What are selection tools for? Selection tools in Adobe Photoshop

Good day to all, my dear friends and readers! How is your mood? I hope everything is OK. And with such a good mood, I would like to continue our Photoshop tutorials. Today I would like to talk about a very important action in the program Adobe Photoshop, namely, the selection of objects, parts of the image, etc.

And why do we need to select objects at all? For different purposes. For example, you want to cut out some separate part of one image and transfer it to another. Or maybe you want to save a certain part of the image from the whole. Or you just want to work (change, process, apply filters, add brightness, sharpness or other effects, etc.) with a separate part of the image.

Today, I would like to briefly tell you about different ways selections in Photoshop so you know what they are and for what occasions which one is best suited. Go!

Area selection

For example, if you want to turn something rectangular or square, then it is best to take a tool "Rectangular selection". And if you want to highlight something oval or round, then you are welcome to use "Oval selection".

Lasso

Regular lasso

The tool is completely in the power of your hand, i.e. as you move your hand, so the selection will be drawn. If your hand is shaking, then the selection line will also be shaking. Is the least useful tool in this group.

Rectilinear lasso

This type of lasso is most suitable for selecting objects that consist of straight lines. It is not necessary that the corners be straight, let it be at least a fence. It all boils down to the fact that you constantly set checkpoints, thanks to which your current progress will not fail if you “screw up”. As a result, the selection is even.

But it is not necessary to use it for flat images. With it, you can even highlight people and rounded objects.

magnetic lasso

This is just a great kind of lasso. It is great for objects with sharp edges, or for objects that differ in brightness and color from their surrounding background.

The principle of its operation is such that you just need to put the first selection point on the edge of the selected object, and then you simply move the mouse along the area you want to select. At the same time, you don’t need to pinch anything and you don’t have to be afraid that you won’t lead clearly along the contour, even if your hands tremble.

The tool itself is magnetized to the edge of the object (hence its name). The main thing is just not to move too far from this edge, otherwise the lasso will be able to stick to the other edge. And the tool is just awesome.

Quick Selection

Another group for selecting objects, the essence of which is to select objects, thanks to a couple of clicks.

Magic wand

Tool "Magic wand" allows you to select the desired object in 1 click. The main thing is to set the tolerance level correctly. And of course, it is necessary that the edges of the object be clearly separated from the background, that is, that they contrast with it.

Quick Selection

Tool "Quick selection" is a kind of magic wand, but unlike it, we do not just select some area by pressing a button, but we can say we sketch it with the mouse button held down (the tool knowingly takes the form of a brush).

But as in the case of a magnetic lasso and a magic wand, the selected object must contrast against the general background at least somehow.

Quick mask

Worked great for Photoshop. The essence of this tool is that you kind of paint over the desired object or the background around this object. After this deactivation of the mode, a dotted line appears along the edges of the filled area, i.e. selection itself.

This mode is very convenient to use when working with any type of image, even if they do not contrast with the general background. The main thing is just to paint well in the right places.

Feather

Completes our today's list. The principle of its operation is somewhat similar to a straight-line lasso, only unlike the latter, the lines can be adjusted and rounded.

Another undoubted advantage is that the use of this tool can be interrupted for a while without compromising progress. That is, if you have already started selecting an object with a pen, then you can easily switch to another tool, but your current selection will not go anywhere and you can continue it at any time.

Can you see how many ways to select objects has a wonderful program Adobe Photoshop? This once again shows how powerful and convenient this graphic editor is. Each tool is built differently, but the essence remains the same. And each person can use a certain tool when working with the selection of certain objects or areas of the image.

And we will consider each of these tools separately and in detail so that you can choose the most interesting one for yourself. Or maybe you already have a favorite instrument? Write in the comments which one is closest to your heart).

Well, in general, detailed lessons on each tool, and indeed on working with Photoshop, you can look at this amazing video course.. The lessons are simply amazing and are told in simple and understandable language for any level of user. Everything is “chewed” and shown on real examples. After watching this course You will already be very good at Photoshop. Highly recommend.

Well, for today I finish our lesson-review. I hope that it became clear to you which of the ways to select images is best suited for what. By the way, do not forget to subscribe to my blog updates, then you will definitely not miss anything interesting and will be aware of the most important points. See you in other articles. Bye Bye!

