24 min read
Selection Tools
Marquee, lasso, object and quick selection, Magic Wand and Select Subject — plus adding, subtracting, inverting and refining.
Why Select?
A selection marks the area you want to change. Everything outside it is protected. Selections are shown by a moving dotted border ("marching ants"). You use them to cut out an object, to limit an adjustment, or to make a mask.
The Selection Tools
| Which selection tool? | |
|---|---|
Adding, Subtracting and Inverting
| Selection shortcuts | |
|---|---|
Refining Difficult Edges
Hair, fur and leaves are hard to select cleanly. Choose Select → Select and Mask… to open a workspace where you can paint with the Refine Edge Brush along the edge, preview on different backgrounds, and output the result straight to a layer mask.
Practice
Which tool is best for selecting a perfect circle?
Choose one.
More lessons in Adobe Photoshop · Next: Cut, Crop and Replace · Previous: Layers and Layer Groups