The Lasso Tools
The Marquee tools are generally used for selecting larger areas and are not very accurate for selecting an edge or precise area. You can get more accurate selections by using the Lasso tools. Press the letter L on the keyboard to cycle through the three different Lasso tools. The standard Lasso tool will let you draw a selection freehand (Figure 6.6). Just click and draw. The only catch is that you have to keep the mouse button down the entire time you are drawing the selection. If you let go of the mouse button, the selection line will snap back to the point from which you began drawing. To finish a selection, you must end where you began.
Figure 6.6
A loose selection created with the Lasso tool.
FIGURE 6.7
A selection created with the Polygonal Lasso tool.
The Polygonal Lasso tool draws a series of straight, connected lines that you can use to select objects with straight edges, like buildings (Figure 6.7).
Just click and drag out a line segment while holding down the mouse button. Let go of the button to complete a segment and then click and draw another. Do this until you end up back where you began.
The final tool in this group is the Magnetic Lasso.
It likes to follow contrast edges and is pretty good at selecting objects photographed against a plain background. Simply click an edge and then follow along as the selection snaps to the edge (Figure 6.8). As you draw, the tool will lay down anchor points. If things start to go off track, press the Delete key to remove the last anchor point and continue from there. You can also click the mouse to add your own anchor points in tricky areas. Your selection will be completed when you arrive back at your starting point.
You can use these tools individually or together to add or subtract from a selection.
FIGURE 6.8
The Magnetic Lasso tool created a much more defined selection of the plane.
MAGIC WAND
If you need to select areas of your photo that are similar in color and tone, you can try using the Magic Wand tool. It has a Tolerance slider in the options bar that lets you control how much difference you want to allow between the pixel you clicked on and the ones surrounding it (Figure 6.9). A zero tolerance will select only pixels of the exact same color and tonality, whereas a setting of 32 is much more forgiving and allows for a larger selection. You can also choose whether to constrain the selection to only contiguous pixels (those that touch each other). If you turn off the contiguous option, pixels of similar color and tonality will be selected no matter where they are in the image.
FIGURE 6.9
The Magic Wand tool is handy for selecting large areas of similar color and brightness.
To use the tool, press W to make it active and then click the area that you want selected. Hold down the Shift key to add areas to your selection; hold down the Alt (Option) key to subtract areas from it.
Quick Selection
We have already covered the Quick Selection tool, but to recap, use it to paint on the area that you want selected and it will automatically snap to edges. Adjust the brush size to increase accuracy in small areas. The brush automatically adds to the selection with each click, so hold the Alt (Option) key while painting to deselect an area.
To paint your selection without the auto-enhancing abilities of the Quick Selection tool, use the Selection Brush tool. Press the A key to cycle through to the Selection Brush tool, choose the brush diameter by using the bracket keys, and begin painting your selection.
Selection Tips
Knowing how to use the selection tools is key to fixing specific portions of your image, but there are some related tips and tricks that will help you take full advantage of their power and help you move through your edits more quickly.
FIGURE 6.10
The Quick Selection tool is the fastest and most accurate method for selecting objects.
FIGURE 6.11
By inverting the selection, the bird can be isolated and then copied to a new layer.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Knowing how to select is important, but deselecting is also a good thing to know. When you are done working with a selection, use the keyboard shortcut Control-D (Command-D) to deactivate it. To select your entire image, press Control-A (Command-A). The Shift key lets you add to a selection; the Alt (Option) key lets you subtract.
INVERTING A SELECTION
Sometimes it’s easier to select everything that you don’t want selected and then invert the selection.
I use this method all the time to select a complex subject on a simple background. Using the Magic Wand and Quick Selection tools, I can easily select the background (Figure 6.10) and then, using the keyboard shortcut Control-Shift-I (Command-Shift-I), invert the selection so that the subject is now the object that is selected. This allows me to do things like apply adjustments to the subject or even cut it from the background and insert a new background (Figure 6.11).
Copy and paste
If you want to copy a selected item, use the keyboard shortcut Control-C (Command-C) to copy it to the clipboard (the temporary memory space). You can also access this command by choosing Edit > Copy. To paste the copied item into the current photo, use the keyboard shortcut Control-V (Command-V).
FIGURE 6.12
Accessing the Refine Edge tool from the Select menu.