Sincerely, Dmitry Kostin.

When you select something, it is in the selected area that you can perform some actions: draw. change colors, and so on. The complexity of the shape of this selection depends on what you want to select and, accordingly, what selection tools you use.

To select the entire image, choose from the menu Select - Select All , or press hotkeys ctrl + A.

To deselect, select from the menu Selection - Deselect , or press hot keys ctrl+d. To redo the canceled selection, choose from the menu Select - Select Again .

Selection tools are:

• manual;
• semi-automatic;
• automatic.

Manual selection tools: lasso. drawing tools in quick mask mode, rectangular area, oval area.

Semi-automatic selection tools: magnetic lasso.

Automatic selection tools: magic wand.

Rectangle Marquee Tool

On the toolbar second from the top. The drop-down list also contains Oval Marquee, Horizontal Line, Vertical Line tools.

With the horizontal and vertical line tools, you select areas one pixel wide.

To select a rectangular area, select the appropriate tool, and diagonally make a rectangular selection by dragging with the mouse button pressed.

To select a rectangular area from the center, you need to press the key alt, and holding it, stretch the selection.

To select a square, you need to hold down the key Shift when selected.

Similarly for the oval area: holding down the key alt, You stretch the selection from the center, and holding down the Shift, make a circle selection.

During the selection process, when you stretch it, you can press space, and holding it, move the selection to where it should be. After that, you can release the spacebar, and continue to stretch the selection. This can be very convenient because the selection process is not interrupted while using the spacebar.

When you choose an instrument Selection, you will have a settings panel corresponding to this tool.

Parameter shading softens the edges. Open any image in Adobe Photoshop CS5, select the tool Rectangular Selection , and set the parameter shading 50 pixels. Then make a selection, and try brushing from edge to edge of the selection. You will see that the brush will soften at the edges. If the area is without feathering, the break of the brush will be sharp.

In option Styles you can set the proportions, choose the aspect ratio you need, or the desired dimensions. Also on the settings panel there is a button Refine Edge , which is used for complex selections.

You can also switch from the mode of single selections to the mode of adding selections using the key Shift. Make a rectangular selection on any image, then press the key Shift and holding it. make another rectangular selection. You will have two selections at once, and if they intersect, they will be summed up, and you will get one total selection.

If you hold down the key alt, then the selections will not be summed up, but subtracted, and you will be able to cut off pieces from the selection.

Also, selection areas can be intersected with each other, and then there remains one common part of the two selections made. Hot keys correspond to this mode Shift+Alt .

The selection can be inverted via the menu Selection - Invert . In this case, what was selected will no longer be selected, and vice versa, what was not selected will be selected. That is, everything will change exactly the opposite.

The selection can be moved by pressing the mouse button inside it and holding down the mouse button to move it to a new position. If you hold down the key ctrl, the selection will shift with the image, revealing the background underneath. And if you hold down the keys Ctrl+Alt, then the image will also move along with the selection, but the image below it will remain.

Video on how to use simple selection tools

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Knowing how to properly create and modify selections is an essential skill for any Photoshop user. In this tutorial, we'll look at ways to edit selections in Photoshop. Here you can read about the basic combinations that will greatly simplify the process of working with selections, also look at the selection tools, the quick mask mode and the options on the Selection panel.

Lesson details:

• Estimated completion time: 23 minutes
• Level of difficulty: beginning
• Program: Adobe Photoshop CS6

Final result:

1.Basic combinations:

The following combinations for creating selections are the main ones:

1. Add a new area to the selection(by holding Shift and using the selection tools, you can add new sections to an existing area)
2. Subtraction from selection(to do this, hold Alt / Option)
3. Intersection area(to create an area where two selections intersect, hold down Alt/Option and Shift at the same time)
4. Select all(with Ctrl/Cmd + A you can select the entire canvas)
5. Deselect(to remove the selected area, you need to press Ctrl / Cmd + D)
6. Revert Selection(to return the previous selection, you need to press the combination Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + D)
7. Selection inversion(by pressing the combination Ctrl / Cmd + Shift + I, you can swap the selected and unselected area)
8. Move the selected area can be using the arrows on the keyboard
9. Selected area perfect circle or square can be created with the appropriate selection tools while holding Shift)
10. To create a selection, starting from the center need to hold Alt / Option

2.

