Make quick selections

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Adobe Photoshop User Guide

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Applies to: Adobe Photoshop

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Use the Object Selection tool, Select Subject, Quick Selection, or Magic Wand tools to make quick selections in Photoshop.

With selections, define an area that you can further edit to enhance your images and composites. You can easily use any of the various selection tools in Photoshop to quickly make a selection.

Object Selection tool

Introduced in Photoshop 21.0 (November 2019 release)

Object Selection Tool in Photoshop

Note:

Not seeing the Object Selection tool in your toolbar? See Tools missing from the toolbar.

The Object Selection tool simplifies the process selecting a single object or part of an object in an image—people, cars, furniture, pets, clothes, and more. You simply draw a rectangular region or a lasso around the object, the Object Selection tool automatically selects the object inside the defined region. The tool works better on well-defined objects than on regions without contrast. 

Check out this video where Julieanne Kost dives into the improvements to Photoshop's Select Subject, the innovations of the new Object Select tool, and the enhancements to Content-Aware Fill: AI Improvements to Photoshop 

You can access the Object Selection tool at the following locations:

The Object Selection tool is useful when you only need to select one of the objects or part of an object within an image that contains multiple objects. While the Select Subject command is designed to select all the main subjects in the image.

To select objects in an image using the Object Selection tool, follow the steps below:

  1. Select the Object Selection tool from the Tools panel.

  2. Choose a selection mode and define a region around the object.

    In the options bar, choose a selection Mode: Rectangle or Lasso.

    • Rectangle mode: Drag the pointer to define a rectangular region around the object.
    • Lasso mode: Draw a rough lasso outside the boundary of the object.

    Photoshop automatically selects the object inside the defined region.   

  3. Subtract from or add to the selection

    In the options bar, click one of the selection options: New, Add To, Subtract From, or Intersect With the selection. New is the default option if nothing is selected. After making the initial selection, the option changes automatically to Add To

    Add to the selection: Hold the Shift key or select Add To Selection in the options bar, then draw a new rectangle or a lasso around the missing region. Repeat this process for all the missing regions you want to add to the selection.

    Subtract from the selection: There are two options to subtract from the selection: 

    1. Use the Subtract From Selection option in the options bar
      • Turn OFF the Object Subtract option in the options bar.
      • Hold the Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) key or select Subtract From Selection in the options bar, then draw an exact rectangle or a lasso around the boundary of the region you want to subtract from the selection. 
    2. Use the Object Subtract option in the options bar

    Object Subtract is especially useful when removing the background regions inside the current object selection. You can think of the Object Subtract option as equivalent to Object Selection inverted. So, you can draw a rough lasso or a rectangle around the region to be subtracted. Including more of the background within the lasso or the rectangle region, produces better subtraction results. 

    1. Turn ON the Object Subtract option in the options bar. 
    2. Hold the Option (Mac)/ Alt (Win) key or select Subtract From Selection in the options bar, then draw a rough rectangle or a lasso around the region you want to subtract from the selection.

  4. Choose object selection options

    Sample All Layers: Creates a selection based on all layers instead of just the currently selected layer.

    Enhance Edge: Reduces roughness and blockiness in the selection boundary. Automatically flows the selection further toward image edges and applies some of the edge refinement you can apply manually in the Select And Mask workspace.

  5. Further refine the selection edge in the Select And Mask workspace

    To further adjust the selection boundary or view the selection against different backgrounds or as a mask, click Select And Mask in the options bar.

Select Subject

Optimized for better portrait selections in Photoshop 21.2 (June 2020 release)

Select Subject in Photoshop

The Select Subject command lets you select the most prominent subject in an image in a single click. Powered by advanced machine learning technology, Select Subject is trained to identify a variety of objects in an image—people, animals, vehicles, toys, and more. 

  1. Select subjects automatically

    Select Subject automatically selects the prominent subjects in your image. To access Select Subject, do one of the following:

    • While editing an image, choose Select > Subject.
    • While using the Object Selection, Quick Selection, or Magic Wand tools, click Select Subject in the options bar.
    • While using the Object  Selection or Quick Selection tools in the Select & Mask workspace, click Select Subject in the options bar.

