Zoom in to where you can comfortably fit the image in the window on your screen (unlock the layer if you have to by double-clicking it) and then choose the Lasso Tool. We’ll use our cookie image again in this example just to keep things simple. You’ll need to use the Lasso when it’s effectively impossible to select chunks of the background using the Magic Wand for example, if you want to isolate a picture of a bird that’s set against a forest background. The Lasso Tool lets you create a selection by drawing a line around the object. (It’s easier to isolate the cookie by selecting the background, but ultimately, it’s the cookie you want to see.) Further adjustments to the selection can be made with Technique 3. Once you’re happy with the selection, you’ll need to invert it by choosing Select -> Inverse. To correct bleeding and restore parts of the image you did not intend to select, reduce the Magic Wand tolerance and option-click the affected areas. (The lower tolerance should prevent the subtractions from spilling outside of the cookie.) Now, with the Option key depressed, click all areas within the cookie that shouldn’t be selected. The cursor will now include a minus sign, indicating that you want to subtract areas from the selection.

Change the tolerance of the wand to 12, and this time, hold down the option key. Zoom into these areas and then reselect the Magic Wand. Continue to do this until the entire area around the cookie appears to be selected.ĭepending upon where you click, the selection may leak into the cookie itself. Move the cursor over an unselected area and click it this area will then join the selection. Hold down the Shift key and you will see the icon change to include a plus sign, indicating that you want to add to your current selection. A significant portion of the white area will be selected, but perhaps not all of it. Now take the Magic Wand tool and click the white area around the cookie. In the Tool Options bar (Window -> options), you’ll need to configure three important items: Tolerance (which should be set to 32 by default), as well as Anti-alias and Contiguous (both of which should be checked). In this example, I’m using a picture of a cookie that has been photographed on white poster board (see the full image in the middle of this page). It’s the tool to use when the object you want to isolate is cleanly defined against an unvarying background, such as the surface of a table or a cloudless sky. Photoshop’s Magic Wand Tool can help you make selections of areas with a limited color range. Notice that the selection has changed and now includes the line you painted across the photo. Click the eye icon next to RGB to turn the color channels back on and then press Q to leave Quick Mask Mode. As an experiment, use the Brush Tool to paint a white line across the mask. Clicking the eye icon next to RGB lets you see the mask in its basic grayscale form the selection you made earlier is represented by white, while the masked area is represented by black. Now, choose Window -> Channels and you will notice five items: RBG, Red, Blue, Green, and Quick Mask. A Photoshop mask is actually a grayscale image, shown in transparent red so that you can see both the mask and your photo at the same time. This red area represents the image mask and it’s fully editable. The photo will be bathed in red, except the part you selected. Now press Q on your keyboard to enter Quick Mask Mode. Using the mouse, draw a crude selection around something in the photo. Open a photo and then, from the toolbar, choose the Lasso Tool.

The concept of masking in Photoshop can be difficult to grasp, so let’s first examine how it works.

Photoshop layer mask red overlay