Subtracting from a Selection

Just as you can add to a selection marquee, you can also subtract, or deselect, from the selection.
To subtract from a current selection, press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and drag around the pixels you want to subtract with the regular Lasso or the Rectangular or Elliptical Marquee tool.

Press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click the area you want to remove with the Magic Wand tool.
To subtract a straight-sided area, press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click around the area with the Polygon Lasso tool.

You can press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) and click with the Single Column or Single Row Marquee tool. The Single Column and Row Marquee tools come in handy when you want to get rid of just the very edge of a selection.

Adding to a Selection in Photoshop

To add to a current selection, simply press the Shift key and drag around the pixels you want to include with the regular Lasso or the Rectangular or Elliptical Marquee tool. You can also press the Shift key and click the area you want with the Magic Wand tool.

To include an area with straight sides in your selection, you can press the Shift key and click around the area with the Polygon Lasso tool. And although you may not have much need to do it, you can also press the Shift key and click with the Single Column or Single Row Marquee tool. I wouldn’t use the Magnetic Lasso tool to add to a selection; it’s way too cumbersome.

You don’t have to use the same tool to add to your selection that you used to create the original selection. Feel free to use whatever selection tool you think will get the job done.
Here are the steps to use for adding to a circular selection:

1. Make your initial elliptical selection. Select the larger circle with the Elliptical Marquee tool. Then press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) to draw from the center out.

2. To add the smaller circular area, first press the Shift key and then press the Alt key (Option on the Mac) to draw from the center out.

3. Drag around the smaller selection with the Elliptical Marquee tool.

Modifying and Transforming Selections and Paths in Photoshop

If you’re like me, you may find it tough to get the perfect selection the first time around. I mean, all it takes is one too many cups of coffee, and that Lasso tool seems to take on a mind of its own. That’s okay. Photoshop is way too benevolent to leave you hanging with a mediocre selection. A multitude of techniques are available to modify and transform your selections.

You can add or remove pixels from your selection, scale your selection outline, smooth out jagged edges, or switch what is selected for what isn’t. Knowing how to clean up and modify your selections helps you to nail your desired element with precision.

If you haven’t already thumbed through the previous posts and gotten a good grasp of how to create selections by using the mighty Photoshop Toolbox (more formally known as the Tools palette), go ahead and browse those posts now.

Achieving Selection Perfection
Although the selection tools, such as the Lasso and Magic Wand, usually do a pretty fair job at capturing the bulk of your selection, making a really accurate selection often requires another sort of tool — concentration. Give your selections a little extra attention, and you’ll be amazed by the results. By adding and subtracting from the outline here and there, you can refine a selection and ensure that you capture only what you really want — and nothing that you don’t.

The following few sections show you how to use keyboard shortcuts, along with your mouse, to make perfect selections. If you’re not one for keyboard shortcuts, you can use the four selection option buttons in the Options bar to create a new selection, add to a selection, subtract from a selection, or intersect one selection with another. All you need to do is grab the selection tool of your choice, click the selection option button you want, and drag (or click if you’re using the Magic Wand or Polygon Lasso tool).

When adding to a selection, a small plus sign appears next to your cursor. When subtracting from a selection, a small minus sign appears. When intersecting two selections, a small multiplication sign appears.

Clipping Out the Unwanted in Photoshop

A clipping path hides areas that fall outside your path and displays the area inside your path. For example, without a clipping path, if you were to import a silhouetted image into Microsoft Word or an older page layout program or illustration program that doesn’t support transparency and place it against a colored background, it would appear against a rectangular white background. This occurs whether or not the background was transparent in Photoshop. This is because the image must be flattened before it can be imported and therefore loses any transparency.

With the advent of more sophisticated page layout and illustration programs, such as the latest versions of InDesign, PageMaker, QuarkXPress, and Illustrator, the need for clipping paths has pretty much lost its urgency. That’s because these programs all support TIFFs with transparency. But just in case you’re using older or less sophisticated software and you need to use a clipping path, here’s what you need to do:

Because an overabundance of complex clipping paths can cause printing problems, I recommend using clipping paths as a last resort. Even if your illustration or page layout program doesn’t support transparency, you can always composite your elements in Photoshop.

1. Create your path by using the Pen tool.
A work path appears in the Paths palette.

2. Save the path by choosing Save Path from the Paths palette pop-up menu.
Enter a name and click OK.

3. Immediately return to the pop-up menu on the Paths palette and choose Clipping Path.
In the dialog box, choose the path name from the Path drop-down list.

4. Leave the flatness value blank. If it is blank, the default value of the output device (printer, image setter and so on) will be used. And usually the default value is a good number for the particular printer used.
Briefly, flatness represents how closely your curves approximate a true mathematical curve. A higher value causes more of a polygon shape (albeit often not noticeable by the eye), but results in easier printing.

5. Choose File➪Save and choose a file format from the Format drop-down list.
I like the Photoshop EPS format, personally.
Some programs, such as the latest versions of InDesign, PageMaker, and QuarkXPress, will also accept TIFFs with clipping paths. In addition, you can save the file as a JPEG, PDF, DCS, and in the native Photoshop format from Windows. And the Mac will let you save the file in any available format.
Because most of my page layout files are ultimately offset printed, I stick with EPS. EPS is the preferred file format for color separations.

6. Set the Preview at TIFF (8 bits/pixel) and encoding as ASCII (Macintosh [8 bits/pixel] and encoding as Binary on the Mac) and click OK.
Your clipping path is now in place, and you can import the silhouetted image into the desired program.
Occasionally, when you import an image with a clipping path into certain page layout programs on the PC, the screen preview may not display the image correctly. The clipped, or hidden portion, of the image may appear opaque (solid white or black) onscreen. But it should print okay on a PostScript printer. You may not be so lucky if you use a non-PostScript printer.

