Using the Kinder Freeform Pen in Photoshop

Confession: There is a more amicable incarnation of the Pen tool — the Freeform Pen tool. This tool is kind of a hybrid Lasso/Pen tool. Just drag around the element you want to select, and the tool creates an outline that follows your cursor, exactly like the Lasso.

After you release your mouse button, Photoshop provides the anchor points, lines, and curves for that path, exactly like the Pen.

In my humble opinion, the Freeform Pen rates just an okay. The downside is that you are back to having to have a really steady hand in order to get an accurate selection. The tool is probably one notch better than the Lasso tool because you do get a path that you can refine before you load it as a selection. But I’d rather pay my dues and get skilled with the regular Pen.

Here are some Freeform Pen tips:
-->To create straight segments with the Freeform Pen, press Alt (Option on the Mac) while the mouse button is pressed down and then click to create the anchor point.
-->Pressing Alt (Option on the Mac) temporarily turns the Freeform Pen into the regular Pen. When you want to return to drawing curves, release Alt (Option on the Mac), keeping the mouse button pressed down.

Be careful: If you release Alt (Option on the Mac) while the mouse button is not pressed down, Photoshop ends your path, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Curve Fit
The Curve Fit option lets you adjust the amount of error Photoshop allows when trying to fit your cursor movement to a path. You can enter a value from 0.5 to 10 pixels; the default setting is 2 pixels.

At the default setting, Photoshop doesn’t register any movement of your cursor that is 2 pixels or less. Setting the value to 0.5 pixels makes the Freeform Pen very sensitive to your movement and forces the tool to very closely follow the edge.

The disadvantage of this option is that using it also causes a lot of unnecessary anchor points. Although a value of 10 pixels corrects this problem by making the option less sensitive, your path may not be as accurate.

I recommend trying the Freeform Pen at each of these settings and then getting a feel for the kind of path it makes.

Magnetic
When selected, the Magnetic option makes the Freeform Pen act much like the Magnetic Lasso tool. Click anywhere on the edge of the element you want to select. Release your mouse button and then move the cursor around the edge. The tool snaps to the edge of your element, creating anchor points and segments. You can

-->Manually control the magnetism: If the Freeform Pen tool starts to veer off course, you can manually force down an anchor point by clicking.
-->Create straight segments: To create straight segments, again press Alt (Option on the Mac) and click (you temporarily get the regular Pen). Alt+drag (Option+drag on the Mac) to temporarily access the regular Freeform Pen. To return to the magnetic Freeform Pen tool, release Alt (Option on the Mac), click again, and continue moving the cursor.

To close a path with the magnetic Freeform Pen, you must double-click.

Width, Contrast, Frequency, and Pen Pressure
The Width, Contrast, and Frequency settings are specifically for the Magnetic option and work just like the Magnetic Lasso options. Width specifies how close to the edge (1–256) the tool must be before it detects an edge. Contrast (1–100) specifies how much contrast there must be between pixels for the tool to see the edge. And Frequency (5–40) specifies the rate at which the tool lays down anchor points.

The Pen Pressure option is available only if you’re using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet and allows you to adjust how sensitive the tool is based on how hard you press down with the stylus.

Making a Selection into a Path in Photoshop

Although you probably won’t use this option nearly as often as you use the option to turn a path into a selection, the option is, indeed, available: You can create paths from existing selections. Creating a path from a selection can come in handy if you need to save a path as a clipping path.

1. If you’ve been reading from the beginning of this section, you probably have a selection on-screen ready and raring to go. If you are just jumping in, go ahead and select the desired element in your image.

2. With the selection marquee active, select Make Work Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.

3. In the dialog box that appears, enter a Tolerance value.

You can also create a path from a selection by pressing Alt (Option on the Mac) and clicking the Make Work Path from Selection icon in the Paths palette. If you just click the icon, you also make a path, but you bypass the dialog box.

The Tolerance number controls how sensitive Photoshop is to the nooks and crannies in the selection marquee when it creates the path:

-->The lower the value, the more sensitive it is, and the better it approximates your selection.
-->Too low a value, such as 0.5, may create too many anchor points.
-->Too high a value, such as 10, rounds out your path too much. Start with the default setting of 2.0.

4. If the path is still showing after you load your selection marquee, simply click in the gray area below the path names in the Paths palette.
This action deselects the path and leaves you with just the selection marquee.

5. Select the work path in the Paths palette and choose Save Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu. Name the path and click OK.

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Loading Paths as Selections in Photoshop

Creating a path is usually the means to an end — an accurate selection. Therefore, most likely, you will frequently be using the Paths palette to load your path as a selection.

Follow these steps to get the lowdown on how to do just that. Open an image, make a selection by using the Pen tool, and get started.

1. Choose Make Selection from the Paths palette pop-up menu.
Alternatively, you can also press Alt (Option on the Mac) and click the Load Path as a Selection icon in the Paths palette. To bypass the Make Selection dialog box, simply click the Load Path as a Selection icon at the bottom of the Paths palette.

2. In the Make Selection dialog box, you can:
-->Feather your selection by entering a pixel value in the Feather Radius box.
-->Leave the feather radius at 0 for a hard-edged selection.
-->Select the Anti-aliased option. This option slightly softens the edge of the selection so that it doesn’t appear so jagged. (It’s my personal recommendation.)

