• What you learned: 

Make geometric, free-form, and straight-edged selections

Rectangular and square selections

The Rectangular Marquee tool is used to make rectangular and square selections.

Select the Rectangular Marquee tool in the Tools panel. Click and drag to make a rectangular selection.

If you want a square selection, press the Shift key as you’re dragging.

Oval and circular selections

The Elliptical Marquee tool is for making oval and circular selections.

Select the Elliptical Marquee tool in the Tools panel. Click and drag to start a selection. With your finger still down on the mouse/trackpad, press the Space bar on the keyboard too; then push the selection back to the edge of the object you want to select. With your finger still down on the mouse/trackpad, release your finger from the Space bar only, and continue to drag out an oval selection.

If you want a circular selection, press the Shift key too, as you’re dragging. Release your finger from the mouse/trackpad and then from the Shift key.

Tip: After you make a selection, you can re-position it by clicking inside the marching ants with a selection tool and dragging. You also can re-shape the selection by choosing Select > Transform Selection and dragging any of the edges or corners of the boundary.

Free-form selections

The Lasso tool is for making free-form selections.

Select the Lasso tool in the Tools panel. Click and drag to make a free-form selection. When you’re back near the beginning, release your finger from the mouse/trackpad to close the selection.

Straight-edged selections

The Polygonal Lasso tool is used to make straight-edged segments of a selection. It comes in handy to select a star, a triangle, or other objects with a straight edge.

Select the Polygonal Lasso tool in the Tools panel. Click at the beginning of a straight edge, and then release your finger from the mouse. Without pressing down on the mouse/trackpad, move to the end of that straight edge and click to attach the selection. Repeat around the area you want to select. When you’re back at the beginning and a small circle appears, click to close the selection.

Tip: To release the Polygonal Lasso tool, press the Escape key.

When Finished With Part 1, Save With Following Name/Format

• Save As:"Act 2.1 Last Name Done".psd

• Save A Copy: "Act 2.1 Last Name Done".jpg

• What you learned: 

Add to a selection, subtract from a selection, intersect selections

You can combine selections made with the marquee tools, the lasso tools, the Magic Wand tool, and/or the Quick Selection tool. Each of these tools has options for combining selections in its Options bar.

To add to a selection, click the Add to selection icon in the Options bar, or press the Shift key on the keyboard as you make another selection.

To subtract from a selection, click the Subtract from selection icon in the Options bar, or press the Option key (MacOS) or Alt key (Windows) as you select an area you want to remove from the selection.

To create an intersecting selection, click the Intersect with selection in the Options bar, or press the Option + Shift keys (MacOS) or Alt + Shift keys (Windows) as you select an intersecting area.

When Finished With Part 2, Save With Following Name/Format

• Save As:"Act 2.2 Last Name Done".psd

• Save A Copy:"Act 2.2 Last Name Done".jpg

• What you learned: 

Use the Quick Selection tool to select part of an image

Make a selection with the Quick Selection tool

Select the Quick Selection tool in the Tools panel.

Add a checkmark to the Auto-Enhance/Enhance Edge option in the Options bar.

Click and drag over an area you want to select. The tool automatically selects similar tones and stops when it finds image edges.

Add to the selection

To add to the initial selection, just click and drag over another area. The Quick Selection tool automatically changes to the Add to selection option.

Subtract from the selection

To subtract from the initial selection, press the Option key (MacOS) or Alt key (Windows) as you select an area you want to remove from the selection. When you release the Option or Alt key, the Quick Selection tool switches back to its Add to selection option.

Tip: If you want to quickly and easily change the size of your brush tools use the bracket keys [ ] on your keyboard. The left bracket key [ makes the brush get smaller. The right bracket key ] makes the brush get larger.

When Finished With Part 3, Save With Following Name/Format

• Save As:"Act 2.3 Last Name Done".psd

• Save A Copy:"Act 2.3 Last Name Done".jpg

• What you learned: 

Use the Magic Wand tool to select background areas of similar color

Make an automatic selection with the Magic Wand tool

Select the Magic Wand tool in the Tools panel.

In the Options bar, uncheck Contiguous if you want to select nonadjacent areas of similar color. Leave Contiguous checked if you want to select only adjacent areas of similar color.

Click the color in the image that you want to select.

Tip: To select a wider range of color, enter a higher value (up to 255) in the Tolerance field in the Options bar and click a color in the image.

Add to the selection

To add to the selection, click the Add to selection option in the Options bar or press the Shift key on your keyboard, and click elsewhere in the image.

Subtract from the selection

To remove part of the selection, click the Subtract from selection option in the Options bar or press the Option key (MacOS) or the Alt key (Windows), and click inside the selection.

When Finished With Part 4, Save With Following Name/Format

• Save As:"Act 2.4 File 1 Last Name Done".psd

• Save A Copy:"Act 2.4 File 1 Last Name Done".jpg

• Save As:"Act 2.4 File 2 Last Name Done".psd

• Save A Copy:"Act 2.4 File 2 Last Name Done".jpg

• What you learned: 

Fine-tune a selection in the Select and Mask workspace

Launch the Select and Mask workspace

Make an initial selection with any of the selection tools. Open the Select and Mask workspace by choosing Select > Select and Mask, or by clicking Select and Mask in the Options bar for any of the selection tools.

Tip: Alternatively, you can open the Select and Mask workspace first, and use the selection tools there to make your initial selection.

Choose a view

In the Select and Mask workspace, go to the View menu and choose a view mode.

For example, if you choose the Overlay view, selected areas appear transparent and nonselected areas are highlighted in red. You can drag the Transparency slider to control the opacity of the red overlay.

Use Select and Mask tools

Use the tools in the panel on the left, with their Add to selection and Subtract from selection options, to clean up the selection.

• Use the Quick Selection tool to select automatically based on similar tones and image edges.

• Use the Refine Edge Brush tool for more precise selection of soft edges, like hair or fur.

• Use the Brush tool to paint selections where you want them.

• Use the Lasso tool for making free-form selections and the Polygonal Lasso tool for selecting straight edges.

Fine-tune the selection

Use controls in the Properties panel on the right of the Select and Mask workspace to further fine-tune selection edges.

For example, drag the Smooth slider to the right to make selection edges smoother. Drag the Contrast slider to the right to make selection edges crisper. If you notice a fringe of unwanted color at a soft selection edge, check Decontaminate Colors and drag the Amount slider.

Output from Select and Mask

Go to the Output To menu in the Properties panel and choose an output method. For example, if you choose New layer with layer mask, your selection will be represented as a flexible layer mask on a new layer in the Layers panel.

Click OK to close the Select and Mask workspace and return to the main workspace.

When Finished With Part 5, Save With Following Name/Format

• Save As:Act 2.5 Last Name Done.psd

• Save A Copy:Act 2.5 Last Name Done.jpg