trying to connect to a google server to determine the internet connectivity. Unfortunately, Google service I snot available there.