How to quickly select in Photoshop. Details about rectangular (oval) selection in Photoshop
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 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 left button mice. 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 the Magic Wand.
Let's create new document and let's 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 while holding down the Shift key. 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 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, a 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, 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 here 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 has 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.
Good day to everyone, my dear friends and readers! How are you feeling? I hope everything is fine. 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 the program Adobe Photoshop, namely about 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 ways selections in Photoshop so that you know what they are and for what cases which one is best suited. Let's 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 select 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 what you constantly bet control points, 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.
Wand
Tool "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 some semblance magic wand, but unlike it, we don’t just select some area by pressing a button, but, one might 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.
You see how many ways to select objects the wonderful Adobe program Photoshop? This once again shows how much this graphic editor powerful and convenient. 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 detailed lessons for each tool, and in general for working with Photoshop, you can look at this wonderful video course. The lessons are simply amazing and told in a simple and in clear language for any user level. Everything is “chewed” and shown on real examples. After watching this course, you will already have a very good understanding of Photoshop. I highly recommend it.
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.
By "complex" object we mean an object with complex edges that cannot be selected using the Lasso tool. Cutting methods complex objects quite a lot, you can familiarize yourself with two other methods at this link: How to cut out a complex object in Photoshop using blending options and using color channels.
In this lesson I will show you how you can select a complex object using a “Mask” in Photoshop.
Using this method, you can select and cut out, for example, a person from a photograph or another complex object. As an example, I took a photo of a running horse, which we will “cut out” from the background during the lesson.
1) let's go to Photoshop program, open the picture (photo) of the horse by selecting top menu"File" - "Open";
2) in the "Layers" window, with standard Photoshop settings it is located in the lower right corner, you will see that new layer with a thumbnail of the open picture. This layer should be selected, as in the figure; if it is not selected, click on it once with the left mouse button.
4) after that, take a brush of any convenient shape, set its “opacity” and “pressure” to 100% and outline the horse. In this case, the color of the brush after clicking on “Quick Mask” will be black, thus outlining the object we will obtain its selection with a translucent red layer. If somewhere a brush gets into the margins, you can simply wipe it off with an eraser. Adjust (increase, decrease) the size of the brush to more accurately outline all the details of the object. Things like hair, translucent film, fly wings, etc. you need to outline with a brush with pressure settings of about 50%.
5) So, we have an object selected by the “Quick Mask”, this can be seen from the translucent red background, now right-click on the “Quick Mask” icon, as in step 3. After clicking, we will see that we have selected everything around the object, i.e. everything that we outlined with a brush remained unselected, but everything around it was highlighted - this can be seen in the picture dotted lines, covering the fields of the photo.
6) Now you need to select the object itself, you need to switch to selection mode, to do this, right-click on the “Selection” icon in the left menu at the top.
7) Now we move the cursor over our object, press the right mouse button and in the menu that appears, select “Invert selected area” and get the selected object we need!
8) Now the object that we outlined in the "Quick Mask" mode is selected and we can drag it or cut it to another layer. In order to cut an object to a new layer, you need to move the cursor over the object as in step 7, right-click and select “Cut to a new layer” from the menu.
If you need to drag an object, then select the “Move” tool in the left menu, at the top, and while holding the left mouse button, take our selected object and drag it.
TIP: When selecting an object, you can use various types brushes For example, if you are drawing a mane (hair), then you should use a “soft” brush, and to outline the body - a “hard” one. In order to select a translucent object, for example the wings of a fly, you need to adjust the brush pressure (reduce the pressure).
Instructions
Use the Marquee group tools to quickly select objects that have a regular elliptical or rectangular shape. Activate the Elliptical Marquee Tool or Rectangular Marquee Tool. Move the mouse cursor to one of the corners of the image fragment that you want to select. Press the left button. Move the cursor to create a selection area the right size. Release the mouse button.
Adjust the created selection area if necessary. From the menu, select Select and Transform Selection. Move the mouse around the edges of the displayed frame to achieve desired result. Double-click inside the selection area to commit your changes.
To quickly select an object filled with one color or a group of similar colors, as well as a single object located on a uniform background, use the Magic Wand Tool. Activate it using the toolbar button. Set the appropriate value for the Tolerance parameter in the panel at the top. Click inside an object or a uniform background. If the background was processed, invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I or selecting Select and Inverse from the menu.
Use the Quick Selection Tool to use the smart selection mechanism. After activating the tool, select the appropriate brush by clicking on the Brush control located in top panel. While holding down the left mouse button, drag the cursor over different areas of the selected image fragment. Spread the selection over the entire object.
Use the tools Lasso group for quick, but not always accurate selection of complex objects. Use the Lasso Tool if you want to create a rough selection. Simply circle the desired area with the mouse cursor along the contour while holding down the left key. Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, select fragments bounded by straight lines. The Magnetic Lasso Tool is the most “smart” in this group. It automatically recognizes the boundaries of heterogeneous image fragments. It can be used, for example, to highlight the outline of a face in a photograph.
