About Selections; Making Pixel Selections - Adobe PHOTOSHOP 6.0 Manual

Chapter 5: Selecting
o modify part of an image in Adobe
T
Photoshop or Adobe ImageReady,
you first select the area you want to edit.
A selected area is indicated by a dotted selection
border, also called a selection marquee. The area
outside the selection border is protected while you
move, copy, paint, or apply special effects to the
isolated area.
You can choose from a variety of specialized tools
for creating selection borders.

About selections

Since there are two different types of data in your
image—bitmap and vector—you need to use
separate sets of tools to make selections of each
type. You can use selection borders to select pixels.
When you select pixels, you are selecting
resolution dependent information in the image.
For more information about bitmap images and
vector graphics, see "About bitmap images and
vector graphics" on page 91.
You can also create selections using the pen or
shape tools, which produce precise outlines called
paths. A path is a vector shape that contains no
pixels. (See "Moving, copying, and pasting selec-
tions and layers" on page 149.) You can convert
paths to selections or convert selections to paths.
(See "Converting between paths and selection
borders (Photoshop)" on page 180.)
In Photoshop, you can use the Extract command
to isolate an object from its background and erase
the background to transparency. You can also
make sophisticated selections using masks.
(See "Saving a mask selection" on page 200.)

Making pixel selections

You can select pixels in an image by dragging
with the marquee tools or lasso tools, or by
targeting color areas with the magic wand tool.
In Photoshop, you can also use the Color Range
command. Making a new selection replaces the
existing one. Additionally, you can create
selections that add to a selection, subtract from
a selection, select an area intersected by other
selections, or select the union of a new selection
and the current selection.
Using the Select menu
You can use commands in the Select menu to
select all pixels, to deselect, or to reselect.
To select all pixels on a layer within the canvas
boundaries:
Select the layer in the Layers palette.
1
2 Choose Select > All.
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