Learn more about rectangular (oval) selection in Photoshop. Selection tools in Photoshop
Good day to everyone, my dear friends and readers! How are you feeling? I hope everything is OK. And with such a good mood, I would like to continue our Photoshop lessons. Today I would like to talk about a very important action in Adobe Photoshop, namely selecting objects, parts of an image, etc.
Why do we need to select objects at all? For different purposes. For example, you want to cut out a specific part of one image and transfer it to another. Or maybe you want to save a certain part of the image from the whole. Or you just want to work (change, process, apply filters, add brightness, sharpening or other effects, etc.) with a separate part of the image.
Today I want to briefly tell you about different methods of highlighting in Photoshop, so that you know what they are and for which cases which one is best suited. Go!
For example, if you want to turn something rectangular or square, then it is best to take a tool "Rectangular selection". And if you want to highlight something oval or round, then you are welcome to use "Oval selection".
Lasso
Regular lasso
The instrument is completely in the power of your hand, i.e. As you move your hand, the selection will be drawn. If your hand shakes, your selection line will shake. Is the least useful tool in this group.
Straight-line lasso
This type of lasso is most suitable for selecting objects consisting of straight lines. It is not necessary that the corners be right, even if it is a fence. It all comes down to the fact that you are constantly setting checkpoints, thanks to which your current progress will not be lost if you “mess up”. As a result, the selection is smooth.
But it is not necessary to use it for smooth images. With it, you can even select people and rounded objects.
Magnetic lasso
This is just a great looking lasso. It is great for objects with sharp edges or for objects that differ in brightness and color from the surrounding background.
The principle of its operation is such that you just need to place the first selection point on the edge of the selected object, and then you simply move the mouse along the area that you want to select. In this case, you don’t need to clamp anything and you don’t have to worry about the fact that you won’t follow the contour clearly, even if your hands shake.
The tool itself is magnetized to the edge of the object (hence its name). The main thing is just not to move too far from this edge, otherwise the lasso will be able to magnetize to the other edge. And the tool is just awesome.
Quick selection
Another group for selecting objects, the essence of which is to select objects using a couple of clicks.
Magic wand
Tool "Magic wand" allows you to select the desired object in 1 click. The main thing is to set the tolerance level correctly. And of course, you need the edges of the object to be clearly separated from the background, that is, to contrast with it.
Quick selection
Tool "Quick Selection" is a kind of magic wand, but unlike it, we don’t just select some area by pressing a button, but we can say sketch it with the mouse button held down (it’s not for nothing that the tool takes the shape of a brush).
But as in the case of the magnetic lasso and the magic wand, the selected object must contrast with the general background at least somehow.
Quick mask
It has proven itself excellent among Photoshoppers. The essence of this tool is that you paint over the desired object or background around this object. After this deactivation of the mode, a dotted line appears along the edges of the shaded area, i.e. the selection itself.
This mode is very convenient to use when working with any type of image, even if they do not contrast with the general background. The main thing is just to paint well in the right places.
Feather
Completes our list today. The principle of its operation is somewhat similar to the straight lasso, only unlike the latter, the lines can be adjusted and rounded.
Another undoubted advantage is that the use of this tool can be interrupted for a while without compromising progress. That is, if you have already started selecting an object with a pen, then you can easily switch to another tool, but your current selection will not go anywhere and you can continue it at any time.
Do you see how many ways the wonderful Adobe Photoshop program has for selecting objects? This once again shows how powerful and convenient this graphic editor is. Each instrument is built differently, but the essence remains the same. And each person can use a certain tool when working to select certain objects or areas of the image.
And we will consider each of these tools separately and in detail so that you can choose the most interesting one for yourself. Or maybe you already have a favorite instrument? Write in the comments which one is closest to your heart).
Well, in general, you can look at detailed lessons on each tool, and on working with Photoshop in general, in this wonderful video course. The lessons are simply amazing and are told in simple and understandable language for any level of user. Everything is “chewed” and shown with real examples. After watching this course, you will already have a very good understanding of Photoshop. Highly recommend.
