Lessons
Lesson Info
Combining Selection Tools
We can combine selection tools. So, in this case, what I'd really like is not only this round portion but I either want to get rid of the door or I want to add the door to it. And so I'm gonna switch back to the normal marquee tool and let's figure out how to add to or take way from a selection. When you're in a selection tool, in the options bar at the top of your screen, on the left side there should be some icons right here. Those icons determine what happens if you click with this tool a second time. In the default, is the one on the far left, if I hover over it and pause, it will give me a tool tip indicating what it means. It means make a brand new selection. That means replace the selection that already exists. Therefore, if I move my mouse near the upper left of my picture, I click and I drag, the selection I had previously goes away as it makes this new one. I'll choose undo. The second icon that is there, if I hover over it, it means add to the selection that's already existi...
ng. So, if I click that icon before I click and drag within my picture, then when I make a new selection, it simply adds to the one that's already there. I'll choose undo because I wasn't careful with where I clicked and I'll go to the lower left of the doorway. I'll click and I'll drag up like this to try to include that lower portion. So now we've combined two selections. If I come back up here and I go to the third icon, the third one is called subtract from selection and if I click on that, now I can take away from this. So if I don't want the blue portion, which is the doorway itself, then I'm gonna start near the bottom of my selection, just outside of the area that's selected already. I'll click and I'll drag up like this and I'll get all the way up to where the blue edge of the door is and now, because it's set to subtract from the selection, now I have an area selected that is the round portion that is brown along with the frame that is around the doorway, so that means on the right and left edges. So maybe I want to come in here now and adjust that. I'll again go to hue and saturation because that has a hue slider which allows me to shift the colors of things and we'll do that. So we've changed up the color. Now what I'd like to do is the area that is above the door. There is a area that has a curved top and a flat bottom that is directly above the door. I would like to select and work on that separately. So, up here in the upper left of my screen, there is the last of those four icons and if I hover it, it's called intersect with selection. You can think of that as meaning let's crop the selection we already have. So we only keep the portions that are contained within the next selection I'm making. So I'll come in here, knowing that I'm going to crop the selections, only where it overlaps the selection I'm currently making. I'm gonna click on the left edge of the door and I'm gonna drag up like this and let go and it gives me only the area where those two selections overlapped. And it's extending down further than I need so I'll start a selection up here, come down like this and get just that just much, so I crop within there. Now I just have that top portion. So, if I want to make that a different color, again I can go here to hue and saturation, and let's see if we can end up getting that to be maybe more of a reddish, maybe bring up our lightness a little. But you've seen how I've been able to isolate various portions in this image. And now I'll choose deselect 'cause I want to work on the entire picture. Now I showed you that using the icons that were found in the options bar at the top of my screen. But, to be honest, I never click on those icons. Instead, I have it set to the default setting, which is on the far left, which is the one that would get rid of a selection and create a brand new one. And that's because I can do everything we did with those icons using my keyboard. If you're gonna end up using photoshop on a daily basis, it'd be useful to get used to the keyboard shortcuts for those, so let's take a look. First, I'm gonna make a selection of the rectangular portion of the doorway. So I'll click in the lower left of the door, drag up like this. Since I know I'm going to select the whole circle it doesn't matter how high I go as long as I go above right about here where the circle would start intersecting with it. Now I want to select the round portion of the door and I'm not sure why it's doing this, we have this weird, it shouldn't be showing this part of the selection because the actual edge extends down here, that's an odd little screen redraw issue that shouldn't be happening, just so you're aware. But anyway, now I wanna add to it, so I'm gonna switch to the elliptical marquee tool. Before I click the mouse button, I need to hold down a key on my keyboard. And if you watch these little icons up here, when I hold down the shift key, oh, I thought that was gonna push in, but it didn't, it does the equivalent to that. So, I'm gonna press and hold down the shift key. If you actually look at my mouse, it usually looks like this, when I hold shift, you see a plus sign, indicating I'm gonna add to my selection. So I'm holding shift, I'm gonna guesstimate where would the upper left corner of a rectangle be that contains that circle. I click and after I click, as long as my mouse button is held down, I can let go of my keyboard because it's only the absolute moment that I click that it matters if I was holding shift or not. After that you can let go. So I can hit space bar here and reposition this. Let go space bar. There, I've added to my selection. To take away from my selection, what I end up doing is if you look at my mouse here, if I hold down the option key, which is alt and windows, you'll find a negative sign appears and therefore I can come in here and hold option and I'm gonna take away the blue portion of the door. Ope, can't do it with that tool. I can choose undo. Forgot to switch to the rectangular one but I'm holding option, alt and windows. So I can get that. Now I want to get the intersection. I want to crop the current selection so I only get it within the area that I draw. To do that, if you watch my mouse again, I'm gonna hold down both shift and option at the same time and I get a little X. That X indicates it's gonna give me the intersection. I'm gonna click like this, drag down, and if it's not positioned exactly where I need, space bar lets me move it. But it's only the moment I click my mouse button when I have to be holding down those two keys. After you click the mouse, as long as you have that mouse down, you don't have to continue holding them. And there I can intersect. So I get used to those keyboard shortcuts, therefore I don't have to use the icons that are found up here at the top of my screen unless I really want to. If you use photoshop just every once in awhile, you'll use the icons. And if you use photoshop daily, get used to the keyboard shortcuts.
Class Materials
Bonus Materials with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
user-9c856e
This class is exactly what I needed. Up to this point I have used the tutorials provided with Photoshop to learn and they are excellent, but as I am using PS more and more I need in depth learning. Example: I have been working with a photo for two weeks using what I knew about selections and masking. I have been so frustrated. I decided to dedicate time every day to learning PS and the other apps I have with my CC subscription. I was able to edit the photo and get all of the tiny details I wanted after taking this class. This is the second of Ben's classes I've taken and he is an excellent teacher. Thank you!
LeCompte
The Master once again has presented a clear concise easy to learn and follow class.
a Creativelive Student
Ben is always very thorough and informative.
Student Work
Related Classes
Adobe Photoshop