How to isolate your subject from the background in Photoshop

One of the most important things in an image is that you lead the eye of the viewer to the subject of your picture. In this post I want to show you how to isolate your subject from the background, using Photoshop. 

This is the picture I start with: 

I got this image from pixabay by the way. It's a great example for this post as I consider the background way too bright compared to the foreground. I want more focus on the couple, I want to isolate them from the background. There are several ways to do this in Photoshop.

Here is one way to do it:

Select the subject with the quick selection tool (W)

Use refine edges to make the selection better.

Choose 'New Layer with a layer mask' as output and hit OK

By the way, if you'd like to know more about the 'Refine Edge Tool' watch this video made by Phlearn

Now I've got the subject on its own layer and this makes it easier to start working on the background layer. Select the background layer and hit Cmd U to reduce the colours of the background:

When finished hit OK.

And voila, this is my end result. The background is less saturated now, and I even made it a bit darker. This way there's more focus on the subject of this image: the couple. 

Another way of doing it is by using for example a B/W adjustment layer 

Or a curves adjustment layer

Don't be afraid to try this out. There's many more ways! 

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