Well, I’m finishing our review lesson for today. I hope that it has become clear to you which method of selecting images is best suited for what. By the way, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog updates, then you definitely won’t miss anything interesting and will be aware of the most important points. See you in other articles. Bye bye!
Best regards, Dmitry Kostin.
Due to numerous requests, I am doing a lesson on techniques for isolating complex objects from the background.
Look at this image:
What's the easiest way to highlight this image? The usual Lasso will definitely not work here.
You can dig deeper Polygonal Lasso, but it will take you a lot of time, it is more suitable for selecting rectangular objects (table, cube, book).
1 way:
The magnetic lasso in this case will do a good job, since the picture has a high level of contrast, but still not ideal.
If you don’t stop yourself and add additional points on sharp protrusions and corners, the tool will simply skip them. The result is a two.
The main disadvantage with the Lasso tool is that you can't move away from the path until you close it.
Method 2:
A good alternative would be the Pen tool. When working with it, you can constantly break away: switch to other tools, work with other documents, go have tea, etc.
Another advantage is that the resulting outline can be adjusted before turning it into a selection.
First we highlighted roughly:
Then we put an additional point in the middle of the straight section:
Hold Ctrl and it will turn into a white arrow, which allows you to drag the point.
When you close the last point, a solid outline will appear. To get a selection, you need to right-click and select Make Selection.
There you will be asked about shading. If you want the edges of the selected object to soften slightly, then add 1 - 2 px.
If you are interested in the Pen tool, I advise you to read this.
3 way:
For this image, a super quick way to select would be to use Magic wand.
The main thing is to guess with the "Tolerance" parameter. For example, I set it to 45 and clicked once on the background. Almost everything stood out for me.
Then I held Shift and clicked on the light green areas. Ready!
All that remains is to press Shift+Ctrl+I to invert the selection.
4 way:
How else can you make a selection?
With a quick mask!
If you read my first lessons on Photoshop, then you probably remember that I briefly told you what these or those are intended for. And today we will analyze in detail the tools designed to highlight various areas, in photographs and pictures.
Selection tools in Photoshop are designed to select a specific area in the image and further process it. In other words, you can, for example, select some part of the photo and darken it, while the rest of the photo remains untouched.
If we look at the toolbar in Photoshop, we will see three “shelves” with selection tools.
But in reality there are more tools. In order to see the rest, you need to hold down the left mouse button. In this case, they appear in the drop-down list. By holding down the first selection tool, we will see all four: Rectangular area, Oval area, Area (horizontal line), Area (vertical line). These are the most important selection tools.
Below we have: Lasso, Straight-line lasso, Magnetic lasso.
And the third batch of selection tools: Quick Selection and Magic Wand.
Let's create a new document and try to work with these tools.
Click the “File – New” menu.
In the window that opens, indicate the dimensions of the document, 600 by 500. Click “Yes”.
The document has been created. Select the Rectangular Marquee Selection Tool. Now click on the created document with the left mouse button, hold it down, drag the mouse to the side, and stretch it. When the desired area is selected, the mouse will need to be released.
Thus, we have a randomly selected area. If we want the proportions to be maintained during selection, then all this must be done with the Shift key held down. Here's what I got:
We can move this selection throughout the document. To do this, you need to hover the mouse cursor over the selection itself, hold and drag it to the desired location.
If we try to create another selection, the first one will disappear. This is how the selection is configured by default. But we can correct this in Options by selecting the second mode “ Add to selection» by clicking on the corresponding icon.
Now each new selection will remain. And we can also add a selection area to an already selected area.
To remove the selection, select the menu “ Selection – Deselect" Or use the hotkey Ctr+D.
The rest of the selection tools in this group are similar in operation. For example, Oval area. Using it, we can select an oval area, or a circle, if we maintain the proportions by holding down the Shift key.
Next we have the Lasso tools. The first one is very simple to use, like a pencil, we outline the desired area, and it becomes selected after we release the mouse button. This selection tool is freeform.
