Quick Selection tool, and different type of tools

 Quick Selection tool

The Quick Selection tool simply paints an area of an image and the tool automatically finds

the edges. You can add or subtract areas of the selection until you get the exact area you want.

The image of the sand dollar in the 03Working.psd file has clearly defined edges, making it

an ideal candidate for the Quick Selection tool.

1. Select the Zoom tool in the Tools panel, and zoom in so that you can see the sand dollar

well.

2. Select the Quick Selection tool ( ) in the Tools panel.

3. Select Auto-Enhance in the options bar. When Auto-Enhance are selected, the Quick

Selection tool creates better quality selections, with edges that are truer to the object.

4. Click on an off-white area near the outside edge of the sand dollar.

Moving a selected area

1. If the sand dollar is not still selected, repeat the previous exercise to select it.

2. Zoom out so you can see both the shadowbox and the sand dollar.

3. Select the Move tool ( ) Notice that the sand dollar remains selected.

4. Drag the selected area (the sand dollar) up to the upper left area of the frame, which is

labeled “A.” Position it over the silhouette in the frame, leaving the lower left part of the

silhouette showing as a shadow.

5. Choose Select > Deselect, and then choose File > Save.

Repositioning a selection marquee while creating it

1. Select the Zoom tool ( ) and click the plate of shells at the bottom of the image

window to zoom in to at least 100% view (use 200% view if the entire plate of shells

will still fit in the image window on your Screen).

2. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool ( ), hidden under the Rectangular Marquee tool ( )

3. Move the pointer over the plate of shells, and drag diagonally across the oval plate to

create a selection, but do not release the mouse button. It’s OK if your selection does

not match the plate shape yet.

4. Still holding down the mouse button, press the spacebar and continue to drag the

selection. Instead of resizing the selection, now you’re moving it. Position it so that it

more closely aligns with the plate.

5. Carefully release the spacebar (but not the mouse button) and continue to drag, trying

to make the size and shape of the selection match the oval plate of shells as closely as

possible. If necessary, hold down the spacebar again and drag to move the selection

marquee into position around the plate of shells.

6. When the selection border is positioned appropriately, release the mouse button.

7. Choose View > Fit On Screen or use the slider in the Navigator panel to reduce the

zoom view so that you can see all of the objects in the image window.

Moving selected pixels with a keyboard shortcut

1. If the plate of shells is not still selected, repeat the previous exercise to select it.

2. With the Elliptical Marquee tool ( ) selected in the Tools panel, press Ctrl

(Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and move the pointer within the selection. The

pointer icon now includes a pair of scissors ( ) to indicate that the selection will be cut

from its current location.

3. Drag the plate of shells onto the area of the shadowbox labeled “B.” (You’ll use

another technique to nudge the oval plate into the exact position in a minute.)

4. Release the mouse button, but don’t deselect the plate of shells.

Moving a selection with the arrow keys

1. Select the plate of shells in the image window. Press the Up Arrow key ( ) on your

keyboard a few times to move the oval upward. Notice that each time you press the

arrow key, the plate of shells moves one pixel. Experiment by pressing the other

arrow keys to see how they affect the selection.

2. Hold down the Shift key and press an arrow key. When you hold down the Shift

key, the selection moves ten pixels every time you press an arrow key. You can hide

the edges of a selection temporarily without actually deselecting, and then display the

selection border once you’ve completed the adjustments.

3. Choose View > Show > Selection Edges or View > Extras. Any of these commands

hide the selection border around the plate of shells.

4. Use the arrow keys to nudge the plate of shells until it’s positioned over the

silhouette, so that there’s a shadow on the left and bottom of the plate. Then choose

View > Show > Selection Edges to reveal the selection border again.

5. Choose Select > Deselect, or press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Command+D (Mac OS).

6. Choose File > Save to save your work so far.

Magic Wand tool

The Magic Wand tool selects all the pixels of a particular color or color range. It’s

most useful for selecting an area of similar colors surrounded by areas of very

different colors. The Tolerance option sets the sensitivity of the Magic Wand tool.

This value limits or extends the range of pixel similarity. The default tolerance value

of 32 selects the color you click plus 32 lighter and 32 darker tones of that color.

1. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool ( )hidden behind the Elliptical Marquee tool (

).

2. Drag a selection around the piece of coral. Make sure that your selection is large

enough so that a margin of white appears between the coral and the edges of the

marquee. At this point, the coral and the white background area are selected. You’ll

subtract the white area from the selection so that only the coral remains in the

selection.

3. Select the Magic Wand tool ( ), hidden under the Quick Selection tool ( ).

4. In the options bar, confirm that the Tolerance value is 32. This value determines the

range of colors the wand selects.

5. Click the Subtract From Selection button ( ) in the options bar. A minus sign

appears next to the wand in the pointer icon. Anything you select now will be

subtracted from the initial selection.

6. Click in the white background area within the selection marquee.

7. Select the Move tool ( ) and drag the coral to the area of the shadowbox labeled

“C,” positioning it so that a shadow appears to the left and below the coral.

8. Choose Select > Deselect, and then save your work.

Selection using Lasso tools

1. Select the Zoom tool ( ), and click the mussel until the view enlarges to 100%. Make sure

you can see the entire mussel in the window.

2. Select the Lasso tool ( ). Starting at the lower left section of the mussel, drag around the

rounded end of the mussel, tracing the shape as accurately as possible. Do not release the

mouse button.

3. Press the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key, and then release the mouse button so

that the lasso pointer changes to the polygonal lasso shape ( ). Do not release the Alt or

Option key.

4. Begin clicking along the end of the mussel to place anchor points, following the contours

of the mussel. Be sure to hold down the Alt or Option key throughout this process.