Saved selections can come in handy later. The selected area can be saved in channels. A selection saved in an alpha channel can be loaded at any time.

3.Selection Transformation

This function will allow you to edit only the selected area, but not the contents of the layer. This can be very useful when we need to create a distorted selection. To change the selection, you can hold down the Ctrl / Cmd button and drag the anchor points, or use the warp functions.

4.Quick Mask Mode

This is a very handy feature for making changes to a selection. To enter the quick mask mode, you need to click on the button in the lower toolbar, or press the Q key. You can exit the mode in a similar way. Once you've entered the Quick Mask mode, you'll see that the selected area remains unchanged, while the rest of the image is shaded red. You can change the settings by double-clicking on the quick mask icon. To create the desired selections, in this mode you have to work with gradients and brushes. Using black as the window's foreground color will make it possible to remove the area from the selection, using white will help increase the selection.

5. Magic wand, quick selection, adjacent pixels and similar shades

The Magic Wand is a classic Photoshop tool. It allows you to create a selection based on the similarity of neighboring pixels. Tool Quick selection (Quick selection) is hidden in the toolbar and is somewhat similar to the Magic Wand (Magic wand). This tool takes the form of brushes and with a simple stroke you can create the selection you want. The name of the tools adjacent pixels (grow) and similar shades (similar) speaks for itself.

6. Feathering

The function allows you to soften the edges of the selected area. Depending on the desired softening, you need to select the appropriate size of the softened area.

7. Refine Edge

Very powerful tool to create a selection area. Here you will find a lot useful settings, which are useful when creating selections with fine details. Here you'll find "Smart Radius", "Clear Color", an option to shift the edge of the selection, and more.

8. Shrink/Expand

The function allows you to compress or expand the selected area by a specified number of pixels.

9.Border

One of the least common selection functions. It allows you to create a ring-like border around your previous selection.

10.Color Range

One of my favorite selection tools. It is somewhat similar to a magic wand, but by working with it, you can more precisely control the selected area. The main difference from the magic wand is the ability to immediately see the resulting mask, as well as further adjustment of pixels that do not fall within the set threshold.

Translation - Desk

In the process of editing images in any graphic editor, one of the most frequently repeated operations, perhaps, is the selection and cutting of objects performed in order to move, transform, correct, extract from the background, etc.

Plenty on the Internet graphic editors, but having learned well how to select an object in Photoshop, it will not be difficult to cope with this in all other programs or online services.

If you say that in terms of the variety and convenience of selection methods, "Photoshop" has no equal, this will not be an exaggeration (at least, an obvious one).

You can select manually by tracing the outline of an object or drawing a selection area with a brush, as well as automatically, using standard selection outline shapes and other "magic" tools. In addition, Photoshop uses masks, color channels, filters, and special plug-ins to highlight fragments.

However, despite the variety, simplicity and convenience of special selection tools in Photoshop, according to many venerable photoshoppers, there is no way to be more accurate and better than using the Pen tool.

On the contour of the object, carefully outlined by the pen, they knock right click mouse and select the "Make Selection" command, then in the dialog box that opens, set the feathering radius, check/uncheck the "Anti-aliasing" checkbox and click OK. Everything, the selection is ready.

Automatic selection of an object in Photoshop comes down to stretching the frame along the outline of the element if it has a rectangular or oval shape, and in some tools to clicking (clicks) the mouse inside the selected area.

Rectangular and round selections

The selection tools for rectangles, ellipses (circles) and narrow stripes (lines) are collected on the panel in a group with the hint "Rectangular Marquee Tool", which, in addition to the above, includes the tools "Oval area" (Elliptical Marquee Tool), "Region horizontal line" (Single Row Marquee Tool) and "Area vertical line" (Single Column Marquee Tool).

To make a selection, you need to click where necessary with the mouse, stretch the frame of the desired size and release the button - the selection is ready. If you drag the mouse with the Shift key pressed, you will get a square (or circle), and if you drag the mouse with the Alt key, the frame will stretch from the center of the shape, and not from the corner or edge.

The next very useful "if" has to do with the spacebar, which can be pressed during a selection (without releasing the Shift key) to interrupt the stretching process and move the entire path to better "aim", then release the spacebar and continue the selection.