Next up is the Straight Line Lasso. Selection occurs from point to point. We put a point on the document, then a second, third, etc., then we close the last point with the first and we get a selected area. It is most convenient to use it to select some rectangular objects.
And Magnetic Lasso, this tool tries to automatically detect the edges of the object that we are trying to select. We’ll better look at this tool using some picture as an example. Let's take this camera.
And let's try to highlight it. To do this, we put a point somewhere where the camera starts and move around it. And what we see is that the tool itself magnetizes and creates points around it. After completely tracing the camera, you need to close the tool with the first point, and the object is selected.
Now we can work with the selected area. Move to a new document, reduce size, change color and much more.
The next group of tools: Quick Selection and Magic Wand.
Using Quick Selection, we can select an object by simply painting over the places that need to be selected. It is somewhat reminiscent of the tool we discussed earlier.
And one more tool - the Magic Wand. It highlights the place where we click and neighboring pixels of similar color.
That is, for example, if we have a photograph where there is a blue sky, and it is very different in color from other objects, then with the help of the Magic Wand, it will not be difficult for us to select the sky by clicking on it once with the left mouse button.
This is what I did with this photo:
There are also a couple of important settings in Options. The first is, as with the first selection tool, selecting a mode, that is, each click will add a new selection, and the old one will disappear, or our selection will be added to what already exists.
And the second is Tolerance, the larger this value, the more neighboring colors will be affected when selected. That is, something like sensitivity.
Now let's see how we can apply Selection tools when processing photographs. In fact, these tools are used in hundreds of different operations. But we'll look at a few interesting ones.
So let's work with the selected area.
Let's go back to one of the images that we already opened and use the Magic Wand's selection tool to select the sky. And then we’ll try to change its color. To do this, select the menu “ Image - Adjustments - Hue/Saturation».
Here you can adjust using three sliders - Saturation, Hue and Brightness. Move these sliders to get the effect you want. At the same time, you can observe the result.
Once everything is configured, click the “Yes” button.
Look what I got.
The sky darkened!
But as you can see, some areas of the sky were not highlighted and remained as light as before. This is very noticeable among the green leaves of the trees. In such cases, you need to increase the Tolerance in Options and uncheck Adjacent. pix ., which means highlighting the specified color and a similar one in the tolerance area throughout the entire image.
Now I made the color of the sky a little different, and as you can see, by increasing the Tolerance and by turning off Adjacent. pix. it turned out much better.
Using selection tools such as Magnetic Lasso, we can cut out the necessary parts from the photo.
And transfer them to other photos or new documents.
Having selected the eyes using the Oval Tool, you can change their color by going back to the “Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation” menu.
You can simply create selections, then paint over them with the Fill or Gradient tool.
In general, the scope of selection is varied, and it occurs all the time when working in Photoshop. You must be able to use the Selection Tools at least at a basic level.
In this article, we'll look at various selection tools in Photoshop. Considering that there are various methods of selection in Photoshop, you yourself choose which one is suitable for solving your problem. So, let's begin.
Selecting simple objects in Photoshop
If your object has a rectangular or elliptical shape, you can use one of the simple selection tools in Photoshop. They are located in the second group on the Toolbar.
The “Rectangular Marquee Tool” will allow you to select a rectangular object: a notebook, a window, a house.
Elliptical Marquee Tool – Selects a round or elliptical object.
By holding down the Shift key while selecting, you will get a selection in the shape of a perfect circle or square.
"Single Row Marquee Tool" and "Single Column Marquee Tool" select a row or column 1 px wide.
Settings for selecting areas in Photoshop
In the top line, in the tool settings, you can choose how the selection will occur.
The first button “New Selection” will allow you to select a new area each time.
The “Add to selection” button will allow you to select several areas at once, and if they intersect, a new area will be added to the previously selected one, as if expanding it.
The “Subtract from selection” button will exclude selected areas from an existing selection.
The last button “Intersect with selection” will leave selected only the area that will be on the border of the intersection.
