Photoshop Elements >
Selection Tools >
8 - More
Here are more ways to use the selections tools.
1 - Resize & Rotate a Selection
(8.0 Only)
After dragging out a selection, you can resize and rotate it.
Do the following.
1) Drag out the selection.
2) Place the cursor inside the selection.
3) Right click (Mac: Ctrl + click) and select Transform
Selection.
Resize
4) To resize, click and hold one of the handles on the
transform box, and drag.
5) Click the green check-mark icon.
Rotate
4) To rotate, place the cursor near one of the corners of the transform box,
on the outside of the box.
The cursor will change to double arrows.
5) Click, hold, and drag to rotate.
6) Click the green check-mark icon.
2 - Select the Wrong Area?
Look at the area to be selected, and compare it to area around
it.
Which area will be easier to select?
Let's say you want to select the monument, below, from the blue
sky.
If you use the Magic Wand tool, and click on the monument, the
resulting selection is messy.
See the left-hand photograph below.
If you click of the sky instead, the selection is much cleaner,
as seen in the right-hand photograph.
But, the sky is selected, and you want the monument.
Go to Select > Invert, or Shift + Ctrl + i, to change the selection
from the sky to the monument.
Monument Selected - Messy
Sky Selected - Cleaner
To Make a Selection?
With many selection tools, the edge of the area that you're selecting has to have
a lighter tone or color, on one side, and a darker tone or color,
on the other side.
If there's little difference, increase the contrast temporarily by using a Levels adjustment
layer.
Use the middle slider to increase the contrast.
You can also use a Threshold adjustment layer.
Go to
Shadows or Highlights Selections for an example.
After you've finished making the selection, delete the Levels
adjustment layer or the Threshold adjustment layer.
4 - Copy the Area Inside
The Selection to a New Layer
You may want to copy the area inside a selection to a new layer.
By doing so, you can reduce the opacity of the layer, erase parts
of it, and so forth.
To copy a selection to a new layer, press Ctrl + j.
5 - Move a Selection
If you need to move the selection border, or the area that's
been selected, go to
Moving Selections.
6 - Hide a Selection
If the marching ants of a selection are distracting, press Ctrl
+ h to hide the selection.
Press Ctrl + h, again, to make the selection reappear.
A hidden, and forgotten selection, may create havoc later.
If a tool isn't working the way it should be, and you've been
working with a selection, check to make sure the selection isn't
hidden.
Just press Ctrl + h, to check.
7 - Selecting Text
To select the text on a text layer, press and hold Ctrl, and
click the text thumbnail on the text layer panel.
When you move a selection to another photograph, the selection
will appear in the center of the destination photograph.
You can then move the selection elsewhere.
You can choose where to place a selection that's on the clipboard
(Ctrl + c) by using another selection.
For example, let's say you have a selection of a pine tree.
You want to place the pine-tree selection between two oak trees.
Using the Rectangular marquee tool, create a rectangle from one
oak tree to the other oak tree.
Press Ctrl + v to paste the selection of the pine tree.
The selection of the pine tree will appear centered in the rectangular
selection.
If you use selections often, consider purchasing a graphics tablet,
such as those made by Wacom.
By drawing a selection with a pen on a tablet, you can be more
precise.
Wacom