And the last "if" refers to the cursor, which changes its appearance inside the selected area, indicating that the entire path can now be moved.

The settings for all selections in the top panel are the same, except for the oval selection, which has an Anti-aliased mode to smooth out opacity transitions at the edges.

Complex selection paths

Once you've figured out if the selection outlines are rectangular or oval (round) in shape, you can move on to more intelligent selection tools.

For elements with complex contours, a group of tools with a tip "Polygonal Lasso Tool" (Polygonal Lasso Tool) is provided for your service, which, in addition to the above, includes Tool tools) and "Magnetic Lasso Tool".

A simple "Lasso" is akin to a pencil. By pressing the left mouse button, circle (throw a lasso) desired area(object) and release the button. The loop will automatically close wherever you release the button. If the path is not successful, you can, without releasing the button, press the Esc key, thus removing the selection, and "draw the lasso" again.

By turning on the "Polylinear/Polygonal Lasso", you outline the object not with a smooth, continuous line, but with an angular contour, successively clicking the mouse from point to point, between which straight lines are drawn. To close the contour, it is not necessary to combine the beginning with the end point - it is enough to get close enough to it so that a circle appears next to the cursor, hinting that you can safely click - the contour will close. You can also create a contour without closing it completely by double-clicking or pressing the Ctrl key.

If the line went the wrong way, the Esc key will help out, but it is better to use the Delete key, which deletes the last segment of the contour. With the Alt key pressed during the selection, both lassoes change roles.

If you don't care how to cut out an object in Photoshop, as long as the selection is more or less high quality and, most importantly, fast, then perhaps the Magnetic Lasso will do it in the best way.

The wise "lasso with a magnet" itself recognizes the line of maximum difference in color, brightness or contrast and "sticks" to this line. All we need to do is click on the border of the selection object and simply "lasso" around it without worrying about the details. Unlike conventional lasso, the magnetic "lasso" needs to be given the width (width) of the zone (band) that it should analyze when determining the boundary of the selected object. The outline of the magnetic tool is closed in the same way as with ordinary lasso.

"Magic" tools

Another "sweet couple" of selection tools, hidden under a single button on the toolbar, includes the Magic Wand Tool and the Quick Selection. These tools allow you to select areas of the same color or colors that are close in tone in an image.

Unlike the familiar "Fill" tool (paint bucket) with the same settings, it does not fill areas with a different color, but selects them. Obeying the mouse click at any point, the "Magic Wand" analyzes the color around it and selects all adjacent areas of the same color, provided that the "Contiguous" mode is selected in the tool settings. V otherwise the selection will spread to all eligible areas throughout the image.

The Quick Selection tool works on the same principle, only here the selection area is drawn with its own brush with adjustable parameters (size, hardness, intervals, angle and shape).

There are many reasons why the use of standard selection tools in certain situations is inappropriate or undesirable, so it is advisable to figure out how to select an object in Photoshop in such a capricious case.

To do this, use a group of erasing tools (erasers), among which there are also "wizards". The group includes the actual "Eraser" (Eraser Tool), "Background eraser" (Background Erser Tool) and "Magic eraser" (Magic Eraser Tool).

The essence of selecting objects with the help of erasers is obvious and simple: around the selected element, everything is completely (or with a smooth transition) erased, after which extracting the object will no longer be difficult.

"Eraser" works like a brush or pencil, so they have the same settings. The principle of the "Magic Eraser" is the same as that of the "Magic Wand" tool, only the eraser does not create a selection, but removes an area of ​​the same color from a picture or part of it.

The "background eraser", though not magical, but if you show it a sample (click on the area to be deleted) and, holding the button, circle the outline of the object, it will remove exactly what you need, regardless of the complexity of the border, and even generously allow you to "impudently "Climb with the aiming cursor on the object.

As an alternative option for selecting by color, you can consider the Color Range command in the Select menu. This command will open the settings window for this function with a small copy of the image in the center. The color that should be selected is indicated by clicking on the thumbnail or on the image itself. You can click "until you lose your pulse" until the selected shade suits you, and if you click with the Shift key, the new color will be added to the previously selected ones, and clicking with the Alt key, on the contrary, excludes the specified shade from the candidates for selection (the same is done pipettes with +/-).