The “Feather” line sets the value of blurring the boundaries of the selected area. For example, set “0 px”, select an area and move or copy it. The boundaries of the cut out object are clear.
Now set the value to “20 px”, select and copy the fragment. The cut out fragment has softer shaded borders.
Moving a selection in Photoshop
To move a selected object in the image, hover your mouse over it, the cursor will change to an arrow pointer with a small rectangle at the bottom, hold down the left mouse button and drag the area.
To move an area more accurately, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
If the “Move Tool” is selected during moving, then not the selected area, but the selected fragment of the image will move.
Selecting in Photoshop with the Lasso tool
"Lasso" is the third group on the toolbar.
"Lasso Tool" (Lasso) - a simple lasso. You need to hold down the left mouse button and move along the contour of the object that you want to select. This will require patience and skill.
“Polygonal Lasso Tool” (Polygonal Lasso) – selects the outline of an object with straight lines. Left-click at the beginning of the selection, and then click each time where you want the straight line to end.
“Magnetic Lasso Tool” (Magnetic Lasso) - allows you to quickly select the desired object. Click the mouse at the beginning of the selection area, and then simply move the cursor along the path you want to select, and selection markers will be automatically placed. The greater the contrast between the background and the area you want to select, the better the tool determines the boundaries of the selection area.
The tool settings contain the following parameters. Let's consider the last three, since the rest were described above.
“Width” – the more precise the selection area you want to be, the smaller the value you should choose.
“Contrast” – if the contrast of the background and area is high, the value should be large, if it is low, select a lower value.
“Frequency” – the higher the value, the more often markers will be created along the contour of the selected area.
Selecting in Photoshop with the Magic Wand tool
The magic wand selects pixels of similar color. You just need to click on the object you want to select.
You can configure the following settings for it.
“Tolerance” - the larger the value, the larger the area with pixels of similar color will be selected. The value selected is 20.
The selected value is 50.
“Contiguous” (Contiguous pixels) - if you uncheck this box, areas of similar color throughout the image will be selected.
Using the Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop
“Quick Selection Tool” – using this tool, you can quickly select the desired object in the image.
The area is selected with simple mouse clicks. After each click, the selected area increases.
If unnecessary parts of the background are automatically selected, press “Alt” and click on the unnecessary area - it will be subtracted from the selected area. Using the Quick Selection tool, you can select complex image objects. It is also convenient to remove the remains of the background using the Eraser Tool.
The tool settings are as follows: the first three brushes – select an area, add to a selected area, subtract from a selected area; Clicking on the black arrow will open the selection brush options.
Selecting in Photoshop using a Mask
“Quick Mask Mode” is the last button on the Toolbar. You can also use the “Q” key to enable this function.
Select the “Brush Tool” from the Toolbar and press “Q”. After this, black color will be selected for the brush. Paint over the object you want to select.
Please note that in the brush settings, “Opacity” and “Flow” should be 100%. Choose a hard, opaque brush.
The selection tools are the most used tools in Photoshop. Not a single operation is complete without selecting objects: be it a small edit of a section of a picture, or cutting out an object when editing photographs and images.
Photoshop offers a whole arsenal of selection tools, to put it simply: “for all occasions.” But for successful work it is necessary to understand the purpose of individual tools for their effective use in various situations.
“Brevity is the sister of talent,” so we will analyze the selection tools as illustrated and concise as possible, but omitting only minor details.
And the "Area" tools
The “Area” group tools are designed to select rectangular and oval areas of arbitrary or specified size, as well as vertical and horizontal lines 1px wide:
Select the “Rectangular Area” tool and, holding the left mouse button in any corner of the intended rectangle, drag the cursor to the opposite corner:
Fig.1. Tools of the "Area" group: 1 - Rectangular area; 2 - Area with clipping;
3 - Oval area; 4 - Horizontal line;
5 - New selection, Add to selection (Subtract from selection),
Intersection with the selected one;
6 - Edge shading; 7 — Set the proportions or size of the selection;
8 — Manually specified width and height of the selection.
