January, 2007
Photoshop CS3 Beta (downloadable free for anyone with CS2 version) has a new tool that is terrific and it's the new Quick Select Tool. It makes selecting items so much easier and efficient.
I'll use this image for the lesson because it's easy and straightforward. You can find the photo in this lesson folder titled Pond_Photo.
Here's the new tool. To increase or decrease it's size, simply use the [ or ] keys.
Below is the toolbar for this tool.
Using about a 40 pixel brush size I painted within the leaf away from the edge and it selected an extra part that I don't want.
So to fix that, we use the Subtract from Selection option with a much smaller brush size.
The next step to fix artifacts in the selection is to click on the Refine Edge button.
When you open the Refine Edge dialogue box, move all your arrows to the left except the Contract/Expand button. Let's select the On Black button below to make the background dark and easier to see the selection. Notice how some of the selection included part that we did not want.
To fix it, set Radius to 4.5 px and Contrast to 55%. Notice how it disappears.
Set Smooth to 18 to make the edge more realistic and smooth looking.
Click OK and see what a fantastic selection we have created. Right-click in the leaf and choose Layer via Copy.
Now you can use the selection anyway you like.
NEW FEATURE: Download the original source files from this tutorial in Zip format Here
Copyright (c) 2006, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved
