Notice the icon directly beneath the marquee tool. This is called the lasso tool. Using the lasso tool, you can make abstract-shaped selections, irregular polygonal selections, or create a selection that attaches to certain colors like a magnet.

By default, the regular lasso will be displayed. Select it.

If your old selection still remains, press Apple-D to deselect. Now, using the lasso tool, click and drag your mouse pointer around the image. Notice that it does not create a specific shape, but rather creates a path which follows your pointer. When you drag back to the original point and release the mouse button, a selection appears in the shape of the path you drew.

Deselect the selection, then use whatever method you prefer to access the lasso tool's menu and select the polygonal lasso tool. This tool functions somewhat like a mix between the marquee and lasso tools in that you are free to create your own selection, but you can only draw straight lines.

Try it out now by making a triangular selection (or any other shape with straight edges that you might prefer.) To close the selection, you have to click on the original point.

A hint for controlling the polygonal lasso tool: holding down the shift key will keep your lines perfectly straight and drawn at 45 or 90 degree angles.

Now get rid of the selection and switch to the third variant of the lasso tool, the magnetic lasso tool. Wherever you initially click, the magnetic lasso tool will follow the edges of the nearest color. The tool automatically adds its own waypoints, but you can click to add your own if you feel the tool is straying from the path you want it to take. This is a challenging tool to use, and rarely has any practical use, so you most likely won't make much use of it.

Finally, select the magic wand tool, which is to the right of the lasso tool. This is a very useful tool which allows you to select large portions of an image by color. By adjusting the tolerance level (beneath the menubar in the tool options bar!) you can increase the range from which the tool will select colors. A smaller tolerance will cause it to only grab colors very similar to the one you click, while a larger one will cause it to grab colors from all ends of the spectrum.

Congratulations once again. You've completed Chapter 2, Section 1. Hopefully by now you are well versed in the various selection methods offered by Photoshop. Different tools are best used in different situations - experiment every chance you get to achieve a better feel for the tools.

Click continue below to move on to the brushes section.

 

 

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