If you happen to have another selection active when you load your current path as a selection, you can choose to add, subtract, or intersect with that other selection.

After the path is made into a selection, it acts like any other selection.

Here’s one of my favorite shortcuts. To quickly load the path as a selection, select the path and then press Ctrl+Enter (Ô+Return on the Mac). You can also Ctrl+click (Ô+click on the Mac) on your path name in the Paths palette to do the same. Just be aware that you bypass the dialog box and its options when you use the shortcuts.

Filling a Path in Photoshop

You can fill the interior of a path with color by choosing the Fill Path command. Follow these steps:

1. Select the path in the Paths palette and choose Fill Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.
A dialog box gives options for Contents, Opacity, Blending, and Rendering. Or you can press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click the Fill Path with Foreground Color icon (a solid circle) at the bottom of the palette. You can also click the Fill icon without the Alt (Option on the Mac) key. This option bypasses the dialog box and just fills your path with whatever setting was used previously.

2. In the dialog box, leave the Blending Mode option set to Normal.
It’s better to use the Layers palette to apply your blend modes because you have more flexibility. Here is the scoop on the remaining options:

-The feathering option gradually blurs the edges of the fill into the background. Enter the feather radius in pixels. The more pixels, the greater the blur or feather.
-The anti-aliased option just slightly softens the very edge of the fill so it doesn’t appear as ragged.

If you select one or more paths with the Direct Selection tool, the Fill Path command changes to Fill Subpath(s), enabling you to fill only the selected paths.

3. After you set your options, click OK.
Your path should now be filled.

Stroking a Path in Photoshop

You can use the Stroke path command to paint a stroke along the path. You can choose which painting or editing tool to use to stroke the path. Follow these steps:

1. Select the path in the Paths palette. Then choose Stroke Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.
Or press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click the Stroke Path with the brush icon (an outlined circle) at the bottom of the palette. You can also click the Stroke Path icon without the Alt (Option on the Mac) key. Note that this option bypasses the dialog box in Step 2 and just strokes your path with whatever setting was used previously.

2. In the dialog box that opens, choose one of the 15 painting or editing tools you want to use to apply color to the stroke. Click OK.

Make sure that you verify your chosen tool’s settings in the Options bar because Photoshop uses those settings to stroke your path. Photoshop will also apply your current foreground color to the stroke.

If you’re using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, you can select the Simulate Pressure check box to create strokes with varying widths. If everything has gone well, you should end up with a stroked path.

If you select one or more paths with the Direct Selection tool, the Stroke Path command changes to Stroke Subpath(s), enabling you to stroke only the selected paths.

Deleting, Duplicating, and Renaming a Path in Photoshop

To delete a path, drag the path to the trash can icon at the bottom of the palette. Or choose Delete Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.

You can duplicate a saved path by choosing the path in the Paths palette and selecting Duplicate Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.

You can also drag the saved path on top of the Create New Path icon at the bottom of the palette.
To rename a path, double-click the path name in the Paths palette. Then enter the new name directly within the palette.

Saving a Work Path in Photoshop

To save a work path, double-click the path in the Paths palette. Or choose Save Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu (click the triangle in the upper right to open the menu). Then provide a name in the Save Path dialog box and click OK.

After you save your path, you can reload it at any time. Unlike layers, paths take up very little storage space, so don’t hesitate to save them. Plus, you don’t want to go through all that work again if you don’t have to. Unlike work paths, you can have as many saved paths as your heart desires.

Creating a Path in Photoshop

When you create a path, it automatically appears in the Paths palette as a work path.

Remember that a work path is temporary and unsaved, and you can have only one work path in the Paths palette at a time.

If the work path is selected when you begin another path, your actions are added to the current work path. But if the existing work path is hidden and you begin drawing another path, that new work path replaces the existing one.

Creating a new path
You can save yourself a lot of grief if you make sure that your path is saved before you start. If you select New Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu before you create the path, Photoshop automatically saves the work path, and it becomes a saved path or named path. You can also just click the Create New Path icon (the dog-eared page icon) at the bottom of the Paths palette.

Working with the Paths Palette in Photoshop

Working hand in hand with the Pen tool is the Paths palette. You can think of it as a kind of Command and Control Center for your paths. Although it isn’t mandatory, it’s a good idea to open up your Paths palette before you create a path so that you can stay apprised as to what is happening with your image. To open the palette, choose Window➪Paths.

The icons at the bottom of the Paths palette from left to right are:
-Fill Path
-Stroke Path
-Load Path as Selection
-Make Work Path from Selection
-Create New Path
-Delete Current Path

Creating Subpaths in Photoshop

You can also create a series of lines or curves. For example, you may want to create a border consisting of some decorative curve shapes, which you could later stroke with color. You can then save these subpaths under a single path name. To create a series of subpaths, simply end one path before starting another. Make sure that the paths are not hidden when you do so; otherwise, Photoshop will eliminate the previous path when you start another.

If working with the Pen tool feels awkward, difficult, and frustrating, don’t worry. Those are all perfectly natural emotions to feel when you first use it. It took me months of grappling with it before I could get to the point where I could use the tool without uttering several unmentionable words. All I can say is keep practicing. Open up any images you have laying around on your hard drive and select something. Before you know it, no image will be safe from the prowess of your Pen.