Start using quick mask to highlight objects or groups of objects of complex shape. Activate the mask by pressing the Q key or the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button on the toolbar. Set the Foreground color to black. Select the Paint Bucket Tool. Click anywhere on the image. Activate brush tool. Configure its operation parameters using the top panel controls. Install white foreground.
The most common operation in Photoshop is selecting objects to replace the background or transfer to another photo. There are a huge number of selection methods in Photoshop that can be combined with each other to achieve the best result.
From this lesson, you will learn how to select a method for a given specific situation and select objects in Photoshop as efficiently and quickly as possible.
Good highlighting starts with the right choice tool. The very first group of buttons in the toolbar is dedicated to selecting objects.
The arrow in the lower right corner means there are additional variations of these tools. If you click and hold the mouse button on one of them, a list of additional tools opens.
At the beginning there are simple selection shapes “Rectangular area”, “Oval area” and stripes one pixel thick. Most often, the first two are used.
Hold SHIFT keys When drawing, it allows you to get a clean square or circle.
Regular Lasso(Lasso Tool) draws a line along the trajectory of the mouse. As a rule, it is quite difficult to hit the edge of an object with the mouse, so this tool is suitable for rough selection when precision is not important.
(Polygonal Lasso Tool) draws a selection using straight lines. Suitable for highlighting objects with right angles. For example, boxes, buildings, pencils.
Double-clicking closes the selection, so be careful.
(Magnetic Lasso Tool) works in automatic mode. Just weigh on the edge of the object, the computer will recognize its shape and the line will be “magnetized” to the edge of the object.
If the line is not laid correctly, press the Backspace key on the keyboard to remove the last links and lay the line along a new course. Also, this button works with the rectangular selection tool.
(Magic Wand Tool) automatically recognizes spots of the same color and selects them.
The magic wand is suitable for objects lying on a plain background; one click on the background will recognize it and highlight it.
The sensitivity of the magic wand (tolerance) is adjusted in the options panel. The higher the value, the more the wand “sees”. Sensitivity that is too low will leave a white halo, as in the picture above, and sensitivity that is too high will capture the edges of the object.
(Quick Selection Tool), works in a similar way, but more effectively selects multi-colored objects. The tool lives up to its name and indeed selects an object faster than all others.
Select the optimal brush diameter and draw inside the object. The brush will grab it in parts, trying to guess the boundaries of the object.
Even if the Quick Selection Tool has grabbed the excess, holding down the ALT key allows you to remove pieces of the selection back.
Absolutely all of the above tools can be combined with each other. It is this technique that allows you to achieve high quality discharge.
- Hold SHIFT adds the next selection to the existing one.
- Hold ALT subtracts the new selection from the old one.
When working with lasso tools, you can always modify an existing selection by adding a new one or subtracting from an old one.
In addition, each new selection can have its own shading. This allows you to select an item with blurred edges, as in the picture above.
The feathering value can be set before drawing (in the options bar, as in the picture above), or after drawing by pressing SHIFT+F6 (or right-click - Feather).
How to quickly select an object in Photoshop
TO quick ways discharges can include all of the above automatic tools, and especially the Quick Selection tool. Additional features, will also help you cope with a difficult task.
Color Range
If the picture contains several objects of the same tone, use - Highlight/Color Range... This function, unlike the "magic wand", allows you to capture all elements at once and see how the sensitivity setting affects the selection.
Click the eyedropper on the desired area and adjust the "Scatter" so that your subject has maximum contrast to the background.
Improved automatic selection
However, it is important to understand that the speed of selection always affects the quality. If you want to make it as easy and time-saving as possible, do automatic selection, for example, with the magic wand tool.
And then, manually refine what the tool could not correctly recognize by holding down the SHIFT or ALT keys to add or subtract pieces.
Quick mask
High-speed methods of extraction include a quick mask. Take a black brush and go to quick mask mode (Q key). Paint the desired area with the brush, changing the size and hardness of the edges. Painting with gray shades allows you to create a translucent highlight.
In the "Quick Mask" mode, you can use not only brushes, but also lasso tools by filling them with black.
When you click on the quick mask icon again, you will have a selection that you will need to invert (CTRL+SHIFT+I).
Selecting with a layer mask
This method is not related to the selection tools, but has a huge advantage over the previous one in that it makes it possible to easily edit the selection as you work, add parts of the shape and remove them. Therefore, I decided to talk about him too.
Drag your image onto another background without cutting it out so that it is the second layer. Click on the layer mask icon.
Painting on the layer with black will hide the image, and painting with white will show it again. You can paint over areas using either a brush of varying softness or lasso tools.
