Photoshop Quick Selection Tool Help Please.

Hi, what's better when trying to make a selection in Photoshop, Magic Wand or Quick Select.
MrTom gave me some help with Quick Select but I was wondering what the difference was.
Does one do a better job at somethings than the other?
Thanks

Hi,
1st post in here so here goes with my cherry ..... be kind

I've been using Gimp for a while so not totally green but certainly not strong in the "Editing Department" and have just switched to CS6

I always have a problem trying to replace skies where there's not a clear distinction between sky and ground and where there's a ground mist or sea mist but appreciate the software is also struggling as it's not that clear and wonder if anyone has any better / easier ways than I've tried so far.

Here is the one I've struggled with



I've tried using colour range as well as the quick selection tool and the magic wand tool and the magnetic lasso. the quick selection tool would be the easiest but as I drag from left ti right it starts off fine and then all of a sudden as the sky darkens it suddenly gobbles up the sea with it and goes straight to the land. The Magic Wand takes ages as I start with one tolerance and then change accordingly to reduce the tolerance going from left to right, The Magnetic lasso I had a reasonable amount of success dividing between the land and sea but when I then try to do the straight vertical lines either side and the horizontal along the top despite being outside of the frame it creates a jagged line that keeps dropping down into the sky in places.

Any help would be appreciated but please be aware my understanding of some "jargon" goes waaaaaayyyyyy over my head, I can copy how people are doing it in you tube vids parrot fashion but I often have absolutely no comprehension what it means nor how one interacts with the other.... ie layers, masks etc

Actually if anyone knows of good spoon fed tutorials for those would appreciate as I really am struggling to get my head round them.

I've been told to use the direct selection tool in a lot of the tuts I do. When I try it, all I get is a rectangle marquee that disappears when I un click. It does nothing for me, no lines of any kind.
I'm thinking maybe I have to hold down another key to use this.

Can you tell me or direct me to a page with some instruction on using the direct selection tool? I use the regular pen tool pretty good, so it's not that.
Thanks.

Hi!
Even though I LOVE using Photoshop, it's been a while since the last time I actually used it, therefore there are lot of things that I knew that I no longer remember (I'm getting old, clearly!) and I was wondering if anyone can refresh my memory here.
Unless I'm completely mistaken, I remember that in CS3 (though I just started using CS6) I always used Quick Mask Mode and Paths to smooth the edges of whatever abstract shape I drew, even if it was just something random that I obtained using the Polygonal Lasso selection tool to make the shape and then the Paint Bucket tool to fill it.
I no longer remember the correct steps though and when I tried, I got close but it wasn't the result I was looking for: the edges were still a bit jagged and it took me too much time (something like 13/15 steps) to get there while I remember it was quicker and easier. I searched a LOT for the very first tutorial that taught me this but it's been probably removed by now as it was quite old. All the other tutorials I found concerning Quick Mask Mode were for different purposes. I hope I made enough sense and, if anyone can help me, I'd be really grateful!

Hey All,

First time post he

I'm using Photoshop CS6, trying to make a selection using a quick mask and a brush. Normally I would put the quick mask on, paint in my selection using a brush preset and then turn off the mask, invert the selection, and use refine selection to make it a new layer.

Now when I turn off the mask, I get the error "no pixels are more than 50% selected". I've seen on other forums that feathering can be a problem, but as far as I know the brush preset I'm using has no feathering. In fact, I just reset the tools and tried again and it still gives me that error. I've definitely selected the correct layer because there's only one to select.

Any advice?

Thanks! M

I am sorry if I don't use the correct jargon throughout this post, I am a very occasional user of Photoshop!

I have Photoshop CS4 Extended.

I want to create an "inverse" layer.

Here's what I mean:

1) create a new canvas.

2) Choose a large, bold font and write on the canvas (E.g. "Hello World").

3) Select all the letters (using the magic wand tool, click on each letter while holding down the shift key)

4) Invert the selection.

5) Get stuck, no idea what to do next. Try various things and get nowhere!

I want to make a new layer that contains the inverted selection as a shape that I can do things to like any other shape (e.g. in the shape library).

So, for example, I could fill the surrounding area with red and the letters will be transparent.

I've tried converting the inverted selection to a clipping mask, but after that I get in a bugger's muddle.

Perhaps I am going about this in completely the wrong way? Perhaps there's a better way?

Once again, I apologise if I sound like a three-year-old trying to explain something to an adult, but that's the extent of my knowledge of Photoshop!!

hello.i'm looking for the most accurate color selection method in photoshop for L,a,b color mode. what i want to achieve is to know the values for L,a and b that would let me enter those values to excel file which will tell me which shade is the closest. so those shaders values are the most important. thebestcpu said:
if you use a PS tool that uses the tolerance option, it has inherent limitations as such a tool selects on an RGB math equation that do not exactly reflect what you see with you eyes (e.g. it is color data based not luminosity based. That means the blue component of RGB in selecting an area gets too much weight.


so which tool works well on Lab color mode?
how would you get the Lab values from those shaders to be accurate? the tooth neck part is the most intense color because of thickness while the edge is the most transparent.
1) should i wand select the whole shader (without white blow out spots) and filter -> average?
2) should i pick the color from 1/2 or 1/3 height? maybe i should draw a horizontal line and select 1 point for each shader in the middle of it's long axis?
look at D3 and D4 how short color range it is.
Attachment 55717
this photo should be taken with gray card to set the white balance correctly.

I want to delete a selection from background. I select a part of picture with one on selection tool. then I insert delete from keyboard. but every time a fill page appear and there is not any option in fill for deleting that selection. I want to remove selection that no pattern or color be replaced.

Dear people smarter than me,

I need to do some rotoscope work on a piece of video in Photoshop. I can't use After Effects in this instance, I have to use Photoshop. So I want to cut out the image of a submarine as it is sinking slowly. The sub is slightly rotating as it sinks, so it's basic shape changes only slightly from frame to frame. What would make my life much easier in working with all 200 frames, would be if I could use the lasso tool to draw around the sub and cut out the shape, the copy that shape of lasso selection, and apply it to the next frame around the sub, and then just alter the shape of the lasso, to the now slightly changed shape of the sub. This would speed up the process infinitely, so I don't have to redraw the shape on every single frame. Is there a way to do this? Help, advice, tutelage in this area would be so very much appreciated. Thanks in advance, and I am glad there is a place I can go where people smarter than me are willing to help. Thank you so much!

Cheers,
Carlo

Hey Guys,

Is there a way to get photoshop to frame its view upon whatever is selected. ie. If a make a small selection within a canvas, which is off set because I'm working in another area, I'd like to be able to press something & have PS focus/centre its view upon that selection. I'm a 3d Artist & 3ds Max has a feature like this which is activated by pressing the Z key. I appreciate its not as important as within a 3d environment but my hands are getting tired panning & zooming around constantly.

Cheers.
George