172 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TODIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
FIGURE 11.25
Correcting mis-
takes in a quick
mask.The Absolute Minimum
This chapter introduced Photoshop’s incredibly powerful selections tools, such as the
Pen tool. Professional photographers and graphic artists use the Pen tool in their
work every day to isolate parts of an image.
Mastering this tool requires practice and patience. Start with an image that needs
correction in a specific area, create a path with the Pen tools and turn it into a selec-
tion by Ctrl+clicking on the Path name. Later, switch to Quick Mask mode to review.
Photoshop Elements users have almost as powerful a combination in the Magnetic
Lasso and Selection Brush, and with practice can isolate areas of an image.
Regardless of the version of Photoshop you use, follow these tips when working with
advanced selection tools:
■ In Photoshop’s Quick Mask mode, press Ctrl+I to invert the mask.
■ The Selection Brush in Photoshop Elements is a hidden quick mask! Select it
to see a quick mask of a selection. Press Ctrl+Shift+I (xShift-I for Mac users) to
invert the selection.
■ In Photoshop, remove a poorly placed anchor point by pressing Delete once.
■ Press Ctrl+H (xH on Mac) to hide the crawling ants selection border in either
program.
■ The powerful Color Range command partially selects pixels. Use the fuzziness
slider to increase the amount of partially selected pixels.
■ The Single Column and Single Row Marquee tools create filled-in lines.
Multiple lines can be created.