Mastering the Editor in Photoshop Elements requires skill in many diverse areas. While modifying an image’s color, enhancing an old photograph, removing dust and scratches, may require different skills, they have one common thread—selection. Without selection, Photoshop Elements gives you total access to the active document. If you choose to paint a black stroke, select the Paint Brush tool, the color black, and begin painting. Photoshop Elements will let you apply black paint to any portion of the image. Selection is your way to instruct Photoshop Elements what portions of the active document you want to change.

The Marquee tools are considered Photoshop Elements’ “good old” selection tools. In fact they’ve been a part of Photoshop Elements since the early days. Where the Marquee tools let you select areas of an image in a structured way (squares, circles, lines), the Lasso tools add a bit of freeform selection to the mix. Lasso tools require a certain amount of hand/eye coordination. For example, you can use the Lasso tool to create a customized selection area around just about any object in a document, be it an animal, vegetable, or mineral. It just requires a good eye, a steady hand, and a really big mouse pad (I hate it when I run out of mouse pad).

Selection lets you influence a specific area of the image, for example, changing the color of a car from red to blue. This is where selection really shows its strength. When you select an area of a document, the selection becomes the work area-filters, adjustments, and brushes will only work within the selection boundary. Since selection is such an important aspect of controlling what happens in a document, Photoshop Elements gives you many ways to create your desired selection. Mastering the art of selection gives you control over not just what you do, but where you do it.

The Rectangular Marquee tool lets you create rectangular and square selection marquees. The Rectangular Marquee tool is excellent for a quick crop, or selecting and moving blocks of image information. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool on the toolbox from the available Marquee options, and then drag the tool using the mouse (or drawing tablet) to control your movements. To further control a selection, hold down the Shift key to produce a perfect square, and hold down the Alt key to create a selection marquee from center out. Releasing the mouse instructs the Rectangular Marquee tool to create the selection.

The Elliptical Marquee tool lets you create oval or circular selection marquees. When used with the Layer Mask option, and a couple of creative filters, you can create some awesome vignettes. Select the Elliptical Marquee tool on the toolbox from the available Marquee options, move into the document, and then drag the tool using the mouse to control your movements. To further control a selection, hold down the Shift key to produce a perfect circle, and hold down the Alt key to create a selection marquee from center out. Releasing the mouse instructs the Elliptical Marquee tool to create the selection.

The Lasso Marquee is a freeform tool that requires a bit of hand-to-eye coordination. Select the Lasso tool on the toolbox from the available Lasso options, move into the active document, and then drag the tool, using the mouse (or drawing tablet) to control your movements. Hold down the Alt key, and then drag to draw straight-line segments (called the Polygonal Lasso tool). Releasing the mouse instructs the Lasso tool to close the selection shape. That’s all there is to it. I did mention that it requires good hand-to-eye coordination, didn’t I? When you use this tool, don’t drink too much coffee, and have a really big mouse pad.

The Magnetic Lasso creates a selection by following along the edge of a visible object. For example, it will follow around the edge of a building that contrasts against a bright blue sky. In reality there are no edges in a photographic document, so the tool follows along the shifts of brightness created when one image interacts with another. Select the Magnetic Lasso tool on the toolbox from the available Lasso options. Click on the visible edge of an image, and then move (don’t drag) abound the object. The Magnetic Lasso will follow the visible edge of the object; occasionally adding anchor points to the line as you move. Double-clicking the mouse instructs the Magnetic Lasso tool to close the selection shape.

The Polygonal Lasso creates straight-line selections. Perfect for creating a selection around a windowpane, or the roofline of a house. Select the Polygonal Lasso tool on the toolbox from the available Lasso options, and click to create a point; then move and click to create straight lines between the two points. Keep clicking and moving your mouse until the desired selection shape appears. Double-clicking the mouse instructs the Polygonal Lasso tool to close the selection shape.

The Quick Selection tool makes it easier to select the areas of an image you want. Simply paint a loose selection using an adjustable round brush tip to select the area you want. As you paint with the Quick Selection tool, the selection expands outward and automatically finds and follows defined edges in the image. You can also enable the Auto-Enhance option to reduce roughness and blockiness in the selection edge.