Closing a Path in Photoshop

To close the path, return to your first anchor point and click. You see a small circle next to your pen cursor, indicating that you will close the path when you click. Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a work path. Don’t worry if the path isn’t perfect; you find out how to edit paths in an upcoming section. If your path is perfect and you want to save it now, skip ahead to the section, “Working with the Paths Palette.”

If your path is incomplete and you need to continue drawing it, either click or drag on the endpoint with the Pen tool. You will see the appearance of a slash mark or small square next to the pen cursor.

Connecting Curve Segments with Cusp Points in Photoshop

If you need to create a curve that goes in the same direction as a curve that is adjacent to it, you need to take a couple additional steps:

1. Convert the point — this time from smooth to cusp — by positioning your cursor over the second anchor point in the existing curve and pressing the Alt key (Option on the Mac).

2. Drag toward the bump of the curve. Release the mouse button and then release the Alt (Option on the Mac) key.
Essentially, your actions are pulling the direction line out from the anchor point. Both direction lines move to the same side of the anchor point, yet are independent of each other, creating the cusp point.

3. Move your cursor to where you want the curve to end and drag away from the bump to create your second curve.

Try to keep anchor points on either side of the curve, not along the top. It is also good to try to use the fewest number of anchor points possible to create your path. That way, the path will result in a much smoother curve. It will also create a smaller file size and reduce the possibility of printing problems.

To draw a curve after a straight segment, first position your cursor directly on the last anchor point of the straight segment. Drag toward the bump of the curve you need to draw. A direction line appears.
Position your cursor where you want the curve to end and drag away from the bump.

Connecting a Straight Segment to a Curve Segment in Photoshop

If you need to create a straight segment after creating a curve (or vice versa), you need to convert the point where the path changes from curved to straight. To convert a point, follow these steps:

1. Position your cursor over the second anchor point in the existing curve and press the Alt key (Option on the Mac).
You see a caret (which looks like an upside down V ) next to the pen cursor. Click and release your mouse button over the anchor point. The bottom direction line disappears. You have converted a smooth point into a corner point with one direction line. This action will now allow you to create a straight segment.

It’s no coincidence that the tool icon for the Convert Point tool is also a caret. Whenever you see a caret symbol in Photoshop, it’s an indication that you are converting an anchor point, from smooth to corner or vice versa.

2. Move your mouse to the end of the straight edge you want to select and click and release.
You can press the Shift key if you want the line to be constrained horizontally, vertically, or at an angle with a multiple of 45 degrees. Photoshop connects the two anchor points with a straight segment.

Drawing Curves in Photoshop

You’re probably never going to create a simple work path that doesn’t have curves as well as straight lines. I mean, not much in life is perfectly linear. Most things have undulations here and there. Picking up from the preceding section, here’s how to create curved paths:

1. If you are adding onto a previously created open path, make sure that you position your cursor on the last anchor point you created on that open path to continue.
You see a slash mark or small square appear next to your cursor. If you are starting a new path, position the cursor where you want the curve to begin.

In both cases, drag toward the direction that you want the bump of the curve to go. Release the mouse button when you’re done. If you are creating a new path, an anchor point along with two direction lines, which have direction points at their ends, appears. If you are adding a curve to your straight segment, an anchor point along with one direction line and one direction point appear. The direction lines and direction points control the angle and pitch of the curve.

How do you know how far you should you drag? You can do what I do and use the rule of thirds. Imagine that your curve is a piece of string that you have stretched and laid out in a straight line. Divide that line into thirds. The distance you drag your mouse button is one-third the length of that line.

How do you establish the angle? Drag straight from the anchor point for a steeper curve and at an angle from the anchor point for a flatter curve. The element in my example is a flatter curve; therefore I dragged up and to the right at an angle of about 4.5 degrees.

2. Move the cursor to the end of the curve and drag in the opposite direction, away from the bump.
You now see another anchor point and a set of two direction lines and points. Photoshop creates the curve segment between the anchor points.

If you drag both direction lines in the same direction, you create a curve shaped like an S.

In the Options bar, click the down-pointing arrow at the end of the row of tools and choose the Rubber Band option. With this option selected, Photoshop draws a segment between the last anchor point you create and wherever your cursor is located, giving you a kind of animated preview of how the path will appear. I personally find the option distracting, but some users love it.

3. To draw more alternating curves, just repeat these steps, dragging in an opposite direction each time.

Creating Your First Work Path in Photoshop

Making a work path is the easiest of the three options, and you’ll use it frequently when you’ve gotten the hang of using the Pen tool. The following steps show you how to create a simple, straight path:

Rarely (if ever) will you create a work path that’s a single, straight line.

1. Open an image you want to practice on.
I suggest choosing an image that has an element with both straight edges and curves, if you want to also practice creating curved paths later.

2. Select the Pen tool from the Toolbox (more formally known as the Tools palette).
Or you can just press the P key.

3. In the Options bar, click the Paths button.

4. To create a straight line, click and release your mouse button at the points where you want the line to begin and to end, leaving anchor points at those positions.

You don’t need to do any dragging to create straight segments.

As you click and add your anchor points, Photoshop creates straight segments that connect the anchor points.

5. To draw a constrained line — horizontal, vertical, or 45° angle — hold down the Shift key as you click.

6. To end the path, click the Pen tool to deselect it.
Or use this very handy shortcut: Hold down the Ctrl key (Ô on the Mac), which gives you the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow), and then click away from the line. Release the Ctrl key (Ô on the Mac), and the Pen tool reappears.