If you press the Shift key, you get a square. Similarly for the “Oval Area” tool - then we get a round selection area (Fig. 1-3).
But the Shift key will help not only with this. If there is already a selection, then by pressing Shift you can add a new selection to the previous one. Or several.
The figure shows a selected rectangular area with a rectangular clipping (Fig. 1-2), which is easy to make. We just use the “Subtract from Selection” button (Fig. 1-5) before selecting the clipping area. In the same way, you can add selected areas using “Add to Selection”; or get the intersection of two regions.
Another important point: you can set proportions for the selection area, or explicitly specify the size (Fig. 1-7). After that, enter the width and height values in the fields (Fig. 1-8).
And Lasso tools
Slightly more complex are the Lasso tools, which are used to create freehand selection areas. But they also have more potential:
Having selected the Lasso tool, hold down the left mouse button at the starting point and, without releasing it, outline the desired area in the image, returning to the beginning. If you release the button without completing the path, Photoshop will do it itself, connecting the last and starting points in a straight line, as shown in the illustration:
It is possible to set some smoothing of the “clumsiness” of the selection line.
The Straight Line Lasso tool selects a random area using line segments. In this case, you do not need to hold down the mouse button; each click will create a new segment of the selection outline:
Double-clicking will close the selection outline to the starting point in a straight line.
The Magnetic Lasso tool is more precise for tracing and cutting out objects. The selection outline automatically snaps to the edge of an object when the cursor passes near it. And the nodes that appear on the selection line will allow you to correct it:
The Magnetic Lasso tool is good for everyone, if not for one thing. It only correctly detects the edge of an object when the object contrasts well with the rest of the image. If we take our unfinished example, the “Magnetic Lasso” grabbed the shadow of the car in some places, which had to be corrected by adjusting the nodes.
And the Quick Selection tools
The following two tools are even more advanced and are good for quick selections and are often used to create collages:
The Quick Selection tool creates a selection using brushes that come in a variety of shapes. But in the example, standard round brushes were used (Fig. 2-4). With each brush click, the selection area expands, capturing the outline of the object. When selecting, do not go beyond the boundaries of the object.
It took much less time to allocate the car than in the previous example:
Fig.2. Quick Selection Tool: 1 - New selection, Add to selection (Subtract from selection);
2 — Brush settings; 3 — Setting the hardness and size of the brush;
4 — Brush pointer (cursor).
A “huge” brush was used, and to highlight small details, the brush needs to be reduced by pressing the button (Fig. 2-2). And in the window that opens (Fig. 2-3) set the size. Here you can reduce the rigidity, i.e. soften the pressure of the brush.
But even here, not everything went smoothly. Part of the shadow was captured, which I removed from the selection with literally two clicks of the brush. Just first I clicked the “Subtract from Selection” icon (Fig. 2-1).
And a tip: if the image has a small resolution, then it will be useful to zoom in on the document. This will add convenience when highlighting small details. This maneuver will also be useful when working with other selection tools.
And now “The Magic Wand”. The tool is used to select areas of the same color and those close to it. To merge selected areas, click the Add to Selection icon (Figure 3-1) or hold down the Shift key.
To select a pink elephant, 5 clicks are made: body, ears, eyes. To highlight the white claws and tail, I zoomed in on the document and clicked on them:
Fig.3. Magic Wand Tool: 1 - New selection, Add to selection (Subtract from selection),
Intersection with the selected one;
2 — Color range tolerance from 0 to 256;
3 — Smoothing selection boundaries;
4 - Adjacent pixels (for highlighting
areas of the same color throughout the document).
The “Magic Wand” worked brilliantly, but this is only true for objects with small color variations. It is worth working with the color range tolerance (Fig. 3-2) - these are the colors that Photoshop has “equalized” to a given color. A larger tolerance value will expand the color range of the selected areas.
Conclusion: “Magic Wand” is ideal for lightning-fast selection of single-color areas of an image.
And the Move tool
This tool is not a selection tool, but it works closely with them. With its help, selection areas can be easily moved to any place in the image.
