Getting started: Manual selection tools

You can use this tutorial with Adobe® Photoshop® Elements versions 7 and 8.

Learn how to use the manual selection tools in Adobe® Photoshop® Elements to select areas of an image. Check out the Elliptical Marquee, Rectangular Marquee, Lasso, and Quick Selection tools.

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Requirements

To complete this tutorial, install the following software:

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 or later

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Using the Elliptical Marquee tool

The most basic type of selection is to use the pointer to drag across an area of the photo to select it. You can select an elliptical shape by using the Elliptical Marquee tool. To select a perfect circle, you can hold down the Shift key as you draw the selection.

1. Start Photoshop Elements.
2. Open a photo in the Editor workspace, and make sure Full Edit is selected.
3. In the toolbox, select the Elliptical Marquee tool.

   Note: If the Rectangular Marquee tool is on top, you can click and hold to reveal the Elliptical Marquee tool below it.

   Drag diagonally over the area you want to select to draw an oval selection marquee. The animated lines that define the selection area, shown in Figure 1, are called the marquee or marching ants.

   

   Figure 1: Elliptical Marquee selection

   After drawing the selection area, you can move the selection area by dragging it.

4. With the selection tool still selected in the toolbox, position the pointer inside the selection area, and drag it to where you want it.

   With a part of the photo selected, you can now act on it.

5. Choose Enhance > Auto Smart Fix (or apply a different change). The changes you make to the photo are applied to the selected area only.

   When you are done working on the selected area, deselect it.

6. Choose Select > Deselect.

   Note:The keyboard shortcut for deselecting is Ctrl+D.

Using the Rectangular Marquee tool

The Rectangular Marquee tool does exactly what its name implies. It selects an area of the photo by drawing a rectangular marquee. To select a perfect square, you can hold down the Shift key as you draw the selection area.

1. In the toolbox, click and hold the Elliptical Marquee tool, and from the menu, select the Rectangular Marquee tool.
2. Drag to draw a rectangle over any portion of the photo.
3. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.
4. Hold down Shift key, draw another selection. Holding down Shift draws a perfect square, as shown in Figure 2.

   

   Figure 2: Rectangular Marquee selection

5. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Using the Regular Lasso tool

Use the Lasso tools to draw selection areas that do not conform to an ellipse or rectangle. You can use the Regular Lasso tool to draw a freeform selection.

1. In the toolbox, select the Regular Lasso tool.
2. Drag to draw a selection around any part of the photo.

   When you release the mouse button the marquee shows the area you selected. It can be difficult to get it right unless you have a steady hand.

3. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Using the Polygonal Lasso tool

Another Lasso tool is the Polygonal Lasso tool. The Polygonal Lasso tool creates a marquee by drawing a series of line segments to form a polygon. You can select an area shaped as a diamond, rectangle, star, or any other multi-line shape. By drawing the marquee one line at a time, you can select just about any object in a photo.

To practice using the Polygonal tool, you draw a simple diamond shaped selection.

1. In the toolbox, select the Polygonal Lasso tool. It is behind the Lasso tool.
2. Click where you want to start the selection, such as the top point of a diamond, to place the first anchor point for the selection.
3. Without pressing any mouse buttons, move the pointer to another location, such as the middle-right point in the diamond, and click to place another anchor point.
4. Move the pointer to the next anchor point, such as the bottom point of the diamond, and click.
5. Move the pointer to the next anchor point, such as the middle-left point in the diamond, and click.

   Note: The next line finishes the diamond shape.

6. Move the pointer back over the first anchor point, and notice a tiny circle to the right of the Lasso icon. The small circle means that you have reached the beginning of the selection, as shown in Figure 3.

   

   Figure 3: Polygonal Lasso selection

7. Click again on the first anchor point to close the selection and create the diamond shaped marquee.
8. Press Ctrl+D to deselect.

Using the Magnetic Lasso tool

The Magnetic Lasso tool is similar to drawing with the Polygonal Lasso. But with the Magnetic Lasso, the selection automatically snaps to portions of the image that Photoshop Elements thinks you want to select. The Magnetic lasso tool looks at the tones in the image to set anchor points around an object that is near where you drag.

1. In the toolbox, select the Magnetic Lasso tool. It is located behind the Polygonal Lasso.
2. Click along the edge of a well-defined object in the photo.
3. Drag to draw a selection marquee around the object.
4. As you drag, the Magnetic Lasso tool creates anchor points around the object automatically.
5. Return to the beginning of the selection, and click to close the selection.

   The Magnetic Selection tool creates a rough selection around the object. You can refine this selection by using other tools, such as the Selection Brush.

6. Leave this area selected for the next part of the tutorial.

Using the Selection Brush tool

The Selection Brush tool is one of several automatic selection tools. The Selection Brush is good for selecting tiny sections of a photo when you have tried to select using other tools, but have not had success.

1. In the toolbox, select the Selection Brush tool.
2. Position the pointer over the photo, and make the brush tip smaller by pressing the left bracket key on the keyboard.
3. Brush over the edge of the current selection to modify the selection.
4. Continue to practice modifying selections by using the Selection Brush tool.

Where to go from here

If you enjoyed this tutorial, check out these other resources to help get you started using Photoshop Elements.

• Photoshop Elements Essentials for Windows tutorials on lynda.com
• Photoshop Elements shows on Adobe TV
• Photoshop Elements Help and Support
• Automatic selection tools
• Using the new Smart Brush tool

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