What is Selection Tools?

The selection tools work in a number of different ways to allow you to select parts or all of your image. Once your image is selected you can copy/paste or simply edit just the selection. You can see when something is selected largely by the "marching ants" which enclose it. To deselect and get rid of the marching ants, press control/command+D. Be aware that the image selection is dependent on the active layer, although you can also select "copy merged" from the Edit menu if you wish to copy all layers without actually merging the layers.

• Marquee: This will select a set shape, which you can change by clicking and holding or bringing up the menu for the button. It is used in much the same way that you select files on your computer, by clicking and dragging. Constrain a rectangle to a square or an oval to a circle by holding down the shift key while you are making your selection.
• Lasso: The lasso tool is the same as the marquee, but allows “freehand” selection. The main lasso is the fastest but least accurate selection option. The polygon lasso is similar but requires you to click to create anchor points. The third option is the magnetic lasso, which helps you follow the edge of an object. All three lasso tools require you to close the object before it can be selected. Do this by clicking at the starting point (you will see a little circle appear next to your cursor). If you make a mistake, delete an anchor point by pressing the backspace button.
• Magic Wand: This tool will select like-pixels, pixels which are similar in color. You can change how picky it is about the color by increasing or decreasing the tolerance. This will allow you to select only particular areas or entire objects.
• Quick Selection: The quick selection is probably the most common and most useful selection tool for editing particular areas of an image. It is a combination of the magic wand and magnetic lasso tools. Click and drag to select the contiguous areas of an image you would like to alter.