When you’ve deselected the path, you’re free to start another, unconnected path if you need to.
Continue on to the following sections if you want to add other kinds of segments to the path. Otherwise, skip to “Closing a path”.

Creating a Path with the Pen Tool in Photoshop

The best way to get the hang of the Pen tool is to dive right in and work with it. You’ll want to start with straight lines, which are very easy, and then move on to the more difficult curves. The more you practice with the Pen, the more comfortable and proficient you’ll become. It definitely is an example of the old adage “you get out what you put into it.”

Knowing your Pen tool options
Although every path consists of three basic components — segments, points, and direction lines — the Pen tool enables you to use these components to create a few different types of paths. You must choose one of the following:
-->Shape Layers: This option creates a shape on a new layer that’s called, not surprisingly, a shape layer. After you create the path that defines the shape, Photoshop fills the shape with the foreground color and stores the path as a vector mask in the Paths palette. A shape layer is a unique entity.

-->Fill Pixels: This option is available only when you’re using the Shape tools. It allows you to create a shape and fill it with the foreground color, but it does not create a shape layer nor does it retain the path.

-->Paths: This option enables you to create a traditional path that hovers over the image. The path you create will be a work path, which is temporary, appears in the Paths palette, and is unsaved. If you’re creating a path that will eventually be loaded as a selection, this is your option.

Introducing Paths in Photoshop

Unlike the other selection tools, the Pen tool doesn’t initially produce a selection marquee. When you select the Pen tool and start clicking and dragging around your image, you create a path. Paths have three components — anchor points, straight segments, and curved segments.

Curved paths are called Bézier paths (after Pierre Bézier who, in the 1970s, invented the equation used for CAD/CAM programs), which means that they are based on a mathematical cubic equation where the path is controlled by direction lines that end in direction points (often referred to as handles. The length and angle of direction lines control the pitch and angle of the Bézier curve.

The following list introduces all the different kinds of anchor points that Photoshop puts at your disposal and show you exactly what they do. You can use some or all of these anchor points in a single path:

-->A true corner point has no direction lines. Use corner points when selecting objects with straight sides, such as stairs or barns.
-->A smooth point has two direction lines pointing in opposite directions but dependent on one another. Use smooth points when selecting objects that have alternating curves, such as a sea of rolling waves.
-->A cusp point has two direction lines that are independent of one another. Use cusp points when selecting an object with curves going the same direction, such as the petals on a daisy.
-->A point between a straight segment and a curve is a corner point with only one direction line.

After you create a Bézier path, you can then edit the path by moving, adding, deleting, or converting anchor points and by manipulating the direction lines. You can also transform paths by choosing Edit➪Transform Paths.

The path hovers over the image in its own space, and is controlled via the Paths palette where you can save it, duplicate it, stroke it with color (apply color to the edge only), fill it with color or a pattern, and most importantly, load it as a selection. I say “most importantly” because nine times out of ten, you are going to painstakingly create a path as a means to an accurate selection marquee. There’s one other time you may use the path as a clipping path: to hide a part of a layer or part of an entire image. I cover clipping paths in the last section of this section.

Creating and Working with Paths in Photoshop

Although the Marquee, Lasso, and Magic Wand tools are fun, friendly, and pretty easy to wield, sometimes they don’t quite have the horsepower to make that really precise selection. So either you spend a lot of time cleaning up what you’ve selected or you live with a ho-hum selection. That’s where the Pen tool and its related cronies come to the rescue. The Pen tool creates paths, which you can then convert into selections.

Because the Pen tool (along with its related path-editing tools) offers control and precision, it is very capable when it comes to nailing that accurate selection. The only problem is that the Pen tool is a far cry from fun, friendly, and easy. Getting the hang of it can be tricky. Many new users try the Pen a few times, but end up muttering in disgust and returning gratefully to the Lasso tool. However, I guarantee that if you dedicate a good chunk of time to mastering the Pen tool, you’ll soon turn your elite little nose up at the simple Lasso tool.

Another added benefit of knowing how to use the Pen tool is that it’s also the main drawing tool of Adobe Illustrator. And similar tools exist in layout programs such as Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress.

Using the Magic Wand Options Bar in Photoshop

The three remaining options are as follows:
-->Contiguous: When you turn on this option, the Magic Wand tool selects only pixels that are adjacent to each other. If you turn off the option, the Magic Wand tool looks throughout the image and selects all pixels within the range of Tolerance, whether or not they’re adjacent to each other.

-->Use All Layers: This option is valid only when you have multiple layers in your image. If you have multiple layers and this option is on, the Magic Wand tool selects color from all visible layers. If you turn off this option, the Magic Wand selects colors from the active layer only.

-->Sample Size: Although this option affects the Magic Wand tool, it appears in the Options bar only when you’ve selected the Eyedropper tool. Select the Eyedropper tool and, in the Sample Size pop-up menu that appears, choose from the following:

- Point Sample: Samples just the color of the pixel you clicked
-3 by 3 Average: Averages the color of the pixel you clicked and the surrounding 8 pixels
-5 by 5 Average: Averages the color of the pixel you clicked and the surrounding 24 pixels.

