Photoshop Elements /
Selection Tools /
Selection Tools Flow Chart /
Mechanical Selection Tools /
Selection Brush
The Selection Brush tool is multi-purpose.
1 - Zoom Tool
Use the Zoom tool to enlarge your photograph to fill the screen
with the area to be selected.
2 - Hand Tool
If you need to shift the image of your photograph around the
screen, press and hold the spacebar.
The Hand tool is "on" as long as you hold the spacebar down.
Click on the image, hold, and drag it around.
3 - Selection Brush
Select the Selection Brush tool.
Don't confuse it with the Magic Selection Brush tool (which has
a red tip) or the Brush tool.
4 - 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
5 - Options Bar Settings
Set the option bar settings.
Icons
The first icon of the foursome, New selection, should be selected.
Brush Picker
Select a non-feathered brush.
Feathering makes the edge of a selection gradually fade to transparent.
If you use a feathered brush, the feathering can't be changed.
Instead, go to Select > Feathering, after you've made a selection.
Go to Select > Feathering.
Size
You can enter the size of the brush.
Mode
If you change Mode from Selection to Mask, an orange overlay
appears.
The overlay shows you what's not selected.
Hardness
Hardness is the same as feathering.
As mentioned, use a brush with no feathering, which is a Hardness
of 100%.
6 - Make the Selection
Click, hold, and drag.
7 - Refine the Selection
Look for Strays
Sometimes it's hard to see everything that's been selected—or
hasn't been selected.
You can use the Selection Brush tool to look for "strays."
Go to
Look for Strays with the Selection Brush Tool.
Options Bar Icons
Add to Selection
There's no New selection icon in the options bar.
So, to add to a selection, click, hold, and drag.
Subtract from Selection
To subtract from the selection, click the Subtract from selection
icon in the options bar, or press and hold Alt.
Then, click, hold, and drag.
Selection Brush Mop
You can use the Selection Brush tool as a mop to refine your
selection further.
Go to
Selection
Brush Mop.
Modify Commands
You can use the four modify operations to refine your selection.
Go to Select > Modify, and select one of the commands.
Border Command
The Border command creates a border, feathered on both sides,
around the original selection border.
You can enter the size of the border, and can change its color.
You can also do this by going to Edit > Stroke.
Smooth Command
The Smooth command is based on the color of the selection.
The command searches outside the edge of the selection for pixels
that are the same color as those just inside the edge of the selection.
The range of the search is defined by how many pixels you enter
in Sample Radius.
Expand & Contract Commands
The Expand and Contract commands change the selection by the
number of pixels you enter.
Grow & Similar Commands
The Grow command selects more adjacent pixels.
The Similar command selects more pixels throughout the photograph,
not just adjacent ones.
Go to Select > Grow, or Select > Similar.
Defringe
This command is performed after you've made the selection, and
placed it on a new layer.
To place a selection on a new layer, go to Layer > New > Layer
via Copy, or press Ctrl + j.
Or, by moving it to another photograph, the selection is placed
an a new layer.
If the edge of your selection has a fringe of unwanted pixels,
you can remove them.
For example, let's say you selected a red apple from the top
of a green picnic table.
Some of the green pixels of the picnic table may be present at
the edge of the selection.
When you moved the apple to a blue bowl, this halo of green pixels
are evident against the blue of the bowl.
Use Defringe to change the color of the green pixels to red,
the color of the selection, the apple.
Go to Enhance > Adjust Color > Defringe Layer.
8 - Invert the Selection
As describe above, you can
invert a selection.
9 - Feather the Selection
Feathering makes the edge of a selection gradually fade to transparent.
Go to Select > Feathering.
10 - Copy the Selection to a New Layer
Before making a change to the selection, you may want to copy
it 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.
To make changes to the selection on its new layer, make sure
the new layer is active (highlighted).
11 - Move a Selection
If you need to move the selection border, or the area that's
been selected, go to
Moving
Selections.
12 - 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.
If you no longer need the selection, save it if you wish (see
below).
Then, press Esc or Ctrl + d, to deselect.
You can sometimes reselect the selection.
Go to Select > Reselect, or press Shift + Ctrl + d.
14 - Save the Selection
If you may need the selection again, you can save it along with
the PSD file of the photograph.
You can't save a selection with a JPEG file of your photograph.
Go to
Saving
Selections.
15 - Tutorials
The Blur the Background
tutorial employs the Selection Brush tool.
