MAKING SELECTIONS

Much of the time, before you can do anything to an image (or a portion of an image) in Photoshop, you must first make a selection. The tool you use depends on the type of selection you want to make.

MARQUEE TOOLS

The most basic of all the selection tools is the Marquee tool. The Marquee tool is located at the top left corner of the toolbox. You can access it by clicking on its icon or by hitting the M key. When you click and hold on the Marquee tool icon in the toolbox, notice that four more tools emerge, including the Elliptical Marquee tool, which is used to create circular or oval selections:

To make a selection with the Marquee tool, just drag across the portion of the image you want to select while holding down the mouse button. Once you release the mouse, your selection will be surrounded by flickering dashed lines (also referred to as "marching ants").

Double-click on the Marquee tool in the toolbox to access the Marquee Options palette where you can specify a Feather and Anti-Aliased (for the Elliptical Marquee tool only) setting:

•To create a selection that is perfectly square or round, hold down the Shift key as you drag around the area you want to select.

•To create a selection that extends outward from its center, hold down the Option key (Alt key for Windows) as you drag.

•If you want to move the selection, click and hold inside the selection border, and drag it to where you want it.

LASSO TOOLS

The Lasso tool is used for making freehand selections. To access the Lasso tool, click on the Lasso tool icon in the toolbox or hit the L key. To access the Polygon Lasso tool and the Magnetic Lasso tool, click and hold on the Lasso tool icon in the toolbox:

With the Lasso tool selected, you can trace around the portion of the image you want to select to create a freehand selection border. By holding down the Option key (Alt key for Windows), you can click around the area you want to select, rather than drag, giving you more control. Double-click on the Lasso tool icon in the toolbox to bring up the Lasso Options palette where you can specify a Feather and Anti-Aliased setting.

The Polygon Lasso is used to draw straight-edge selections. Click once where you want the selection to begin. Move your cursor to the next selection point and click again. Continue in this fashion until you have enclosed the portion of the image you want to select within the selection border. Double-click on the Polygon Lasso tool icon in the toolbox to bring up the Polygon Lasso Options palette where you can specify a Feather and Anti-Aliased setting.

The Magnetic Lasso tool is one of Photoshop 5's brand new tools. It works much like the Lasso tool except that as you trace around the portion of the image you want to select, the Magnetic Lasso tool creates a selection border than snaps to the edge of a defined area of your image.

To use the Magnetic Lasso, click once on the portion of your image that you want to select to set a starting point, and then trace around the portion of the image that you want to select. Notice that after the initial click, you don't have to hold down the mouse button. As you trace, the selection border snaps to the edge of your selection, dropping fastening points (those tiny little boxes) along the way. You can add more fastening points by clicking as you trace:

Double-click on the Magnetic Lasso tool icon in the toolbox to bring up the Magnetic Lasso Options palette:

Along with specifying a Feather and Anti-Aliased setting, this is where you set a Lasso Width, Frequency and Edge Contrast for making selections with the Magnetic Lasso tool:

Lasso Width: This is the distance, in pixels, from the edge of your selection to the cursor that the Magnetic Lasso will be able to detect as you trace around the portion of the image you want to select. Simply put... Lasso Width determines how precise you want to be when tracing around your image. The smaller the value you specify, the more precise edge detection will be. Large values are handy for selecting relatively smooth portions of an image that contrast sharply from the background. However, if the portion of the image you want to select has lots of grooves and jags, use a small value. When in doubt, just stick with a value of 1 pixel.

Frequency: This is the rate at which the Magnetic Lasso will drop fastening points as you trace around the portion of the image you want to select. In general, use low values for smooth edges and high values for edges with lots of nooks and crannies.

Edge Contrast: This is the setting you'll do the most fiddling with. The Magnetic Lasso works by detecting contrast between the edge of the portion of the image you want to select and its background area (which you don't want to select). Use high Edge Contrast values for edges that contrast sharply with the background and lower Edge Contrast values for poorly contrasted edges.

MAGIC WAND TOOL

The Magic Wand tool works a little differently than the other selection tools. Use it to select portions of an image that are of the same color range.

You can access the Magic Wand tool by clicking on its icon in the toolbox or by hitting the W key:

Double-click on the Magic Wand icon in the toolbox to bring up the Magic Wand Options palette:

This is where you set a Tolerance for your selection — any value between 0 and 255. With a high Tolerance setting, more gradations of color within that particular color range will be selected, and as such, a larger area of the image.

For example, say I want to select the middle stripe on this image of a fish so I can change its color. With the Magic Wand tool selected and a Tolerance of 70 set in the Magic Wand Options palette, I click once on the stripe to select it:

If you want to select more than one portion of an image (perhaps another stripe), just hold down the Shift key as you click with the Magic Wand tool on the next portion of the image you want to select.

COLOR RANGE

Another handy way of making selections based on color is the Color Range command. Under the Select menu, choose Color Range and the following dialog box will appear:

Under the Select drop-down menu, you can select a color range by Sampled Color, Highlights, Midtones, etc.

With Sampled Color, use the eyedropper to click on the representation of the image in the dialog box to select a color range. The Fuzziness bar works much like the Tolerance setting of the Magic Wand — the higher the value, the more gradations of color within that particular color range will be selected.

ALTERING SELECTIONS

When making selections, the following commands also come in handy. They are located under the Select menu, but it is always easier to use the keyboard shortcuts:

Select All: Selects the entire image
Command A for Macintosh (Control A for Windows) or
Select menu > All

Deselect: Deselects what you have selected
Command D for Macintosh (Control D for Windows) or
Select menu > Deselect

Reselect: Reselects what you have just deselected (the oops command)
Command Shift D for Macintosh (Control Shift D for Windows) or
Select menu > Reselect

Inverse: Inverses your selection
Command Shift I for Macintosh (Control Shift I for Windows) or
Select menu > Inverse

Hide Edges: Hides the flickering dashed selection border
Command H for Macintosh (Control H for Windows)

To add to a selection you've just made with the Marquee, Lasso or Magic Wand tool, just hold down the Shift key and make another selection. To subtract from a selection, hold down the Option key (Alt key for Windows), and select the portion of the selection you want to deselect.

You can Expand and Contract a selection under the Select menu, choose Modify. Also under the Select menu, the Grow and Similar commands allow you to add to an existing selection. Grow works in conjunction with the Tolerance setting of the Magic Wand tool. For instance, if you select a portion of an image using the Magic Wand tool with a Tolerance of 40 set in the Magic Wand Options palette, you can easily increase the selection area by choosing Grow from the Select menu. Basically, you are doubling your Tolerance without returning to the Magic Wand Options palette. When you choose Similar from the Select menu, all other portions of the image that share the same color range will be selected.