Dan Olsavsky's Blog

Friday, January 25, 2008

Photoshop CS3 Features - Image Editing

"Photoshop CS3 Features - Image Editing" by Dan Olsavsky


You will notice that on your main Photoshop CS3 toolbar, Adobe has removed the magic wand tool and replaced it with the Quick Selection Tool. Adobe has recognized that the ability to isolate an object and remove it from its background is quite often a pain staking "project". Photoshop CS3 introduces the Quick Selection tool as a solution.

The Quick Selection tool is much more versatile and intuitive than the magic wand tool. For instance, it is quite easy to use; you simply paint over the area that you would like to be selected and that’s it. There is no need to hold down the shift key to make multiple selections and if you have accidentally selected a bit too much, you can press the Alt key and paint with the tool to deselect areas (think eraser tool). The quality of the selection has improved too, leaving no pixel behind (my attempt at humor).

Once you have made your selection with the Quick Selection tool, you can press the Q key to go in to Quick Mask mode. Quick Mask mode will show you the non-selected areas in red, which will help you identify areas that you may need to clean up a bit. I find this tool especially helpful when I need to cut out such things as the spaces in-between strands of hair.

Once you have your selection exactly the way you want it, you can use the new Refine Edge tool (select/refine edge) to feather the edge of a selection so it will look natural. The Refine Edge tool includes it’s own dialog box (Control + Alt + R) in which you can control several parameters of the selection. FYI, I used to go to select/contract 1px then, select/inverse and then selection/feather 1px... so this will surely save some time.

Especially Useful links:

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/help.html?content=WSFD9BA8C5-31BA-4fec-81F3-CF04EE5295FC.html

http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/help.html?content=WS9C5407FF-2787-400b-9930-FF44266E9168.html

http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tutorials/adorama/changing-colors-selectively.html

"Photoshop CS3 Features - Image Editing" by Dan Olsavsky

posted by dano at 10:33 AM

1 Comments:

Blogger Troy Dunn said...

Awesome! I tried it out the other day but didn't know about the refine edge tool. Thanks!

January 25, 2008 11:01 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

© Dan Olsavsky | 2004-2009. This site is optimized for viewing in Mozilla's Firefox. Some features may not appear in other internet browsers. Please note that I do not develop the content for the websites featured in my portfolio. I do however, work with some phenomenal writers that can get the job done. The Search Engine Optimization on most of the sites was done by a highly-skilled professional at Page 1 Solutions, LLC. Some of the websites have been edited aesthetically by other Website Design Professionals but I keep the Lightbox images original, because I like to keep it real. I am employed full-time, however... you too can retain my services at a very reasonable rate! A huge shout out to everybody who has helped me along the way and who continue to support me. You know who you are.. Click here to view the Sitemap or click here to Contact me.