Setting Your Tolerance in Photoshop

Sometimes an image may contain a few shades of a similar color. Consider a cloudless sky for example. A few shades of blue make up the bright blue yonder. With the Magic Wand tool, if you click a darker shade of blue in the sky, Photoshop selects all similar shades of blue, but the lighter shades remain unselected. This is usually a sure sign that you need to increase your Tolerance level. The Tolerance setting determines the range of color that the Magic Wand tool selects.

Tolerance is based on brightness levels that range from 0 to 255:
-->Setting the Tolerance to 0 selects one color only.
-->Setting the Tolerance to 255 selects all colors — the entire image.

To use the Magic Wand tool and adjust Tolerance settings, follow these steps:

1. Select the Magic Wand tool from the Toolbox.
The Magic Wand tool looks like the weapon of choice for many Disney characters. You can also use the keyboard shortcut; press the W key.

2. Click the portion of the image that you want to select; use the default Tolerance setting of 32.
The pixel that you click determines the base color. The default value of 32 means that the Magic Wand tool selects all colors that are 32 levels lighter and 32 levels darker than the base color.

If you selected everything you wanted the first time you used the Magic Wand tool, stretch your arm and give yourself a pat on the back. If you didn’t (which is probably the case), go to Step 3.

3. Enter a new Tolerance setting in the Options bar.
If the Magic Wand tool selected more than you wanted it to, lower the Tolerance setting. If it didn’t select enough, raise the setting.

4. Click again on the portion of the image that you want to select.
Changing the tolerance doesn’t adjust your current selection. The Magic Wand tool deselects the current selection and makes a new selection based on your new Tolerance setting. If it still isn’t right, you can adjust the Tolerance setting again. I regret that I can’t give you a magic formula that you can use to determine the right value. It’s all about trial and error.

Performing Wand Wizardry in Photoshop

The Magic Wand. The name is intriguing, isn’t it? Any tool that has the audacity to call itself the Magic Wand must be so powerful that it can grant your every selection wish with a mere swoosh. Unfortunately, it’s not quite so awe-inspiring. A better name for this tool would be the Click-’n-Select tool. You click your image, and the Magic Wand tool makes a selection, which contains areas of similar color, based on the color of the pixel you clicked.

Simple enough. What’s not quite so simple is how to determine how similar the color has to be to get the Magic Wand tool to select it. That’s where the important Tolerance setting comes in. Before you tackle tolerance (and find out how it affects the Magic Wand tool’s performance), you first need to get the hang of using the Magic Wand tool.

Selecting with the Magic Wand tool
As with the Magnetic Lasso tool, the Magic Wand tool works best when you have high-contrast images or images with a limited number of colors. A black-and-white checkered flag is a perfect example of something that the Magic Wand tool effectively selects. I click once on the top of a black square, and the Magic Wand tool picks up all the other surrounding black pixels. I can now easily change the color of my black squares to red or yellow in one fell swoop.

Adjusting the Magnetic Lasso Options in Photoshop

The Magnetic Lasso tool comes equipped with a few settings in the Options bar that control the sensitivity of the tool.

I recommend starting out by messing around with the Magnetic Lasso tool using its default settings. If the tool isn’t cooperating, then play with the options.

The first icon has to do with Tool Presets, and the next four icons are the selection state icons. The Feather and Anti-aliased options work like they do with the marquee tools (see the earlier section, “Using the marquee options”). The following list explains the remaining options:
-->Width: This option, measured in pixels from 1 to 256, determines how close to the edge you have to move your mouse before the Magnetic Lasso tool recognizes the object you’re selecting.
Decrease the value if
- The object’s edge has a lot of indentations and protrusions.
- The image is of lower contrast.
Increase the value if
- The image is of higher contrast.
- The image has smoother edges.
When using the Magnetic Lasso tool, you can change the Width value from the keyboard by pressing the open bracket ( [ ) key to lower the value and the close bracket ( ] ) key to increase the value.

-->Edge Contrast: Measured in percentages from 1 to 100, this option specifies the required contrast between the object you’re selecting and its background before the Magnetic Lasso tool hugs the edge between them. If your image has good contrast between the foreground and background, use a higher percentage.

-->Frequency: This setting, measured in percentages from 1 to 100, specifies how many points to place on the selection line. The higher the percentage, the greater number of points.
- If the object you want to select has a fairly smooth edge, keep the percentage low.
- If the edge is jagged or has a lot of detail, a higher percentage may be more effective in getting an accurate selection line.

-->Pen Pressure: If you own a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, select this option to make an increase in stylus pressure cause the edge width to decrease.

Having it both ways with the lasso tools

Which tool do you use if you have an object with both curves and straight sides? You can have two, two, two tools in one! Press the Alt (Option on the Mac) key to have the Polygon Lasso tool temporarily transform into the regular Lasso tool. Then drag to select the curves. Release the Alt (Option) key to return to the Polygon Lasso tool. And this trick works with the regular Lasso tool as well. Press Alt (Option) to temporarily access the Polygon Lasso tool. When you want the regular Lasso tool back again, just drag your mouse. In this case, you can hold down the Alt (Option) key; it makes no difference. If you want to release the Alt (Option) key, just make sure that you’re pressing down the mouse button; otherwise, Photoshop will close the selection.

