leaving the Lasso tool, and then get back again. To
do this, press Opt/Alt while holding down the mouse
button. When you take your finger from the mouse,
you will now find you are using the Polygonal tool. To
get back to Lasso, press the mouse, release Opt/Alt
and you will be using Lasso again.
CHANNEL SELECTION
Petri Anttila
Go to the Channels palette and see which of the
channels have the biggest difference between
highlights and shadows. Duplicate it and make it the
only one active. Go to the Adjustment panel and open
Curves. You can then start dragging Shadows and
Highlights towards the middle so you will have just
black and white on the image. If you have trouble on
some parts of the image, you can use a black or
white brush to paint it over. Go to the Select palette
and click Color Range. Now you have a perfect
selection of the area you want!
COLOR RANGE
Christiano Normano
This is a great tool for selections, as every image you
work on is based on colour and tones, so why not
select this way? You then can add an adjustment
layer to that selection and you can refine your
selection with the Fuzziness slider.
MARQUEE TOOLS
Jeff Whitlock
When using basic Marquee tools, refine the defined
shape further by going to the Select menu and then
scroll down to Transform Selection. A bounding box
will appear around your selection. Ctrl/right-click
within the box and a menu will appear showing the
WHEN BJÖRN EWERS OF GERMAN DESIGN COMPANY STUDIO314 MAKES SELECTIONS,
HE ALSO STARTS WITH A ROUGH SELECTION USING THE POLYGONAL LASSO TOOLDON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE LASSO
“When the image fits perfectly in the size and I like
what I see, I start with a more precise selection.
“When I started with Photoshop, I cut everything
with the Lasso tool using my Wacom tablet.
Nowadays I am lazier and use the Polygonal Lasso
tool for random forms.
“When I have to work very precisely I no longer
use the Lasso tool and I switch to the Path tool,
particularly when it comes to perfect-shaped
objects like cars. After my selection is done, I try to
make the edge less sharp. In most cases a 2px soft
edge works well.variety of transformations that can be applied to your
marquee selection, such as scale warp, rotate and
perspective. It’s a great alternative to using the Pen
tool for many types of selections!MAGIC WAND
John Ross
After making a selection with the Magic Wand, there
are often tiny areas left out. Rather than trying to get
every little bit by hand, use Select>Modify>Expand>
and then Select>Modify>Feather>2 to fill in the little
pinholes left behind. It will also enhance blending and
softening of the edges. The Values may change
depending on the size of the image, but if 2 is not
enough, you can expand it to 4-5 or more. This trick
can also be used with Color Range, which also
leaves behind similar missed areas.
When using the Magic Wand tool, the Options bar
has a radial button called Contiguous. When checked
on, the wand will grab similar touching, or adjacent,
pixels. The benefit is that it will allow you to work in a
smaller, more controlled area of the image. When
unchecked, the wand will grab similar pixels from
across the entire image.“When it comes to much more difficult
selections like hair, blurry edges or translucent
elements, I really love to use Photoshop’s Refine
Edge tool. Sometimes it works almost perfectly,
but sometimes, especially on basic selections like
sharp corners, it can cause a lot of trouble in
image-making.
“Following Refine Edge, I have an overall look
on my final selection and rework wherever
necessary. Finally I have a last look in my alpha
mask to see if everything is perfectly separated
into black and white.”© studio314.de© studio314.dePRO GUIDE TO SELECTIONS