The Magic Wand tool (so named since it appears like a magic wand) is unique in the fact that you do not drag and select with this tool, you simply click. The Magic Wand tool creates a selection based on the shift in brightness range within an image. If there is a definable shift in the brightness of the pixels, it can be a very powerful tool for the selection of odd shaped areas. For example, a bright colored sunflower contrasted with a bright blue sky would be a snap for the Magic Wand tool. To use the Magic Wand, click on the Magic Wand Tool button on the toolbox. Sometimes it’s easier to select what you don’t want. In this example, the blue sky was selected and removed. However, you might have wanted to select the sunflower, and move it into another image. If that’s the case, it was still easier to select the sky using the Magic Wand, clicking the Select menu, and then clicking Inverse to reverse the selection.

With the Selection Brush tool, you can paint over an area to select it or paint over an area you don’t want to select. The Selection Brush tool uses two modes: Selection and Mask. Selection mode allows you to paint over areas to make a selection, while Mask mode allows you to paint over areas you don’t want to make a selection. You can make a rough selection using another selection tool, and then add to the selection using the Selection Brush tool in Selection mode, or subtract from it using the Mask mode.

The Magic Extractor makes it easy to select people or objects, so you can use them in other photos on different backgrounds. For example, you can remove yourself from an individual photo and then place it on a group photo. You can save the extracted image as a file, so you can use it in other photos. The Magic Extractor makes selections based on the foreground and background areas of a photo. You make selections by placing colored marks in the areas you want to select. After you mark the areas, only the foreground area appears in the photo in the Editor.

After you make the initial selection, you can use the Refine Edge dialog to fine-tune the selection to your exact specifications. The Refine Edge feature allows you to adjust the selection using the following options: Smooth, Feather, and Contract/Expand. You can also change the view mode to preview the selection against different backgrounds.

Selections can be as simple as dragging a circle or square with one of the marquee tools to a more complicated freeform selection. Whatever the case, Photoshop Elements allows you to enhance any selection with its useful modification tools. After creating a selection, you can modify it with the various options that Photoshop Elements offers in order to make complex selections easier to use. With selection being an important part of the process, practice is the key to success.

You can use several commands to change an existing selection to meet your exact needs. You can use the Expand and Contract commands to increase or decrease the size of an existing section. The Border command adds a new selection border around an existing selection. The new soft-edged, anti-aliased selection border appears based on the thickness you specify in pixels. The border selection consists of only the pixels between the two selection borders. The Smooth command finds and removes stray pixels within a color range, while the Similar command find and includes similar colors in a selection.

To say that Photoshop Elements will help you make selections easy would be an understatement. Not only can you modify selections in any number of ways, Photoshop Elements gives you the option to change your mind by adding and subtracting to an existing selection or even using the selection tools to crop the image. Since most selections are not perfect the first time around, knowing how to modify a selection marquee gives you the control you need to make perfect selections. Adding and subtracting to an image is accomplished by simple keyboard shortcuts, or items on the Options bar. Either way you can create complex selections with ease.

Photoshop Elements’ primary method of creating selections is through the use of tools on the toolbox, such as the Marquee, Lasso, and Magic Wand, and while they create impressive and complex selections, Photoshop Elements has other ways to capture and save that tricky selection. You can save a selection and then load it at a later time to work on a photo. If you have already saved a selection and want to modify it, you can save an existing selection with an added, subtracted, or intersected sections.

After you save a selection, you can load it at a later time to work on a photo. If you have already saved a selection and want to modify it with a new selection, you can load the saved selection and then add, subtract, or intersect a new section. After you’re done with a saved selection, you can delete it.

After you make a selection, you can use the Move tool and Copy and Paste commands to copy of all or a part of a photo in other photos. You can use the Move tool to quickly create a copy of a selection while you move it. In addition, you can use the Copy and Copy Merged commands to copy a selection or all layers of a selection to the Clipboard. After you copy a selection, you can use the Paste or Paste into Selection commands to place the copied selection where you want it. When you exit Photoshop Elements, anything you have stored in the Clipboard is erased unless you select the Export Clipboard check box in General Preferences for the Editor.

The Move tool allows you to cut out a selection from one photo and place it in another area of the photo or an entirely different photo. You can simply drag a selection using the Move tool to complete the operation, or you can use additional options on the Options bar. These options include Auto Select Layer, Show Bounding Box, Show Highlight on Rollover, and the Arrange, Align, and Distribute menus.