The Basics of the Marquee Tool (PART 2)
Part 2 of The Basics of the Marquee Tool. This post highlights more advanced features, but even as a beginner it can be helpful to look at the full potential of certain tools. I can’t tell you how often I take some of these things for granted in my day to day work with Photoshop and would recommend reading and trying out all of the various tips within this post.
Be sure to stay tuned for the next blog post highlighting some of the basics of the Text Tool. While your waiting, be sure to go back and mess around with all the things that you have learned.
6. Select a Layer’s Edges
One of the coolest features I discovered when researching and teaching myself Photoshop was the ability to make a selection of the bounds of a layer. When you hold Command for Macs or Control for Windows and click on the thumbnail of a layer, it automatically selects the layer using the edges.
A useful tip in making the Layer Window easier to use is to set the display settings to what best suits your needs. You can do this by right clicking on the thumbnail of any layer and the menu has settings for the size and clipping of the thumbnail. Personally I like to use ‘Large Thumbnails’ and have ‘Clip Thumbnails to Layer Bounds’ selected. If you find yourself grouping a lot you may want to use ‘Medium Thumbnails.’
7. Delete and Duplicate Selections
There are two major flaws when you cut, copy, and paste selections:
- Once you cut a selection from a layer, the area you had selected goes away. This can be annoying when you want to cut the same selection from multiple layers.
- When you cut or copy and then paste a selection, any blending option or layer styles you had on the layer do not carry over.
- When cutting a portion from multiple layers, you should use delete rather then the cut method. This will preserve the area you want to delete.
- When you want to copy a layer selection and retain layer styles, you can simply select the area you want to recreate and simple duplicate the layer (Cmd or Ctrl + J) and it will retain the styling you had on the source layer.
8. Interact With a Portion and Layer Masks
Once you have selected a portion of a layer, you can then interact with that portion only. This allows you to have a metaphoric mini-canvas where the outside area remains untouched. Within that selected area, you can use any of the other tools you have at your disposal.
With an area selected you can even hide or only display that portion of the layer using a mask. You can access the layer menu via Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection or Hide Selection.
9. Moving Selections
One of the main interactions you will have with a selected area is the ability to move it around via the Move Tool. After you have selected a portion of a layer, you can move it around by dragging it around or using the keyboard arrows. You can also utilize many of the basic features of the Move Tool (See: ‘The Basics of the Move Tool‘).
The feature I use most when moving a selection is the ability to clone the selection while still staying on the layer by holding the alt or option key while moving the layer.
10. Transform a Portion
Selecting an area of a layer also opens up the transform feature much like that of the Move Tool (See: ‘The Basics of the Move Tool‘ to see how to activate this feature). Once turned on you can manipulate the selected area outside of the rest of the layer; very helpful in stretching the background of images.
A helpful hint is to slightly nudge the selection back and forth by activating the move tool so that the selection automatically switches to the edges of the area of the layer bounds.
Author: Team VaynerMedia
