In an ealier post I discussed how you can use selective focus as a way to draw the viewers eye to your subject. I’d like to expand on this with 
a broader approach that I teach in my editing classes. There, we use not only slective focus but also light and color to draw the viewers eye to the subject. This goes along with my belief that it’s just fine to remove distractions from an image or use other editing tricks to emphasize the subject.
Let’s look at one
simple example of how you can apply this approach. In the first picture of the forest path [to the right], the tree in the upper-left portion is in the “sweet spot”. Unfortunately, as I looked at the image, I found that my eye wasn’t easily drawn there like I wanted. The problem is – how to make the viewers eye enter the image and move through it to where you want it to go? I decided to select the path with a lasso tool, then soften the edge of the selection a bit. I then applied a Brightness-Contrast level to that portion of the image – and voila! Now your eye is drawn from the bottom-right corner all the way down to path to the tree. It not only added more depth, but also direction to the entire image.
That first one was an easier example – so I decided to take one very busy picture and see how we could emph
asize the subject using all three parameters of light, color and focus individually to make the subject stand out. The first picture here shows a cute little girl with a balloon, waiting expectantly for the parade. Unfortunately, the scene is so busy around her that she tends to blend in with everything else. What to do?
In this case I took the magnetic lasso and selected the girl and her balloon. You could use other selection tools if you’d like. I then put her on her own separate layer. To do this in Photoshop, while the selection is still active press Control and the letter J at the same 
time. She will appear in your levels as a separate level all by herself.
The first way I decided to make her stand out was to brighten her – while at the same time making everything else less bright and more dull. In each case I used a Brightness/Contrast level to get the job done.
The second way was to use selective focus which 
we talked about in an earlier post. The color intensity of the background is the same – just out of focus. I also brightened the layer of the little girl at the same time – just to make her standout a little more.
The last way - and the one I like the best – was to 
keep the little girl in color – while the background is turned into a black & white image. While all are effective in emphasizing the subject and make her stand out from a very busy scene – I prefer this since it tells a simpler story visually.
The goal in each of these examples of the little girl was to emphasize her. I could have just taken her and put her in another background, but my goal was to tell a story about that moment in time. To do that it was necessary to keep her in the context of her surroundings – but, at the same time, have her stand out. I think each of the three examples does it quite well. It also gives you a unique image that will make you stand out from other shooters. Try something like this the next time you’re out shooting and see for yourself. I think you’ll like using these tricks and I guaranatee, your work will stand out from others. Best – Bill
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