What are selections and why do you need them?

Discover when and why to make selections.

Published January 28, 2025

00:01

Introduction

Welcome to this short series of tutorials designed to simplify the topic of selections in Photoshop CC.

In this tutorial, we'll cover what selections are and give you some quick examples of when you'll use selections most often.

A selection is just a way to isolate part of an image so any work you do on the image affects just that selected part.

One reason to use selections

00:21

Using selections to apply effects to part of an image

is when you want to change the appearance of part of an image.

For example, let's say I want to apply a filter that affects only the flower in this photo.

First, I'll select the flower and I'm going to use a tool called the Quick Selection Tool to do this.

I'll just click and drag over the flower and that will automatically select it because it has this high contrast edge.

And now I'm going to apply a filter that will affect only the flower.

So, I'll go up to the Filter menu and go into the Stylize category and I'll choose Oil Paint...

I'm going to leave all the settings here at their defaults.

What I want you to see is that this effect is being applied only inside the selection.

I'm going to click OK and all that's left to do is to deselect and you can deselect by either pressing Command D on the Mac keyboard or Control D on the Windows keyboard, or you could go up to the Select menu and choose Deselect there.

Now, let's look at another reason to make selections.

01:17

Adjusting specific areas with adjustment layers

Often if you have a photograph, you want to adjust only part of the photograph and this is where selections can really help you.

Again, I'll use the Quick Selection Tool.

I'm just going to click and drag across all of the foreground.

And when it's all selected, I'll go to the bottom of the Layers panel and I'll click the Add Adjustment Layer icon there and I'm going to choose a simple Brightness/Contrast... adjustment layer, then in the Properties panel, I'll have the sliders for the Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer and I'm going to drag the Brightness slider over to the right.

If I go back down to the Layers panel and turn off that new Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer, keep your eye on the photo and you'll see that this adjustment is affecting only the foreground and not the sky as well.

Let's look at another reason to use selections.

02:12

Deleting areas to create transparency

Sometimes you may want to delete part of an image leaving transparent pixels behind which you could put another background.

To do that on this image, I'm going to use another selection tool, the Rectangular Marquee Tool, which is here in the Tools panel.

And I'm doing that because I want to select this rectangular area and delete it from the photo.

In the Layers panel, I first have to click the Lock icon because the single layer in this photo is a special locked background layer.

And then I'll just press the Delete key or the Backspace key on my keyboard and I'll deselect by pressing Command D on Mac or Control D on Windows.

Now if you like you can put a different background behind there.

To do that, I'm going to go down to the Add New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel, I'll hold the Command key - that's the Control key on Windows - and click, and that adds a new layer beneath the photo layer.

Let's name this the "photo" layer and we'll name this the "black" layer and with the black layer selected, I'll go up to the Edit menu and I'll choose Fill... and I'll choose to fill with Black and click OK.

03:24

Copying and reusing parts of an image

One more reason to make a selection is if you want to copy part of an image so you can use that copy on another photo or on the same one.

To do that, make sure that you have the right layer selected, the one with the photo and then click and drag with one of the Selection Tools in the image.

I'm going to use the Rectangular Marquee to select this brown rectangle in the photo.

And then I'm going to copy that by using the keyboard shortcut Command C on the Mac - that's Control C on Windows - and then I'll paste a copy that I just selected by using the shortcut Command V on Mac or Control V on Windows.

In the Layers panel, you can see that that created a brand-new layer and if I turn off all the other layers, you'll see that that new layer contains just the copied rectangle.

Now, first you don't see it in the image because it's right on top of the original rectangle that I copied but if I get the Move Tool and then I click on top of the rectangle and drag, you can see the copy moving with me.

And I'll use it to cover up one of the checker's right there.

So, that should give you an idea not only of what selections are but when and why you're likely to use them as you work in Photoshop CC whether you're changing the appearance of part of an image or adjusting part of a photo or deleting or copying part of an image.

What you learned: Common uses for selections

What is a selection?

A selection is a way to isolate part of an image so your edits will affect only that area.

Why make a selection?

Common reasons to make a selection are to:

Change the appearance of part of an image by applying a filter or other effect to the selection;
Adjust part of a photograph by making a correction to the lighting or color of the selected area;
Replace a background by selecting and deleting the initial background and adding a different background instead;
Manipulate part of an image, such as copying or moving selected content.

Presenter: Jan Kabili
Photographers: Matt Hagen; Cody York; Hint of Whimsy

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