How to add to or subtract from a selection

Modify a selection by adding to or subtracting from the selection

Published January 28, 2025

Modify a selection by adding to or subtracting from the selection.

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00:01

Introduction

Not every selection is perfect - and ready to work with right after you've made it.

Sometimes, depending on - how the selection was made, there could be parts of the image - that were selected that you didn't want.

Or there might be areas - that were not selected that need to be added to the selection.

Hi, I'm Seán Duggan, a photographer, - Photoshop author and instructor.

Knowing how to modify a selection - by adding to it or subtracting from it, - is an essential skill for working with selections - in Adobe Photoshop.

Let's check it out.

One of the things - that makes this image so dynamic is that it's backlit.

This creates a dramatic shadow and lightens the plume of snow - behind the snowboarder.

But the backlighting has also resulted - in the subject being a bit too dark, which is not uncommon in backlit photos.

00:52

Selecting the main subject automatically

We can fix that - by selecting the snowboarder and lightning just that area.

Since the snowboarder - is the obvious subject in the scene, I'll go to the Select menu and I'll choose Subject.

Overall, Photoshop did a good job, but there are areas - where too much of the background has been selected - by the front of the snowboard as well as part of the helmet - that was not selected.

There's an area of the glove over on the right side of the photo - that's also not selected.

But I'm not going to worry about that - because most of that part of the glove is covered with snow.

01:28

Adding missing areas to a selection

I'll start with the top of the helmet.

Let me zoom up for a closer view.

I'll go over to the Toolbar, and I'll choose the Lasso Tool.

In the Options bar for this tool, I'll click on the second icon - from the left, which will allow me - to add on to the existing selection.

With the Lasso Tool set to Add, I'll draw a lasso - around the top part of the helmet to add that into the selection.

I'll loop back around.

Come back to where I started - to close the loop.

In addition to the add icon - in the Options bar, you can also hold down the Shift key - to add to a selection.

Next, let's deal with the area - by the snowboard where too much of the snow - in the background was selected.

I'll hold down the Spacebar - and drag on the image to reposition it on screen, - so we have a better view of that area.

I'll stay with the Lasso Tool,

02:22

Removing unwanted areas from a selection

but this time - I'll click the third icon from the left, which will allow me - to subtract from the selection.

The keyboard shortcut for subtracting - from a selection is holding Option or Alt - as you use the Selection Tool.

I'll start on the bottom here and just drag around - on this area of the snow that was selected - underneath the snowboard.

And for the adjustment - that I'm going to apply to this selection, I don't really need - the snowboard selected at all, so in addition to removing the area - of the snow in the background that was selected, I'm also going to just deselect - the entire front of the snowboard.

There we go.

We'll just loop around there - to subtract that.

No matter what Selection Tool you use, this is the way - to manually add to a selection or subtract from it.

You can use the icons in the Options bar - for a Selection Tool, or you can use the shortcuts of Shift - to add to a selection and Option or Alt - to subtract from a selection.

03:33

Applying an adjustment to the refined selection

Now we can add an adjustment - to brighten the selected area and make the snowboarder - stand out a bit more.

To do this, - I'll go over to the Adjustments panel and I'll click on the first icon of a Sun to add a Brightness/Contrast - adjustment layer.

When you have a selection in an image - and you add an adjustment layer, the selection is turned into a layer mask so that only the selected area - will be affected by the adjustment.

In the Properties panel, I'll move the Brightness slider - to the right to 44, 45 looks pretty good and there, that looks a lot better.

If I click the Eye icon - for that adjustment layer to turn it off and then on again, you can see how lightning the snowboarder - improves the image.

Selections are a powerful way - to apply adjustments to certain parts of a photo.

Even if they're not perfect right away, you can easily modify them by adding to - or subtracting from the selected areas. -

What you learned

How to add to a selection

If a selection doesn’t include everything you want, click the Add To option for any selection tool. Then select what you want to add to the selection. The keyboard shortcut for adding to a selection is to hold the Shift key as you use a selection tool.

How to subtract from a selection

To subtract areas from a selection, click the Subtract From option for any selection tool. Then select anything you don’t want to include in the selection. The keyboard shortcut for subtracting from a selection is to hold the Option or Alt key as you use a selection tool.

Instruction by: Seán Duggan
Adobe Stock Contributors: Dell

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