Focal points are essential in any successful photo. If you haven’t got somewhere for the viewer’s eye to hook on, they’ll just end up looking all the way around and then soon look away.
But, there are forces that conspire hostile to attaining a strong focal point. These might be background distractions, awkward colours or poor composition – anything that fights with your subject to be the centre of attention. You could deal with these by employing some heavy Clone Stamp tool justice or selecting your focal point and using a new background. Or you could follow these steps for instant results like this.
Bring out the focal point Step 1: Arrange the layers. Open your image and duplicate it. Select the custom shape tool, ensure the shape layers icon is selected in the Options bar. Select the Square Thin Shape and draw around your focal point.
Step 2: Transform. Press Ctrl/Cmd+T to alter the size and the angle of the frame, or just double-click its layer to bring up the Layer Styles. Click the eye icon to turn off the top two layers, click your original photo layer and open Hue/Saturation. Drag the Saturation slider to the left to darken.
Step 3: Contrast the layers. When you have dulled the layer down, click the eye ions to make the layers visible. Ctrl/Cmd-click in the frame’s Vector Mask thumbnail to select it. Go to Select>Inverse. Click on the duplicate layer and then select the Eraser tool. Set the brush to a suitable size and erase around the edges of the frame. Your focal point will be lovely and colourful, and any distractions dealt with.
Quick tip: Get creative with the frames you use. Look online for free custom shapes or try adding decorative touches yourself.