Learn how to enhance brand visibility on product labels with our advanced Photoshop tutorial, which guides users through the process of selecting and color correcting text on a bottle's label.
This exercise is excerpted from Noble Desktop’s past Photoshop training materials and is compatible with Photoshop updates through 2020. To learn current skills in Photoshop, check out our Photoshop Bootcamp and graphic design classes in NYC and live online.
Note: These materials are provided to give prospective students a sense of how we structure our class exercises and supplementary materials. During the course, you will get access to the accompanying class files, live instructor demonstrations, and hands-on instruction.
Topics covered in this Photoshop tutorial:
Easy selections with Channels, Intersecting selections
Exercise Preview
Exercise Overview
The label of the bottle is a little washed out. It’s the brand name, so of course it really needs to pop! We’ll select the text in this exercise so we can color correct it in a later exercise.
Selecting the Bottle’s Label
If it’s not still open, re-open yourname-product-Adobe RGB.psd.
Drag a Rectangular Marquee
around the bottle’s label area that contains the text shown in the exercise preview above.Go to the Paths panel.
Hold Cmd–Opt–Shift (Mac) or Ctrl–Alt–Shift (Windows) and click the bottle path to intersect it with your selection.
Hold Cmd–Opt–Shift (Mac) or Ctrl–Alt–Shift (Windows) and click the label and cap path to intersect that as well.
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Hold Cmd–Opt (Mac) or Ctrl–Alt (Windows) and click the tumbler glass path to subtract it.
You should now have the bottle’s label selected.
Selecting Only the Text on the Bottle’s Label
Go to the Channels panel and look through each one (red, green, and blue). Find which one has the cleanest, most contrast-y version of the type. In this case the Blue channel seems the best.
Duplicate the Blue channel by dragging it down onto the New channel button
.Rename the new channel bottle text.
Do a Select > Inverse (Cmd–Shift–I (Mac) or Ctrl–Shift–I (Windows)).
Make sure the background color is set to Black.
Hit Cmd–Delete (Mac) or Ctrl–Delete (Windows).
Deselect (Cmd–D (Mac) or Ctrl–D (Windows)).
Do an Image > Adjustments > Invert (Cmd–I (Mac) or Ctrl–I (Windows)).
Do a Levels adjustment (Cmd–L (Mac) or Ctrl–L (Windows)) and crank up the contrast so the background is clean white and the text is clean black.
As needed use the Brush
or Dodge 
tools to clean things up a bit.In the Channels panel, switch back to the RGB composite at the top.
Be sure to save the file so you can continue with it in a later exercise.