Working With Selections
When working with selection tools in Photoshop, it’s usually a two step process. First using one of the selection tools to select part of the photo you want to change. You would then use another tool, filter, or other tool to make changes. You can make changes with these other tools like moving the selected pixels to a different location or applying filters to the selected area in your image. Selections can be made by size, color. and shape. When your selection is active, changes you make apply only to your selected area. The other areas of your photo that have not been selected are unaffected.
There are four main types of selections:
Geometric selections-
- The Rectangular Marquee tool ( selects a rectangular area in an image)
- The Elliptical Marquee tool ( Hidden underneath the Rectangular Marquee tool, selects elliptical areas)
- Single Row Marquee tool (selects a 1-pixel-high row)
- Single Column Marquee tool ( selects a 1-pixel-wide column, respectively)
Freehand selections-
- The Lasso tool (traces a freehand selection around an area)
- The Polygonal Lasso tool (sets anchor points in straight-line segments around an area)
- The Magnetic Lasso tool (works something like a combination of the other two lasso tools, and gives the best results when good contrast exists between the area you want to select and its surroundings)
Edge-based selections-
- The Quick Selection tool (quickly paints a selection by automatically finding and following defined edges in the image)
Color-based selections
- The Magic Wand tool (selects parts of an image based on similarity in pixel color)
I loved using the Geometric selections like the Elliptical Marquee tool in this chapter. I enjoyed and found it very relaxing that I didn’t have to do much hard work for this lesson. The Elliptical Marquee tool made it easy to outline the parts of my image that I wanted to take out and place in the background of my new black image. I like to describe this tool as if it were acting as the claw game. It’s almost like I can simply reach in to my image with this tool, pull it out, and place it where I want it.
