GS-PS: Selecting Follow-up, Adjustment Layers and Type

Review

• Rectangle/Oval Selection Tools
• Lasso Selection Tool
• Polygon Selection Tool
• Magnetic Selection Tool
• Magic Wand Selection Tool

General Selection techniques

• To hide the selection outline, press Ctrl-H. To display the outline again, press Ctrl-H again.
• To invert a selection, choose Select > Inverse. Everything that was selected becomes masked, and everything that was masked now becomes the selection.
• To deselect, click outside of the selection, or choose Select > None.
• Shift + Rectangle/Oval Selection Tools create Square/Circle selections
• The choices on the Option Bar affects the sensitivity and behavior of many of the Selection Tools
• You can also save a selection (Select > Save Selection) for later use (Select > Load Selection).
• To move a selection outline, put the selection cursor on the edge of the selected area and drag.
• To move the contents of a selection, choose the move tool and drag the selection.
• To clone a selection, press Alt while using the move tool.
• To add to an existing selection, press Shift
• To subtract from an existing selection, press Alt
• To add to an existing selection based on color, choose Select > Similar.

 Cropping

• Choose the Crop tool () in the toolbox. Then click and drag across the image. An outline will appear that shows you the area to be cropped.

• Adjust the area to be cropped by using handles on the edges of the image. 
• Note: If you move the cursor just outside of one of the corner handles, it turns into a curved cursor, which then allows you change the alignment of the selected area. This is useful, for example, to correct a scan of a picture that was in a crooked position on the  scanner.
• Press Enter to crop or Escape to cancel

Feathering Selections

Feathering gives a selection a softer edge. You can feather a selection by entering a value in the Feather checkbox in the options bar. Or you can feather an existing selection by choosing Select > Feather.

Adjustment Layers

• Adjustment layers are special layers that you can use along with several image editing commands, including Levels, Photo Filters, Hue/Saturation and others. Adjustment layers allow you to make non-destructive (editable) corrections to your images. For example, if you create a Levels adjustment layer, you can go back to the Levels dialog box later and change settings at any time. 
• To create an adjustment layer,  click on the adjustment layer button   at the bottom of the Layers palette, then choose one of the menu items (Levels, Curves, Color Balance, etc.).  Alternatively, you can choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer, and you will see the same menu of items. 
• The advantage of this over an ordinary Levels command is that the adjustment layer is fully editable. At any time, you can click the adjustment layer thumbnail  in the layers palette to edit the layer. When you do, the dialog box will reappear and you can change the settings. 
• Unlike ordinary layers, adjustment layers require minimal memory and do not significantly increase the size of the file.

Brightness/Contrast