ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CLASSROOM IN A BOOK (2022 RELEASE)
21
Lesson 3:
Working with
S
elec
tions
Mastering selection techniques is essential for efficient and precise image e
d
iting
.
Photoshop offers a wide range of tools to address various challenges, from se
le
c
ti
ng
specific image subjects (such as separating a subject from its background) to
select–
ing arbitrary layer areas (such as an ellipse).
22
INSTRUCTOR
NO
TES
Goals
for this lesson
At the end of this session, students should be able to describe the strengths
and
limitations of the Photoshop selection tools,
demonstrate
how to transform a
selection, and accurately distinguish between the pixels within a selection and
t
he
selection itself.
The selection techniques are fairly easy in themselves. However, the concepts of
Using Cloud
Documents
In recent years, Adobe has worked to elevate the role of mobile devices in C
r
eative
Cloud workflows. Cloud Documents are a big part of this. Adobe has
pr
o
v
ide
d
mobile apps that integrate with desktop applications through Creative Cloud,
but
they have not been as powerful as the desktop versions, and did not share the s
ame
file format. As Adobe
introduced
desktop-class mobile apps such as Adobe XD
and
Photoshop for iPad, Adobe
introduced
Cloud Documents so that the mobile
and
desktop version of an application could share a single, fully featured file
f
or
ma
t
.
For Photoshop, Cloud Documents work like
t
hi
s
:
Cloud Documents are the default format for Photoshop on iPad, and a fully
integrated option in the Save As dialog box for Photoshop 2020 and later
on
Windows and
macO
S.
Conversion between the Photoshop (.PSD) and Photoshop cloud
do
c
umen
t
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CLASSROOM IN A BOOK (2022 RELEASE)
23
If students have experience using Photoshop documents in other applications
suc
h
as Adobe Lightroom, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe After Effects, you may want
t
o
discuss the workflow implications of using cloud documents, such as
:
Because cloud documents are not in local storage, most applications cannot
li
nk
to or import them. To use a Photoshop cloud document in an application
t
ha
t
C
omparing
selection
t
ools
The newer, smarter selection tools added to Photoshop over the years have c
hang
e
d
the preferred selection tools for a good initial se
le
c
tion:
In the early years of Photoshop, the Magic Wand was a popular initial se
le
c
tion
tool. The Lasso tool was popular for freeform selections, and the Pen tool,
w
as
useful as a starting point for precise manual se
le
c
tions
.
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INSTRUCTOR
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when they change the Tolerance value in the options bar or leave the
T
oleranc
e
value unchanged, but click pixels of different values.
The Quick Selection tool creates a selection by looking for content edges, so
it
can
se
edges that the Magic Wand tool might miss. A tip you can pass on
t
o
Moving
a
selec
t
ed
area
I
t
s easy for beginners to confuse moving a selection with moving pixels, so
it
s a
g
oo
d
idea to verify that students clearly
understand
the
d
i
ff
er
enc
e.
Several
transformation
commands appear in the menus, but they require you
t
o
think ahead. In most cases, have students try the Free Transform command
fi
rst
:
it
can perform any
transformation
(so they
don
t
have to think about which c
ommand
to choose), and it can transform interactively, which means
it
s the most fun
and
intuitive way to transform objects. The other
transformation
commands are
most
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CLASSROOM IN A BOOK (2022 RELEASE)
25
Making selections
Some students may find selecting to be a tedious and stressful operation if they feel
they have to get it absolutely right the first time. If you observe this, reassure
t
he
students by telling them that it
i
sn
t
necessary to achieve a perfect selection
r
ig
h
t
Cropping an image
You may want to point out how the Crop tool can be customized in the options
b
ar
for precise crops. You can also build on
studen
t
understanding
of resolution by
showing which crop settings resample the image and which
don
t
.
Many
studen
t
s
become confused when the Crop tool is ocked to certain values in the
options
b
ar
;
to restore free cropping have them click the Clear button in the options
b
ar
.
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INSTRUCTOR
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TES
Changes
to
applying edits
Starting with the 2019 release of Photoshop,
it
s possible to apply many types
of
e
dit
s by clicking away from the selection. For example, you can apply a
transf
or
ma
–
tion to a selection by clicking outside the
transformation
bounding box. This can
b
e
Questions
The following questions are not in the
studen
t
s Classroom in a Book.
1 Which selection tools can draw straight edges?
2 What are some ways you can quickly select a complex outline without having
t
o
spend a lot of time tracing it
manu
ally?
3 How could you combine selection tools to make a semi-circular se
le
c
tion?
4 How do you move a selection with the ke
y
bo
ar
d?
5 If you make a selection and you missed an area,
wha
t
s the fastest way to add it?
Answers
1 You can draw perfectly straight selection edges with the Polygon Lasso tool,
or
the Lasso tool when you hold down
Alt/O
ption.