Using the Options Bar when the Pen tools or Path Selection/Direct Selection tools are active in Photoshop

Quite a few options appear in the Options bar when the Pen tools or Path Selection/Direct Selection tools are active. Here is the scoop on those options:

-->The Auto Add/Delete option enables you to add or delete an anchor point with the regular Pen tool.

-->Show Bounding Box places a box around the path, allowing you to transform the path. The bounding box isn’t a path or part of your image. It is merely a visual guide to assist you in transformations. You can scale it by dragging the handles or rotate it by dragging just outside the box. Press Ctrl (Ô on the Mac) and drag a handle or side to distort or skew the path.

-->The path state buttons (add, subtract, intersect, and exclude) combine all visible paths by adding, subtracting, intersecting, or excluding paths. Click your desired button to direct Photoshop on how to control the overlapping portions of the path(s) when you convert it to a selection. For example, clicking the Add button selects all areas whether or not they overlap. Clicking Intersect selects only the overlapping areas.

-->The align and distribute buttons align two or more paths and distribute three or more paths. The icons give you a good visual cue as to how the alignment or distribution will appear.

Editing Paths in Photoshop

Often, it is easier and less time consuming to try to get a reasonably decent, but not perfect path with the Pen tool. Then after you’ve got that, go back and edit your path for more accuracy. And while following the Eyeball-It-Then-Fix-It strategy is valuable any time in your Photoshop career, it is especially true when you’re first learning to use the Pen tool.

Photoshop offers you a bevy of editing tools that can make your path repair a snap. These tools even share the same flyout menu as the Pen tool. In addition, the arrow tools, which Adobe calls the Path Selection and Direct Selection tools, are also extremely helpful when it comes to finetuning your path. In fact, you may find, like I do, that the Direct Selection tool is one of your favorite tools — so simple to use, yet so functional.

To edit a path, follow these steps:

1. If you can’t see the path you want to edit, select the path in the Paths palette.
This activates the path.

2. To see the individual anchor points so that you can edit them, select the Direct Selection tool (remember, it’s the white arrow). Click anywhere along the path.
You should now see the individual anchor points and segments that comprise the path. Most of the anchor points, if not all, will be hollow because they are unselected.

3. If you need to move an anchor point, click it with the Direct Selection tool.
When selected, the point becomes solid. Drag to move the anchor point. If you need to, you can move a curved or straight segment in the same fashion.

4. If you’re in need of some major repair and need to move an entire path, use the Path Selection tool (the black arrow).
You can also select multiple paths by pressing the Shift key while clicking the paths.

If you move any part of the path beyond the boundary of the image canvas, it is still available — just not visible. Use the Zoom tool to zoom out until you see the hidden portion of the path.

5. Manipulate the direction lines to change the shape of the curve. First, click the anchor point of the curve to select it. Then click and drag the direction point going the same direction as the bump.
By lengthening or shortening the direction line, you can control how steep or flat the curve is. By rotating the direction line, you change the slope of the curve.

-->To add an anchor point in your path, use the Add Anchor Point tool. Click in the path where you need an anchor point. This tool always adds a smooth point, no matter where you click.

--> To delete an anchor point, select the Delete Anchor Point tool, position the cursor over the anchor point you no longer need, and click it. The anchor point disappears while keeping your path intact.

-->To convert an anchor point from smooth to corner or vice versa, select the Convert Point tool.
Position your cursor on your desired anchor point. If the anchor point is a corner point, drag away from the anchor point to create the direction lines that create a smooth point. If the point is a smooth point, simply click and release on the anchor point to convert it into a corner point. To convert a smooth point to a cusp point, make sure the direction lines are showing and then drag a direction line to break it into independent direction lines. And finally, to convert a cusp point back to a smooth point, just drag out from the anchor point.

-->To copy a path, first select it with the Path Selection tool. Then press Alt (Option on the Mac) and drag away from the path. As you drag, you will carry a copied path with you, while leaving the original path intact. Note that you can drag a copied path onto another image window as well as within the same image.

-->To delete a path, select the path with the Path Selection tool and press the Backspace key (Delete key on the Mac). You can also select a point on the path with the Direct Selection tool and press Backspace
(Delete on the Mac) twice.

Creating Paths without the Pen

I want to let you in on a fun way to create paths. Yes, I said fun. You have to assume by fun I mean there is no Pen tool involved in the method.

You can grab any of the shape tools and create a work path. Before you do, however, be sure to click the Paths icon in the Options bar. It’s the icon that looks like a pen cursor with a square path around it. Drag the shape tool of choice on your canvas and presto, an instant path. These shapes can come in handy for creating small spot illustrations, logos, and Web buttons.

Follow these steps:
1. Open an existing image and select a shape tool.
I used the Custom Shape tool.

2. Choose a shape from the shape preset library and open an image.
I chose a fish shape.

3. Using the Shape tool, drag a path in your image window.
You can then use the Paths palette to load the path as a selection.

4. Choose Layer➪New➪Layer via Copy.
You’ve just put the selection on its own layer.

5. If you want, add some type with the Type tool.
If you want to give your type some motion, click the Create Warped Text button in the Options bar. You can also apply drop shadows, bevels, and other effects by choosing Layer➪Layer Style.
I chose the Flag style warp in the Warp Text dialog box. I also applied a Bevel and Emboss and Drop Shadow Layer Style to both the selection and the type.

6. Delete the original image.