To temporarily change the Magnetic Lasso tool into the Polygon Lasso tool, press the Alt (Option on the Mac) key and click. As you hold down the Alt (Option) key, drag to get the regular Lasso tool. When you want the Magnetic Lasso tool back again, release the Alt (Option) key and move your mouse without clicking.

Attracting with the Magnetic Lasso Tool in Photoshop

The newest member of the lasso tool trio is the Magnetic Lasso, which I admit can be kind of tricky to use and sometimes even downright obstinate. The Magnetic Lasso tool works by analyzing the colors of the pixels between the elements in the foreground and the elements in the background. Then it snaps to the edge between the elements, as if the edge had a magnetic pull.

The Magnetic Lasso tool performs best when your image has a lot of contrast between the foreground and background elements — for example, a dark mountain range against a light sky or a shadow against a stucco wall.

The Magnetic Lasso tool also has some unique settings, which you can adjust in the Options bar, to tame its behavior. I cover those settings in the next section, “Adjusting the Magnetic Lasso options.” For now, follow these steps to use the tool:

1. Select the Magnetic Lasso tool from the Toolbox.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut:
Press the L key and then press Shift+L until you get the Magnetic Lasso tool. The tool looks like a straight-sided lasso with a little magnet on it.

2. Click on the edge of the object you want to select.
You can start anywhere; just be sure to click on the edge between the element you want and the background you don’t want.

3. Move your cursor around the object, without clicking.
The Magnetic Lasso tool creates a selection line similar to the other Lasso tools. It also adds little squares called points along that selection line. These points pin down the selection line the way you might section off an area of your yard with ropes and stakes.
-->If the Magnetic Lasso tool starts veering off the edge of your object, back up your mouse and click to force a point down on the line.
-->If the Magnetic Lasso tool adds a point where you don’t want one, simply press your Backspace (Delete on a Mac) key to delete it.

4. Continue moving your mouse around the object; return to your starting point and release the mouse button to close the selection.
As with the Polygon Lasso tool, you see a small circle next to your cursor indicating that you’re at the correct place to close the selection. If you double-click, Photoshop closes the selection from where you doubleclicked to your starting point. The selection marquee appears when the selection is closed.

Selecting Straight Sides with the Polygon Lasso Tool in Photoshop

Whereas the regular Lasso tool is great for selecting undulating, curvy elements, the Polygon Lasso tool shines when it comes to the more regimented, straight-sided subjects, such as city skylines, buildings, and stairways.

Unlike the regular Lasso tool, the Polygon Lasso tool has rubber-band-like qualities, and instead of dragging, you click and release the mouse button at the corners of the object you’re selecting. It’s like a digital connect the dots. Bonus: less manual dexterity required.

The following steps show you how to select with the Polygon Lasso tool:

1. Select the Polygon Lasso tool from the Toolbox.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut. Press the L key and then press Shift+L until you get the Polygon Lasso tool. It looks like the regular Lasso tool, but it has straight sides.

2. With the Polygon Lasso tool selected, click to establish the beginning of the first line of your selection.
A corner is always a good place to start.

3. Move the mouse and click at the next corner of the object.
The line stretches out from your cursor like a rubber band.

4. Continue clicking at the various corners of your object.

5. To close your selection, return to the first point you clicked and click one last time.

When you place your cursor over the starting point, a small circle appears next to your cursor, a sure sign that you’re at the right place for closing the selection.
You can also double-click, and Photoshop automatically closes the selection from the point you doubleclicked to your starting point. A selection marquee that matches your Polygon Lasso line appears.

Lassoing When You Can’t in Photoshop

Unfortunately, not much in life is rectangular or elliptical in shape. Most of the time, you have to deal with irregular shapes with extrusions and protrusions (otherwise known as bumps or bulges) of some sort or another. That’s where the lasso tools come in handy. This group of tools allows you to make free-form selections. Photoshop offers three lasso tools: the Lasso tool (which I call the regular Lasso to distinguish it from the others), the Polygon Lasso tool, and the Magnetic Lasso tool. Each of the lasso tools has its own special purpose in the realm of free-form selections. But in the category of simplicity, they’re all almost as easy to use as the marquee tools. If you can drag with your mouse, you’re qualified to handle any lasso tool. Just don’t indulge in too much caffeine. A steady lasso hand is a good lasso hand.

To make a selection with the regular Lasso tool, all you have to do is drag around the part of the image you want to select. The selection you make is only as good as how accurately you can trace around your desired element. You need a steady hand — and a lot of practice — to become a good Lasso tool user. But don’t fret; if you don’t make an exact selection the first time around, you can always go back and make corrections.

If, when making a selection, you find yourself fighting with your mouse (and losing), you may want to invest in a digital drawing tablet, such as a Wacom tablet. Using the stylus and the tablet can make mastering tools such as the Lasso a whole lot easier.

The Lasso and the Polygon Lasso tools both have only two choices in the Options bar to worry about — Feather and Anti-aliased. These options work exactly like they do with the marquee tools. To find out more, check out the earlier section, “Using the marquee options.”

To make a selection by using the Lasso tool, here’s what you do:

1. Select the Lasso tool from the Tools palette.
It’s the tool that looks like a rope. You can also use the keyboard shortcut; press the L key.

2. Position the cursor somewhere on the edge of the element that you want to select.
The hot spot (the lead point) of the lasso cursor is the end of the rope.
Where you start doesn’t really matter.
You may need to zoom in on the image a bit if there isn’t a lot of contrast between the element and the background.