5. When you reach the tip of the mussel, hold down the mouse button as you release the Alt

or Option key. The pointer again appears as the lasso icon.

6. Carefully drag around the tip of the mussel, holding down the mouse button.

7. When you finish tracing the tip and reach the lower side of the mussel, first press Alt or

Option again, and then release the mouse button. Click along the lower side of the mussel

with the Polygonal Lasso tool as you did on the top. Continue to trace the mussel until you

arrive back at the starting point of your selection near the left end of the image. 8. Click the

starting point of the selection, and then release Alt or Option. The mussel is now entirely

selected. Leave the mussel selected for the next exercise.

Rotating a selection

1. Choose View > Fit On Screen to resize the image window to fit on your screen.

2. Press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) as you drag the selected mussel to the section of the

shadowbox labeled “D.” The pointer changes to the Move tool icon when you press Ctrl or

Command.

3. Choose Edit > Transform > Rotate. The mussel and selection marquee are enclosed in a bounding

box.

4. Move the pointer outside the bounding box so that it becomes a curved, double- headed arrow ( ).

Drag to rotate the mussel to a 90-degree angle. You can verify the angle in the Rotate box in the

options bar. Press Enter or Return to commit the transformation.

5. If necessary, select the Move tool ( ) and drag to reposition the mussel, leaving a shadow to match

the others. When you’re satisfied, choose Select > Deselect.

6. Choose File > Save.

Selection using Magnetic Lasso tool

1. Select the Zoom tool ( ), and click the nautilus to zoom in to at least 100%.

2. Select the Magnetic Lasso tool ( ), hidden under the Lasso tool ( ).

3. Click once along the left edge of the nautilus, and then move the Magnetic Lasso tool along

the edge to trace its outline

4. When you reach the left side of the nautilus again, double-click to return the Magnetic Lasso

tool to the starting point, closing the selection. Or you can move the Magnetic Lasso tool

over the starting point and click once.

5. Double-click the Hand tool ( ) to fit the image in the image window.

6. Select the Move tool ( ) and drag the nautilus onto its silhouette in the section of the frame

labeled “E,” leaving a shadow below it and on the left side.

7. Choose Select > Deselect, and then choose File > Save.

Selecting from a center point

1. Select the Zoom tool ( ), and zoom in on the screw to a magnification of about 300%. Make

sure that you can see the entire screw head in your image window. 8

2. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool ( ) in the Tools panel.

3. Move the pointer to the approximate center of the screw.

4. Click and begin dragging. Then, without releasing the mouse button, press Alt (Windows) or

Option (Mac OS) as you continue dragging the selection to the outer edge of the screw. The

selection is centered over its starting point.

5. When you have the entire screw head selected, release the mouse button first, and then

release Alt or Option (and the Shift key if you used it). Do not deselect, because you’ll use

this selection in the next exercise.

6. If necessary, reposition the selection border using one of the methods you learned

earlier. If you accidentally released the Alt or Option key before you released the mouse

button, select the screw again.

Resizing and copying a selection

Resizing the contents of a selection

1. Choose View > Fit On Screen so that the entire image fits within the image window.

2. Select the Move tool ( ) in the Tools panel.

3. Position the pointer within the screw selection. The pointer becomes an arrow with a pair

of scissors ( ), indicating that dragging the selection will cut it from its current location and

move it to the new location.

4. Drag the screw onto the lower right corner of the shadowbox.

5. Choose Edit > Transform > Scale. Abounding box appears around the selection.

6. Press Shift as you drag one of the corner points inward to reduce the screw to about 40% of

its original size, or until it is small enough to sit on the shadowbox frame. Then press Enter or

Return to commit the change and remove the transformation bounding box.

7. Use the Move tool to reposition the screw after resizing it, so that it is centered in the

corner of the shadowbox frame.

8. Leaving the screw selected, choose File > Save to save your work.

Moving and duplicating a selection simultaneously

1. With the Move tool ( ) selected, press Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) as you position

the pointer inside the screw selection.

2. The pointer changes, displaying the usual black arrow and an additional white arrow,

which indicates that a duplicate will be made when you move the selection.

3. Continue holding down the Alt or Option key as you drag a duplicate of the screw straight

up to the top right corner of the frame. Release the mouse button and the Alt or Option key,

but don’t deselect the duplicate image.

4. Hold down Alt+Shift (Windows) or Option+Shift (Mac OS), and drag a new copy of the

screw straight left to the upper left corner of the frame.

5. Pressing the Shift key as you move a selection constrains the movement horizontally or

vertically in 45-degree increments.

6. Repeat step 3 to drag a fourth screw to the lower left corner of the frame.

7. When you’re satisfied with the position of the fourth screw, choose Select > Deselect, and

then choose File > Save.

Cropping an image

1. Select the Crop tool ( ), or press C to switch from the current tool to the Crop tool.

Photoshop displays a crop boundary around the entire image.

2. In the options bar, make sure Ratio is selected in the Preset pop-up menu and that

there are no ratio values specified. Then confirm that Delete Cropped Pixels is

selected. When Ratio is selected but no ratio values are specified, you can crop the

image with any proportions.

3. Drag the crop handles so that the shadowbox is in the highlighted area, omitting the

backgrounds from the original objects at the bottom of the image. Crop the frame so

that there’s an even area of white around it.

4. When you’re satisfied with the position of the crop area, click the Commit Current

Crop Operation button ( ) in the options bar.

5. Choose File > Save to save your work.

About paths and the Pen tool

In Photoshop, the outline of a vector shape is a path. A path is a curved or straight line

segment you draw using the Pen tool, Freeform Pen tool, or a shape tool. The Pen tool

draws paths with the greatest precision; shape tools draw rectangles, ellipses, and other

shape paths; the Freeform Pen tool draws paths as if you were drawing with a pencil on

paper.