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9 - Selection Brush Tool Mop

Often, a selection tool will select too much, such as the Magic Wand tool.

You can use the Selection Brush tool to "mop" the excess selection away.

Be sure to check off as you go along.

Overlay (Red Mask)

First, you can make the selected area stand out.

1) Select the Selection Brush tool.

2) Switch the Mode in the options bar to Mask.

The selected area remains normally colored.

The area that's not selected turns red.

You can change the color in the Overlay Color box.

Increase the Overlay Opacity to make what's selected stand out even more.

Mop It Away

Now you can mop away what's not needed from the selection with the Selection Brush tool.

1) Make sure the Add to selection button, in the options bar, is selected.

What you do next depends on whether the overlay is being used.

Overlay Is On

If you're using the Mask mode (red overlay), do the following.

2) Click, hold, and drag the Selection Brush tool brush on the selected areas that need to be deselected.

As you paint, the unneeded areas will change from "clear" to red.

Not Using the Overlay

If you're not using the red overlay (Mask mode), do the following.

2) Press and hold Alt, and click, hold, and drag the brush on the selected areas that need to be deselected.

Pressing and holding Alt makes the Selection Brush tool subtract from the selection.

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