To control the selection of a multi-colored area, select the radio button "Selected area" (Selection) under the thumbnail.

Extracting an object from the background

With the task of separating the object from the background, "Photoshop" does a great job with the command "Extract" (Extract) in the menu This command takes us to a separate dialog box, worthy of the status of a mini-selection editor. We are required to select a tool similar to a felt-tip pen at the top left, set the thickness of the stroke and circle the object, thus showing the program where the border between the separated element and the background will pass. The border must be inside the drawn line that borders the object. Having closed the path, select the bucket of paint (Fill Tool) and fill the object by clicking inside (not outside!) The drawn path. Only after that the "OK" button will allow you to press yourself and make sure of the outstanding abilities of the Extract filter.

Selection using color channels

To select objects with a very complex configuration, sometimes they resort to using color channels, since it turns out that it is possible to select an object in Photoshop not only in standard ways.

To do this, in the layers panel, go to the "Channels" tab (Channels) and select the most contrasting (most often blue) channel. Then duplicate the layer of the selected channel, go to "Image" (Image)\u003e "Correction" (Adjustments)\u003e "Brightness" (Brightness) / "Contrast" (Contrast) and enhance both parameters, extremely blackening the object and "whitening" the background. If necessary, you can make refinements with a black or white brush.

Next, the image is inverted (Invert) by selecting this command in the same menu "Image" > "Correction". Now it remains only to click with the Ctrl key pressed on the channel copy layer and, "closing its eye", return to the "Layers" tab in RGB mode, where you have already been waiting for a neat and accurate selection.

Selecting with the Quick Mask

You can also select/cut an object using the Quick selection tool located at the very bottom of the toolbar. The selection area here is simply painted with black (but the mask has a red color) using regular brushes. A partial selection for feathering its borders is obtained not only by varying the hardness, opacity and pressure of the brush, but also by painting with different shades of gray. In mask mode, you can also apply a black-to-white gradient fill or vice versa.

Often there is a need for some reason to move the object in the image a little. It is better to carry out such an operation under conditions of a relatively homogeneous background, so that it would be easier to "patch a hole" in the old place of the displaced fragment. It turns out that there are programs in which this is done almost automatically "without noise and dust." For example, you can move CS6 and "silently" move it to another location using the Content-Aware Move Tool, which is located in the Spot Healing Brush tool group.

To do this, you need to select the object in any way and simply move it to the right place, and the program will make sure that there are no traces (at least obvious) of the former place of residence of the "settler" in the background. If it gets messy, the Content-Aware Move tool can be helped to "cover up its tracks" by selecting Fill from the Edit menu and selecting Content-Aware from the Use list.

Refine selection edges

Starting with version CS5, Photoshop has a powerful Refine Edge tool, located among other options on the settings panel of all selection tools. With this tool, you can set the width of the edge detection area (the "Radius" setting and the "Smart Radius" function) and adjust the offset, smoothing, feathering, and contrast of the edges of the selected object.

Today's Photoshop tutorial we will devote to a very important section of Photoshop, which all photographers use to one degree or another when processing photos - these are selection tools. Unfortunately, as practice shows, out of the huge arsenal offered by the program in this area, the majority of amateur photographers use no more than 10 - 20% of the possibilities. Our task is to fill the gaps and open up these opportunities for more fruitful work.

What are the main tools used by the average amateur photographer? Basically, these are varieties of Lasso (lasso), Magic Wand (magic wand) and, perhaps, Color Range (color range). But that's about 10% of the possibilities. Photoshop programs. Let's take a closer look at them.

Tools under the "hot" key M
Rectangular Marquee Tool (rectangular area) - the most commonly used selection tool. Provides selection of a rectangular area (when holding SHIFT keys highlighted square).
Elliptical Marquee Tool (elliptical area) - (while holding the SHIFT key, a circle is selected).
Single Row Marquee Tool (horizontal line of 1 pixel) is a very rarely used tool. Selects a 1 pixel line in the entire drawing.
Single Column Marquee Tool (vertical column 1 pixel) - similar to the previous one. Switching from one tool to another (for the first two) is done by pressing the M key while holding the SHIFT key or through the toolbar.