3. Trace around the element, trying to capture only what you want to retain in your selection.
As you trace, a line forms that follows the movement of your mouse.
Don’t release your mouse button until you’ve completed the selection by closing the loop or returning to the starting point.
When you release your mouse button, Photoshop thinks you’re done and closes the selection from where you released the mouse button to your starting point.

4. Continue tracing until you return to your starting point; release the mouse button.
Recognizing that you’re now done, Photoshop presents you with a selection marquee that matches your lasso line.

Using the Marquee Options in Photoshop

If drawing from the center outward or creating a perfect circle or square doesn’t give you enough control, you may want to take a look at the marquee settings provided by the Options bar. These options allow you to make even more precise selections by specifying exact measurements.

You must select the options in the Options bar before you make your selection with the marquee tools.

Here’s the lowdown on each of the remaining options:
-->Feather: Feathering blurs or feathers the edges of a selection. The amount of blur depends on the pixel value that you enter for the radius — the higher the radius, the blurrier the edge. For example, in Figure 1-5 you see that a higher Feather radius means a blurrier edge. The radius measures how far in all directions the feather effect extends. For example, a radius of 4 means that the feather extends 4 pixels to the right, left, up, and down from the selection outline.

You can use feathers to create a subtle and natural transition between selections or to create a special effect where an image slowly fades out to the background or to transparency. If you want to apply a feather as you are selecting, select the Feather option in the Options bar before using the marquee tools. However, if you have already made your selection, you can feather it after the fact by using the Select menu.

-->Anti-aliased: Whereas feathering completely blurs edges, anti-aliasing just slightly softens the edge of an elliptical selection so that very hard, jagged edges aren’t quite so prominent. You don’t have an option for entering a pixel value for anti-aliasing. An anti-aliased edge is always 1 pixel wide. You can use the anti-aliasing option only with the Elliptical Marquee tool. It isn’t available for the other marquee tools because the selections you make with the other tools always have straight edges — there aren’t any jagged edges to soften. I recommend keeping this option selected, especially if you plan to create composite images. Antialiasing helps in creating natural-looking blends between multiple selections.

-->Style: The Style drop-down list contains three settings:
- The Normal setting enables you to freely drag a selection to any desired dimension.
- The Fixed Aspect Ratio option allows you to specify a ratio of width to height in a selection. For example, if you enter 2 for width and 1 for height, you always get a marquee selection that’s twice as wide as it is high, no matter what the size. A selection that’s 4 inches wide is automatically 2 inches high. You aren’t limited to whole numbers, by the way; decimals are acceptable as well. This option is frequently used to create vertically oriented images from horizontal video screen captures and photos taken with digital cameras.
- And finally, select Fixed Size to specify exact values for the Width and Height. This option comes in handy when several images need to be the same exact size, as in a row of headshots of executives in a corporate brochure.

-->Width and Height: When you select a Fixed Size from the Style drop-down list, the Width and Height text boxes are available for you to enter values. Even though the default unit of measurement in the Width and Height text boxes is pixels (px for short), you can enter any unit of measurement that Photoshop recognizes —pixels, inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, picas, or percents. After the number, simply type in the word or abbreviation of your desired unit of measurement. Photoshop even lets you enter mixed units of measurements, so if you want a selection 100 pixels by 1.25 inches, you can do so.

Why would you do this? Who knows, but Photoshop allows you to. You’ll only use this option if a selection must be a certain number of pixels wide, and even though you’re not sure of the exact pixel measurement of the height, you’re guessing that it’s, say, 1.25 inches.

Photoshop CS has a new button (a double-headed arrow icon) between the Width and Height fields. Click this button to swap the values between the Width and the Height.

Using the Single Column and Single Row Marquee Tools in Photoshop

You probably won’t find a lot of uses for the Single Row and Single Column Marquee tools. These tools select a single row or single column of pixels. If you select a row, the selection can be only 1 pixel tall. Likewise, if you select a column, it can be only 1 pixel wide. If you don’t go blind using them, these tools can occasionally come in handy for selecting and repairing a thin scratch or fold line on an image or for getting rid of an artifact such as a colored line that has somehow appeared on a scanned image.

To use either of these tools, simply choose a row or column of pixels on your image and click it. You don’t have to do any dragging, but it does help to zoom into your image so that you can better position the tool on the offending row or column.

The Single Row and Single Column Marquee tools don’t have keyboard shortcuts, so you’re stuck with having to click the tools to select them.

Using the Elliptical Marquee Tool in Photoshop

The Elliptical Marquee tool is designed for elliptical or circular selections. You can easily select objects such as clocks, balls, and full moons with this tool. The Elliptical Marquee tool works almost exactly like the Rectangular Marquee tool (described in the preceding section). The only difference is that you don’t drag from corner to corner; you drag from a given point on the ellipse, which makes the process a little tougher. Here are the steps:

1. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool from the Marquee flyout menu in the Toolbox.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut. If the Elliptical Marquee tool is visible, press the M key. If the Rectangular Marquee is visible, you must press Shift+M.

You may find it easier to create an elliptical selection by pressing the Alt (Option on the Mac) key and dragging from the center outward. First click the mouse button, and then before you move the mouse, press Alt (Option on the Mac) and finally the Shift key. Then drag. When you have your desired selection, release your mouse button and then the Shift+Alt (Shift+Option on the Mac) keys. This technique works for creating circles or squares.