    Note:

    Beginning with Photoshop 21.2 (June 2020 release), Select Subject is now content-aware and applies new custom algorithms when it detects a person is in the image. When creating a selection on portrait images, treatment around hair area has been vastly improved to create a detailed selection of hair. To temporarily turn off the content-awareness, you can press and hold the Shift key while performing Select Subject.  

  2. Add to or subtract from the selection

    Use any of the Selection tools with their Add to selection and Subtract from selection options to clean up the initial selection, if necessary. See Adjust selections manually.

  3. Fine-tune the selection in the Select and Mask workspace

    Choose Select > Select and Mask to open the image in the Select and Mask workspace. Use the tools and sliders in the workspace to clean up the selection further. 

    See Select and Mask workspace.

Quick Selection tool

You can use the Quick Selection tool  to quickly "paint" a selection using an adjustable round brush tip. As you drag, the selection expands outward and automatically finds and follows defined edges in the image.

  1. Select the Quick Selection tool . (If the tool isn't visible, hold down the Magic Wand tool .)

  2. In the options bar, click one of the selection options: New, Add To, or Subtract From.

    New is the default option if nothing is selected. After making the initial selection, the option changes automatically to Add To.

  3. To change the brush tip size, click the Brush pop-up menu in the options bar, and type in a pixel size or drag the slider. Use the Size pop‑up menu options to make the brush tip size sensitive to pen pressure or a stylus wheel.

    Note:

    When creating a selection, press the right bracket (]) to increase the Quick Selection tool brush tip size; press the left bracket ([) to decrease the brush tip size.

  4. Choose Quick Selection options:

    Sample All Layers: Creates a selection based on all layers instead of just the currently selected layer.

    Enhance Edge: Reduces roughness and blockiness in the selection boundary. Enhance Edge automatically flows the selection further toward image edges and applies some of the edge refinement you can apply manually in the Select and Mask workspace.

  5. Paint inside the part of the image you want to select. The selection grows as you paint. If updating is slow, continue to drag to allow time to complete work on the selection. As you paint near the edges of a shape, the selection area extends to follow the contours of the shape edge.

    Photoshop Paint with the Quick Selection tool
    Painting with the Quick Selection tool to extend the selection

    • To subtract from a selection, click the Subtract From option in the options bar, then drag over the existing selection.
    • To temporarily switch between add and subtract modes, hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key.
    • To change the tool cursor, choose Edit > Preferences > Cursors > Painting Cursors (Win) or Photoshop > Preferences > Cursors > Painting Cursors (Mac). Normal Brush Tip displays the standard Quick Selection cursor with a plus or minus sign to show the selection mode.

    Note:

    If you stop dragging and then click or drag in a nearby area, the selection will grow to include the new area.

  6. Click Select and Mask to further adjust the selection boundary. 

Magic Wand tool

The Magic Wand tool lets you select a consistently colored area (for example, a red flower) without having to trace its outline. You specify the selected color range, or tolerance, relative to the original color you click.

Note:

You cannot use the Magic Wand tool on an image in Bitmap mode or on 32‑bits-per-channel images.

  1. Select the Magic Wand tool . (If the tool isn't visible, access it by holding down the Quick Selection tool .)
  2. Specify one of the selection options in the options bar. The Magic Wand tool's pointer changes depending on which option is selected.
    Photoshop Selection options
    Selection options

    A. New B. Add To C. Subtract From D. Intersect With 

  3. In the options bar, specify any of the following:

    Tolerance: Determines the color range of selected pixels. Enter a value in pixels, ranging from 0 to 255. A low value selects the few colors very similar to the pixel you click. A higher value selects a broader range of colors.

    Anti-aliased: Creates a smoother-edged selection.

    Contiguous: Selects only adjacent areas using the same colors. Otherwise, all pixels in the entire image using the same colors are selected.

    Sample All Layers: Selects colors using data from all the visible layers. Otherwise, the Magic Wand tool selects colors from the active layer only.

  4. In the image, click the color you want to select. If Contiguous is selected, all adjacent pixels within the tolerance range are selected. Otherwise, all pixels in the tolerance range are selected.

  5. Click Select and Mask to further adjust the selection boundary or view the selection against different backgrounds or as a mask.