Another advantage of this application method is the ability to make translucent selections, for example, by painting with a gray brush. It is much more convenient to paint with brushes on a layer mask; using pressure on the handle, you can adjust the transparency, and the strokes are much more accurate.
Video tutorial: 4 ways to make selections in Photoshop
How to select a complex object in Photoshop
Difficult objects to isolate often include hair or objects with a large number small details. Such objects are very difficult or even impossible to identify with standard tools.
If the edges of an object are blurred, automatic tools may not be able to cope, and a manual line may not be straight. In this case, it is better to use the tool Pen Tool, which will be discussed below.
Two ways to highlight hair
Levels. Create a new layer and move it to black and white mode(CTRL+SHIFT+U). Click - Image/Correction/Levels... Adjust the side sliders so that the person's hair is in maximum contrast to the background, as shown in the image below.
Paint over the light parts of the girl with a black brush to create a solid silhouette without gaps, as in the screenshot below.
Now, select the black silhouette with the “Color Range” described above, and the second layer can be deleted.
Edge refinement. For example, let's take a photo of a horse's mane. Select the body with the Quick Selection Tool or any other convenient tool. For precise selection of the mane, click - Select/Refine Edge...
Now you need to run a brush-like tool along the edge of the mane. And expose optimal parameters settings. It is possible to see the quality of the selection on a black and white background. This is especially convenient when transferring an object to another background; you can see mistakes in advance (for example, a colored halo) and correct them.
If you have erased too much or not evenly, go over the mane again while holding ALT key on the keyboard.
If the selection captures part of the background along the edge, for example, a white halo around an object. Click - Select/Modify/Compress...
In the window that opens, set the number of pixels by which your selection should be reduced. The same can be done for extensions selection area.
Border creates a selection only along the border of the object to the thickness specified in the settings. This function is convenient to use when drawing shapes.
Smoothing rounds up sharp corners discharge, making it more rounded.
Blurs the edges of a selection.
Selection with the Pen tool
The Pen Tool allows you to make precise selections of objects with rounded and sharp corners. Take the Pen and click on the edge of the selection; if you press and hold the left mouse button, you can get a curved line.
A short click creates sharp corners, and holding allows you to bend rounded lines without errors. As you draw, you can edit the line using the following keys:
- Holding CTRL allows you to move anchor points and change the angle of curvature.
- Holding ALT adds anchor points and allows you to make sharp corners
- Holding SHIFT makes the curvature at angles that are multiples of 45°.
When your pen drawing is ready, close it, right-click on it and select "Select Area..."
The resulting selection can be used in your work, and vector outline delete.
Video lesson: selecting a complex object
How to move a selected object
As a rule, an object is isolated for transfer to another image or for editing separately from the background. There are several ways to transfer an image to a different background:
The easiest way to transfer is to copy (CTRL+C and CTRL+V). Or click - Edit/Copy. And on the other image - Insert. The selection is imported as a new layer.
There is another way. Using the Move Tool, simply drag the object onto another image and release it.
And finally, the most the right way, press - Layer/New/Copy to new layer...
How to resize a selected object in Photoshop
Almost always, after transferring a selected image to another background, it needs to be scaled. You can make the image as small as you like, but if the size is already small, then when stretched it will be blurry and in a lower resolution. In this case, it is better to reduce the background rather than the main object.
Click - Editing/Transforming/Scaling...(or CTRL+T). A frame will appear around the object.
Be sure to drag the corner while holding SHIFT on the keyboard, otherwise the proportions of the layer will be distorted and the seagull will be flattened.
Also, it is possible to rotate the layer, distort, deform, flip horizontally and vertically.
How to save a selected object in Photoshop
Once you've got the selection you need, it wouldn't hurt to save it right away, just in case. Click - Select/Save selected area...
Now the selection has been saved and can be loaded again or added to an existing one at any time.
The saved selection area will only be saved in Photoshop format(PSD) If you save your image as a JPEG, all highlight information will be deleted.
How to delete a selected object in Photoshop
You can remove a selected object from a photo by simply pressing the DELETE key or painting the selected area with the background color.
As you can see in the picture above, painting the image with the background color does not give the desired result, so this can only be solved with retouching tools. Such as the “stamp” and the “healing brush”.
For example, if you want to completely remove a person from a photo, you need to restore the background underneath using retouching tools. Sometimes photography allows you to do this.
Such an operation requires certain skills in using retouching tools and a certain amount of time, just as it is all done manually. Take the Clone Stamp Tool, hold down ALT, click on a sample of a similar background that goes under the person and click on the person.
The border running along the legs must be drawn separately, transferring similar pieces with a stamp.
If the background is uniform, select the area using any of the above-described selection tools with feathering and move it to the place of the person.
Video tutorial: removing an object in Photoshop
It remains to put into practice several methods for better memorization. If the information was useful to you, write about it in the comments to the article.
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