Tools under the "hot" key L
Lasso Tool (lasso) - perhaps the most beloved and sought-after selection tool among amateur photographers. Selects an arbitrary area when the left mouse button is pressed. When the key is released, closes the selection area.
Polygonal Lasso Tool (polygonal lasso) - also one of my favorite tools. Unlike a simple lasso, it draws a selection between anchor points that are placed by clicking the left mouse button (touching the graphic pen). Closing the contour of the selected area is done in three ways: by bringing the end point to the starting point, by double-clicking on the last point (in this case, the contour is closed along the shortest straight line) or by single-clicking while holding down the CTRL key (also along the shortest straight line). This selection tool is good for precise selection of areas with fairly clear boundaries, mostly of a broken character (architecture, technology, etc.).
Magnetic Lasso Tool (magnetic lasso) - quite an interesting tool, the correct use of which can save a lot of time. This tool has some adjustments that allow it to be used well with proper handling. Width (width) - a parameter that determines how close to the intended contour you should move your cursor. The more contrast the image, the more you can set this value, the easier it is to move the mouse. This tool parameter can be freely changed on the fly, during selection, by pressing the [ or ] keys.

And if you are working with graphics tablet, then this parameter can be changed by pressing the pen, which is very convenient.
Edge Contrast (border contrast) - a parameter that specifies the FS level of contrast between the background and the selection element.
Frequency (frequency) - the distance between the reference points. The more uneven the edge of the desired selection, the more often it is desirable to put dots (the smaller the value) and vice versa. Remember the main thing is that the success of each tool depends on its proper use. The Magnetic Lasso tool is good to use on contrasting objects with a well-read border (the outlines of objects on a light background, the outlines of a person, etc.), but be prepared for some disappointment, because this tool will almost never create a selection that suits you completely. Rather, it will simply do some preparatory work faster to create a Quick Mask (quick mask), which we will return to later.

Tool under the "hot" key W
Magic Wand (magic wand) - a magic wand, but if you do not understand the settings of this tool properly, you can get a lot of headaches when working with it, and in the end "throw" it away.
So, what settings of this tool are available to us?
Tolerance (tolerance) - the range of colors that the tool will highlight. The values ​​of this parameter can be set between 0-255. The larger the number, the larger the range of colors will be highlighted. Tolerance values ​​are applied on both sides of the pixel's brightness value. If we click on a pixel with a level of 100 at a tolerance of 30, then pixels with levels from 70 to 130 will be selected. Sometimes, to more accurately select an area, you can use a selection in one of the color channels that is most suitable for your purposes.
Anti-aliased (smoothing) - softening the selection outline (similar to other tools).
Contiguous (adjacent pixels) - very important parameter, which allows you to select the selection mode.
When the checkbox is checked, only that area is selected by images with given parameters where you made your selection. If the checkbox is unchecked, then all areas of the image with the specified parameters will be selected (similar to the Color Range tool).
Use All Layers (use all layers) - when creating a contour, all visible layers of the image will be taken into account.
The tools under the hot key P, U and A are also selection elements, but are intended for creating paths and are vector graphics elements.

An outline differs from a selection in that it is automatically created on a new layer above the main image. After that, it can be edited at any time and saved, if necessary, until the very end of the work. To a greater extent, this group of selection tools is used for design work and to a lesser extent for photo processing, so we will not pay special attention to them in this article. Let us dwell in more detail on the possibility of modifying the selections described above, their interaction and transformation. After that, let's move on to the description of working with Quick Mask.
So, you have worked hard, persistently creating your selection, for example, using the Polygonal Lasso. We spent more than one minute on this lesson and finally returned to the starting point, closing the circuit. With a sigh of relief, you lean back in your chair, look around at your work and ... oh horror!!! You forgot to highlight a small but very important element. Tragedy! Indeed, after closing the contour of the selected area, it is no longer possible to return step by step (using the Back Space key in the process of creating the contour). Do you really need to start all over again ... Not at all! You just need to know the basic elementary rules for editing selected areas.
Holding down the SHIFT key will add to the selection new area. While holding down the ALT key, you can subtract the required area from the existing area. If you hold down the ALT and SHIFT keys at the same time, you will get the result of the intersection of these areas.
Command Feather (feathering) - the value of this editing element of the selected area is even difficult to overestimate. The selected area rarely has clear boundaries. In artistic photography, this is practically not used. This command creates a feather (blur) on the border of the selection and its value can be set from 0.2 to 250 pixels. The larger the value of this parameter, the more blurred the boundaries will be, the smoother the transition.

