Absolute Beginner's Guide to Digital Photography

To move the image while you trace, press and hold down the spacebar on

your keyboard. Move the mouse and then release the spacebar. The Magnetic

Lasso tool reappears.

If you have problems keeping the Magnetic Lasso from jumping all over the

image, increase the Edge Contrast in the toolbar.

If an unwanted anchor appears, or if you jerk the mouse by mistake, simply

press the Delete key on the keyboard. The anchor will be deleted. Press Delete

again to delete the preceding anchor. Continue pressing Delete as far back as

necessary and then continue tracing.

4. Return to the starting point and the selection will be enclosed.


5. Click the Selection Brush tool. The image changes to a quick mask! Now you
   can see how well you did and even correct mistakes.


6. Zoom in and examine the selection. Press and hold down the spacebar and
   move the mouse to see how the selection went. Select a small brush size in
   the toolbar, such as five pixels, and fix mistakes (see Figure 11.25). You can
   reverse the quick mask by pressing Ctrl+Alt+I (Ctrl-I in Photoshop).
   If you need to come back to the image later and aren’t finished, you can save
   the selection.


7. Click Select, Save Selection and then give the selection a name.


8. When you return to the image, choose Select, Load Selection and then con-
   tinue working with the image. If you need to use the Magnetic Lasso to add
   to the existing selection, click the Add to Selection icon in the Lasso’s toolbar.

CHAPTER 11 ADVANCED SELECTION TOOLS 171

FIGURE 11.24
Tracing with the
Magnetic Lasso
in Elements.