By Pausha Foley.
There is no end to the wonders that can be accomplished with Photoshop. You can cut and paste, move images around, pile images on top of one another, rearrange them, recolor them and redo them in any and every conceivable way, achieving an image that has nearly nothing to do with the image you started with.
The most spectacular results however begin from the very mundane task of selecting.
Selecting in Photoshop can be about the most frustrating task you will ever undertake. Anyone who has ever attempted to outline an element of a photo perfectly using the lasso tool, with only their mouse, without once lifting their finger from it and, therefore, ruining the selection and having to start all over again, will surely agree with me.
Photoshop provides several selection tools and techniques, some more obvious, some less so. Each of them works perfectly in some cases and is miserably ineffective in others. Additionally, each of them can be tricked. Each rule of how to use a tool has an exception. There is no end to what can be said about how to make a selection so, in order to not get overwhelmed in the ocean of information let me make it simple and begin with introducing the selecting tools. Let’s begin from the top:
1. Marquee Tools
If you click and hold on the little triangle in the bottom right-hand corner the tool menu will extend and present you with four choices of selection tools: rectangular, elliptical, single row and single column. To use those selection tools click on one to select it, then click on your image and drag over the area you wish to select.
Pros (+): Marquee tools are excellent when you wish to select a clearly defined, geometrical shape.
Cons (-): when it comes to complex shapes and elements the marquee tools are pretty useless.
The set of tools that will provide you with much more freedom and flexibility in making selections is called:
2. Lasso tools
If you click and hold the black triangle the menu will extend, offering you three kinds of lasso selection tools:
- Lasso tool allows you to draw a fully custom selection. All you have to do is click your mouse in the place where you wish to begin and, while holding the mouse down, trace the area you wish to select. Using this tool requires a good eye and a steady hand.
Pros (+): you can draw as accurate and detailed selection as you wish
Cons (-): as soon as you let go of your mouse the selected area will close automatically. If you let go of the mouse too early you will have to begin all over again.
- Polygonal lasso tool requires less precision and steadiness of hand, but that comes at the cost of flexibility. With this tool all you have to do is click at the defining points of your shape, the selection will be automatically drawn between the points you click on in straight lines.
Pros (+): you don’t have to keep holding the mouse down all the time. Just click. You can let go of the mouse at any time without ruining what has already been selected.
Cons (-): all you get are straight lines, if the shape you are selecting has many irregular nooks and corners the selection will be imperfect.
- Magnetic Lasso Tool is a cross between the lasso and polygonal tools. You have to click at the defining points of your shape, just like with the polygonal tool. The selection is drown between points automatically but, instead of creating straight lines connecting points, this tool will draw selection lines along the border between contrasting colors or light and shadow.
Pros (+): it is a wonderful selection tool for clearly define shapes. If you have an image that stands out clearly from the background, like the lioness above, the magnetic lasso tool will be able to detect where the image ends and the background begins, and trace the border between the two accurately.
Cons (-): where the edge between your shape and background is blurred and unclear the tool will get out of control and start tracing lines of selection every which way.
Speaking of selecting based on a color or contrast, there are two ways to select the image of a lion from the white background. One is selecting the lion, another would be to select the background. The tool used for selecting an area of the same color is called:
3. Magic Wand
With magic wand tool selected all you have to do is click on a spot of color we wish to select and every part of the image comprised of this color will get selected.
If you look at the properties bar on top of the screen you’ll see that you can set a tolerance of your magic wand. The smaller the tolerance the more precise the selection. The higher the tolerance the more similar shades will be included in a selection.
Pros (+): the magic wand works quickly and very effectively when used on flat area filled with one, clear color.
Cons (-): such areas are hard to come by in a photo, a photo is usually combined of intertwining colors of different shades, lights and shadows. Magic wand selection can go crazy and select little spots all over your image. Fixing an imperfect magic wand selection may take more time than using lasso tool to trace an image.
What can one do, then, if one wishes to make a perfect selection inside of an imperfect image without loosing one sanity and an entire day doing so?
One can use my personal favorite, a tool called:
4. A quick mask mode
Click on the quick mask icon.
With the icon activated choose the brush tool and draw over your image. The area you draw over will be covered with a half-transparent color. Now click back on the quick mask icon. You will see that all of your photo, with the exception of the area you drew over, has been selected.
Pros (+): you can be very precise with this method. You have none of the drawbacks of drawing a selection. You can let go of your mouse at any time you wish, without loosing what has already been selected. If you draw over an area you didn’t wish to draw over, you can use the eraser tool to correct it. Using a brush tool you have all the benefits that come with it. If you look on top of your screen the properties panel will allow you to change your brush’s kind and size. Choosing a smaller brush and zooming really closely into your photo you can draw a very precise selection.
Cons (-): the process of drawing selection might take a long time. It can severely try your patience.
Once you have made a selection there comes a question of: what can you now do with it? The tricks, transformations and peculiarities of selections will be the subject of our next article so stayed tuned!
{ 1 comment }
LOL! I love the example you show of the “nearly useless” Magnetic Lasso tool! I think the only time I’ve ever used it was to show people just how horrible it is!