This month I wanted to give you a quick introduction to the Photoshop toolbox. In this guide I’ll explain some of the selection tools you will most frequently be using in your post processing.
When you first see the toolbox, you will notice some of the tool icons have a small black triangle in the bottom right-hand corner. These icons contain more hidden tools just waiting to be discovered!
The triangle indicates that there is a pop up menu which when right clicked on will reveal more related tools.
For the purpose of this article, I want to concentrate on the selection tools…
Selection tools are used to select certain areas of your image for editing.
The selection tools are split into two menus:
The Photoshop Marquee Tools
In this section you have four different selection tools available to you,
You have the rectangular marquee tool which is ideal for quick selections of square or rectangular objects.
Next there is the elliptical marquee tool which can be used to quickly select round or elliptical shaped objects.
Finally you have two marquee tools with a similar purpose. These selection tools are “single row” (one pixel tall, stretching across the entire width of the document) and “single column” (one pixel wide, stretching through the entire height of the document).
The Photoshop Lasso Tools
When using Photoshop you will most likely use your lasso selection tools more frequently than the marquee tools. The lasso selection tools are better for making more accurate selections. The Lasso Tool can be used ‘free hand’ – just click and hold the mouse button and draw around the area you wish to select. Release the button to close the selection and join up your start and finish point.
Next you have the Polygonal Lasso Tool which will draw straight lines when you click at different points on your image. Close the selection by moving your cursor to the beginning of your selection and clicking once. You can also close your selection by just pressing the Enter key.
Finally you have the Magnetic Lasso Tool. This is a very useful tool especially If you need help with making your selection. The Magnetic Lasso Tool will attempt to make a “smart” selection by following the edges of contrast and colour difference. Click once near the “edge” of an object and follow around the edge of it—Photoshop will automatically lay down a path.
You can also click as you follow the line to force points to be created on the path. If you are not happy with where the point was placed press ‘delete’ and the point will de-select.
You can also change the ‘sensitivity’ of the tool by adjusting the value in the ‘Edge Contrast’ box at the top of the Photoshop window.
After you have made your selection you can finish by pressing the Enter key. You can also finish off by clicking at a point near the beginning of the selection.
When you use a selection tool, only the area that’s selected will be affected by any changes you make. From the selection menu at the top you can also inverse the selection so that nothing within the selected area can be changed.
Once made, you can “feather” your selection (specify a fuzzy radius for them) using the Feather field in the options bar. This ishelpful if you are copying and pasting your selection as it will not be so obvious around the edges.
