MaximumPC 2008 12

PICTURE

PERFECT

Selecting and Manipulating

Crop something out of a photo or simply resize it

N

ot every snapshot comes out perfectly, but

with a little editing, improvements can

be made without any Hollywood-style

retouching. Whether your photograph is spoiled

by poor composition or simply by an obnoxious

relative making a face, the Select tools are the

key to solving most problems. They enable you to

isolate areas of the image and remove or modify

them. You can make selections in straight lines,

using the Rectangle Select tool; elliptical shapes,

including circles, using the Ellipse Select tool; or

freehand shapes, using the Free Select tool. For

more detailed work, the three other tools on the

top row of the Tools pane are useful because they

enable computer-aided selection of areas, but they

are less suited to simple resizing and reshaping.

STEP BY STEP

Selecting with Masks

GUIDING LINES If your horizon is askew, pull a

guideline down from the ruler that runs across the

top of the main screen so it crosses the uneven

horizon. Then go to Tools > Transform Tools > Drag

and Rotate and drag the slider until it’s straight.

INVERTED SELECTIONS Select the area you wish

to exclude; then press Ctrl + I, and bingo, you now

have everything else selected instead. Invert again

to switch back.

50 | MAXIMUMPC | DEC 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com

1. SOFT
   APPROACH
   Sometimes using
   the Free Select tool
   creates too jagged
   a selection because
   each pixel is either
   selected or not.
   There is, however,
   an approach that
   creates a softer
   boundary for a more
   realistic look.
   3. PAINT AWAY In Quick Mask mode, the painting tools—
   including the paintbrush, pencil, spray paint, and fi ll bucket—
   can be used to refi ne a selection in detail and with soft edges.
   Choose white paint to select and black paint to deselect.


2. BUSINESS AS USUAL When you switch back from Quick Mask
   mode, using the same button or key combination, you’ll notice that
   your selection is rendered in the traditional moving dotted lines.
   You’re now free to copy, paste, and manipulate your selection.


3. MASK YOUR
   INTENTIONS
   Select the Quick
   Mask button at the
   bottom-left of the
   image (or press
   Shift + Q). You’ll
   notice that the
   unselected area is
   tinted red, whereas
   the selected area
   appears in full color.

CROP AWAY

The Crop tool

lets you isolate

a specifi c part

of a picture:

Whatever

that selection

contains is re-

tained, the rest

is discarded.

SMART SCISSORS

This tool enables

you to select

points along the

edge of a shape

and then work

out the shape you

intended to select.

Press Enter to cre-

ate the selection.

HOT TIP