To create a perfect circle, press the Shift key after you begin dragging. When you have your desired selection, release your mouse button and then your Shift key.

2. Position the crosshair (the plus sign icon of the cursor) near the area you want to select and then drag around your desired element. As you drag, the selection marquee appears.

3. When you’re satisfied with your selection, release your mouse button.
Your elliptical selection is alive and well. If you need to move the selection marquee to better center your selection, click and drag inside the marquee.

You can also move a selection with any of the marquee tools by pressing the spacebar while you’re drawing.

Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool in Photoshop

The first tool on the Marquee tools flyout menu is the Rectangular Marquee tool. Use this tool to create rectangular or square selections.

The Rectangular Marquee tool is a good tool to use when you want to zero in on an image, plucking it out of a larger background to provide a better focal point.

Here’s how to make a selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool:

1. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool from the Tools palette (also known as the Toolbox).
You can also use the keyboard shortcut — press the M key.
2. Drag from one corner of the area you want to select to the opposite corner.
As you drag, the selection marquee appears. The marquee follows the movement of your mouse cursor.
3. Release your mouse button.
4. If you want to create a perfect square, press the Shift key after you begin dragging.

If you want to drag your selection from the center outward instead of corner to corner, press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) after you begin dragging. When you have your desired selection, release your mouse button and then release the Alt (Option on the Mac) key.

When you have your desired selection, release the mouse button and then the Shift key.
You now have a full-fledged rectangular selection.

Marqueeing When You Can in Photoshop

Photoshop geeks call the selection marquee by a variety of names. Sometimes it’s referred to as a marquee, other times as a selection, and you might even hear people call it a selection outline, an outline, selection edges, or just plain old edges. A favorite name for these dotted lines is marching ants. Throughout the book, I usually call them selection marquees. Boring? Maybe. Accurate? Yup. Whatever you want to call the selection marquee, how you create one depends on the particular marquee tool you use. The marquee tools are the easiest selection tools to use — so I suggest that you use them when you can.

In the Photoshop repertoire of tools, you’ll find four types of marquee tools: Rectangular Marquee, Elliptical Marquee, Single Row Marquee, and Single Column Marquee.

Making Selections in Photoshop

No matter how much you learn about Photoshop, if you can’t make a good selection, your work will look like it belongs with the creatively, but poorly, composed images from one of those weekly tabloid rags. You know what I’m talking about — those pictures that go alongside headlines like “Bat Boy Wins Bake-Off” and “Woman with 16 Fingers Wins Typing Contest.” Those pictures could look better, don’t you think? It seems like some artists intentionally make their composite photos look like they were constructed with a dull pair of scissors and some Elmer’s glue.

Making accurate selections is the key to creating and editing images effectively so that the end result looks flawless. Fortunately, Photoshop offers a bevy of tools and techniques for creating selections, from the simple to the complex. Photoshop offers three basic methods of creating a selection: using a selection tool or method, using the Pen tool, or creating a mask.

No matter which technique you use, creating selections is one of the most important skills you can acquire. Trust me when I say that every minute you spend perfecting your selection techniques will pay off tenfold.

Defining Selections
The tools I discuss in this section require you to take a little piece of a larger image so that you can dig in and make some serious edits. Defining a selection means that you specify which part of the image you want to work with.

Everything within a selection is fair game for manipulation and is considered selected. Everything outside the selection is protected, or unselected. Simple enough, right? Well, you can also have partially selected pixels. Confused yet? A partially selected pixel has usually been anti-aliased, feathered, or masked.

When you use a selection tool to define a selection, a moving dotted outline called a selection marquee appears.

Creating Droplets in Photoshop

Droplets are drag-and-drop miniapplications, or applets, in macro form that can exist outside of Photoshop on your desktop, in your taskbar, or within a folder. They’re always available so that you can apply them to any image files you want. Think of them as batches waiting to happen.

Even though you don’t have to be running Photoshop to use droplets, you do need to have Photoshop installed on your computer. If you move the droplet to another computer that doesn’t have Photoshop on it, the droplet just sits there and looks pretty.

All you need to do is drag the file or files you want to process onto the droplet. Photoshop doesn’t even have to be open at the time. When you drop the file or files, the droplet opens Photoshop and carries out the steps in the action embedded in the droplet’s instructions. You must use an existing action as the core of the droplet. To create a droplet, follow these steps:

1. Choose File➪Automate➪Create Droplet.
The Create Droplet dialog box opens.

2. In the Save Droplet In area, click the Choose button and enter a name and location on your hard drive for the droplet application.
The location isn’t of overriding importance because after you create the droplet, you can drag it to your desktop, a toolbar, or wherever you like.

The rest of the Create Droplet dialog box is the same as the Batch Processing dialog box (described in the steps in the preceding section), except that you don’t have to specify a Source. Droplets use the files dropped on them as their source files.

3. In the Play area, choose the actions set, action, and options.

4. Select a destination from the Destination pop-up menu.

5. Specify any file-naming options you want.

6. Specify how Photoshop should process errors.

7. When you’re finished, click OK to create the droplet.
To use the droplet, just select the file, files, or folders you want to process and drag them to the droplet applet.