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Feather command
Whenever
we create a selection we will almost always need to
feather the edge of it before moving or copying it.
Most feather settings will fall between the 1 - >2
pixel radius, but that will make heaps of difference
to your cut and pastes. Try a larger feather to patch
sky's and an even larger feather for an attractive
vignette.
Feathering
revealed
After
we have feathered a selection we can switch to quick
mask by pressing Q on the keyboard. This will display
how soft the edge of our selection is.
Save
selections
Selections
can be saved via Select > Save Selection from the
menu bar. This will save our selection as an alpha
channel in the Channels palette, which means we can
retrieve the selection at any time from the select
option in the menu bar.
Hide
a Selection
Often
that dotted line gets in the way, so hide it via the
Ctrl+H keys. Ctrl+H again reveals the selection. Be
careful that you don't forget that you have hidden
a selection and then wonder why none of the tools
appear to work. Hit Ctrl D to remove a selection.
Colour
range
For
complex selections try using colour range via select
> colour range, and select the colour from the
image. Holding down Shift will allow us to add to
the selection if we click in other areas. The Fuzziness
slider will give us more control on what is finally
selected. This tool needs a little experience, but
worth the effort.
The pen tool
For
really complex selections we can use the pen tool
to create a path. Click around the subject bit by
bit in short straight lines with the image greatly
enlarged. Once we return to our starting point a path
will appear as a thumbnail in the Paths palette. Save
the path or convert to a selection via the icon at
the bottom of the palette.
Pen
tool Curves
Drag
and click with the pen tool and you can change the
line into a smooth curve using two handles that appear.
You can modify them by holding down the Alt key and
we can move an anchor point by holding down the Ctrl
key. This takes a little getting used to, but can
be valuable.
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