Border (border) - creates an area of ​​the specified width around the perimeter of the current selection outline.
Smooth (smoothing) - smoothes all sharp corners of the selection. This command very useful in combination with other commands that give a very jagged selection, such as the Magic Wand. Expand (stretch) - expands the selection area by a given number of pixels, while slightly smoothing the selection roughness.
Contract (compress) - the command is similar to the previous one, only designed to narrow the selection area.
This is where we will finish considering the options for transforming selection areas for now, despite the fact that we have not considered all the possibilities. Unfortunately, the format of the article is limited and such simple manipulations with selected areas as inversion, free transformation, fill, stroke, etc., should be familiar to you and do not require a detailed explanation. Therefore, let's move on to the most interesting and promising selection method - Quick Mask.
Without a doubt, this method is the most interesting and wide in its possibilities, it provides huge scope for photo processing. This tool subject to what is impossible (or very laborious) to do with the tools described above.

Let's turn it on by pressing the Q key. It's strange, for some reason nothing happens .... Of course, in order to turn on the quick mask and see the result, you need to select at least something with any of the above tools. Next, using a specific example, let's look at the possibilities of our selection tools in combination with Quick Mask in photo processing.
Let's make a flower in this photo not against the background of emerald greenery, but against the background of the blue sky. First, let's try to highlight green background using the Magic Wand since it's easier, and then invert the selection. Set the Tolerance to 50 and uncheck the Contiguous option to select all pixels in that color range. I got the following picture.

As can be seen from the figure, in addition to the green color, some of the pixels in the core of the flower stand out in the place we need. It's not scary, we can remove them with a single movement of the hand. Turn on the selection element Lasso and, holding down the Alt key, outline the core of the flower with a margin. But for a better understanding of how Quick Mask works, let's turn it on by pressing the Q key.
The picture took on a rather unusual look. The inverse selection zones are closed in red. Let's enter the quick mask menu and look at a number of parameters that we need in further work.

To do this, switch to the Channels palette (channels) and double-click on the Quick Mask icon. In the Quick Mask Options menu we see the following settings.
Masked Areas (masked area) - the zone opposite to the selected one is covered with color, as in our case.
Selected Areas (selected area) - the selected area will be filled with color.
Color (fill color) - selects the color used when filling. The parameter is very popular. I recommend choosing a fill color that is significantly different in color from the masked area for better contrast. For example, to mask the face, it is better to choose blue or green colors, etc. In our case, we will change the color from red (default) to blue because the flower is orange.
Opacity (transparency) - determines the degree of transparency of the mask. The most optimal values ​​are from 30 to 60%.
Now we will adjust our masked area. To do this, select one of the drawing tools, say a brush, with the B key. And we'll just start painting over the areas to be masked. For large areas, the size can be increased, for small ones, reduced. At the same time, by adjusting the hardness and transparency of the brush, you can control the blurring of the boundaries of the future selected area and the degree of its masking (which is almost impossible when using conventional selection tools).

By selecting the color of the drawing tool (black or white) with the X key, we can both add (if the color is black) and remove masked areas (if the color is white). To do this, I recommend that you always keep your left finger on the X key - this is convenient and significantly speeds up the work. With sufficient skill, you can get by with a brush of almost the same diameter (as in our case). To do this, in thin places, erase the mask more than necessary, and then draw it along the desired contour. Very simple and convenient.

Over time, you'll get so used to using the Quick Mask that you'll only use the normal tools to make a preliminary selection to the Quick Mask. Let's process the entire contour of the flower in this way with a brush with a diameter of 20 with a transparency of 100% and a hardness of the borders of 70%. Of course, the settings of the drawing tool may be different in each case. After finishing processing the contour, turn off the quick mask mode by pressing the Q key and invert the selection. Now we have the selected flower. Now let's take a file of the appropriate resolution and size with an image of the sky. You can create a sky using numerous plugins for Photoshop. In this case, I created it using the SkyEffects filter of the KPT-6 plugin. Copy our flower to the clipboard (Ctrl + C) and paste it into the sky file (Ctrl + V). The picture is ready!