- Photoshop User Guide
- Introduction to Photoshop
- Photoshop and other Adobe products and services
- Photoshop on the iPad (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop on the iPad | Common questions
- Get to know the workspace
- System requirements | Photoshop on the iPad
- Create, open, and export documents
- Add photos
- Work with layers
- Draw and paint with brushes
- Make selections and add masks
- Retouch your composites
- Work with adjustment layers
- Adjust the tonality of your composite with Curves
- Apply transform operations
- Crop and rotate your composites
- Rotate, pan, zoom, and reset the canvas
- Work with Type layers
- Work with Photoshop and Lightroom
- Get missing fonts in Photoshop on the iPad
- Japanese Text in Photoshop on the iPad
- Manage app settings
- Touch shortcuts and gestures
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Edit your image size
- Livestream as you create in Photoshop on the iPad
- Correct imperfections with the Healing Brush
- Create brushes in Capture and use them in Photoshop on the iPad
- Work with Camera Raw files
- Create and work with Smart Objects
- Adjust exposure in your images with Dodge and Burn
- Auto adjustment commands in Photoshop on the iPad
- Smudge areas in your images with Photoshop on the iPad
- Saturate or desaturate your images using Sponge tool
- Content aware fill for iPad
- Photoshop on the web (not available in mainland China)
- Common questions
- System requirements
- Keyboard shortcuts
- Supported file types
- Introduction to the workspace
- Open and work with cloud documents
- Generative AI features
- Basic concepts of editing
- Quick Actions
- Work with layers
- Retouch images and remove imperfections
- Make quick selections
- Image improvements with Adjustment Layers
- Move, transform, and crop images
- Draw and paint
- Work with Type layers
- Work with anyone on the web
- Manage app settings
- Generate Image
- Generate Background
- Reference Image
- Photoshop (beta) (not available in mainland China)
- Generative AI (not available in mainland China)
- Content authenticity (not available in mainland China)
- Cloud documents (not available in mainland China)
- Photoshop cloud documents | Common questions
- Photoshop cloud documents | Workflow questions
- Manage and work with cloud documents in Photoshop
- Upgrade cloud storage for Photoshop
- Unable to create or save a cloud document
- Solve Photoshop cloud document errors
- Collect cloud document sync logs
- Invite others to edit your cloud documents
- Share files and comment in-app
- Workspace
- Workspace basics
- Preferences
- Learn faster with the Photoshop Discover Panel
- Create documents
- Place files
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Customize keyboard shortcuts
- Tool galleries
- Performance preferences
- Use tools
- Presets
- Grid and guides
- Touch gestures
- Use the Touch Bar with Photoshop
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Technology previews
- Metadata and notes
- Touch capabilities and customizable workspaces
- Place Photoshop images in other applications
- Rulers
- Show or hide non-printing Extras
- Specify columns for an image
- Undo and history
- Panels and menus
- Position elements with snapping
- Position with the Ruler tool
- Web, screen, and app design
- Image and color basics
- How to resize images
- Work with raster and vector images
- Image size and resolution
- Acquire images from cameras and scanners
- Create, open, and import images
- View images
- Invalid JPEG Marker error | Opening images
- Viewing multiple images
- Customize color pickers and swatches
- High dynamic range images
- Match colors in your image
- Convert between color modes
- Color modes
- Erase parts of an image
- Blending modes
- Choose colors
- Customize indexed color tables
- Image information
- Distort filters are unavailable
- About color
- Color and monochrome adjustments using channels
- Choose colors in the Color and Swatches panels
- Sample
- Color mode or Image mode
- Color cast
- Add a conditional mode change to an action
- Add swatches from HTML CSS and SVG
- Bit depth and preferences
- Layers
- Layer basics
- Nondestructive editing
- Create and manage layers and groups
- Select, group, and link layers
- Place images into frames
- Layer opacity and blending
- Mask layers
- Apply Smart Filters
- Layer comps
- Move, stack, and lock layers
- Mask layers with vector masks
- Manage layers and groups
- Layer effects and styles
- Edit layer masks
- Extract assets
- Reveal layers with clipping masks
- Generate image assets from layers
- Work with Smart Objects
- Blending modes
- Combine multiple images into a group portrait
- Combine images with Auto-Blend Layers
- Align and distribute layers
- Copy CSS from layers
- Load selections from a layer or layer mask's boundaries
- Knockout to reveal content from other layers
- Selections
- Get started with selections
- Make selections in your composite
- Select and Mask workspace
- Select with the marquee tools
- Select with the lasso tools
- Adjust pixel selections
- Move, copy, and delete selected pixels
- Create a temporary quick mask
- Select a color range in an image
- Convert between paths and selection borders
- Channel basics
- Save selections and alpha channel masks
- Select the image areas in focus
- Duplicate, split, and merge channels
- Channel calculations
- Get started with selections
- Image adjustments
- Replace object colors
- Perspective warp
- Reduce camera shake blurring
- Healing brush examples
- Export color lookup tables
- Adjust image sharpness and blur
- Understand color adjustments
- Apply a Brightness/Contrast adjustment
- Adjust shadow and highlight detail
- Levels adjustment
- Adjust hue and saturation
- Adjust vibrance
- Adjust color saturation in image areas
- Make quick tonal adjustments
- Apply special color effects to images
- Enhance your image with color balance adjustments
- High dynamic range images
- View histograms and pixel values
- Match colors in your image
- Crop and straighten photos
- Convert a color image to black and white
- Adjustment and fill layers
- Curves adjustment
- Blending modes
- Target images for press
- Adjust color and tone with Levels and Curves eyedroppers
- Adjust HDR exposure and toning
- Dodge or burn image areas
- Make selective color adjustments
- Adobe Camera Raw
- Camera Raw system requirements
- What's new in Camera Raw
- Introduction to Camera Raw
- Create panoramas
- Supported lenses
- Vignette, grain, and dehaze effects in Camera Raw
- Default keyboard shortcuts
- Automatic perspective correction in Camera Raw
- Radial Filter in Camera Raw
- Manage Camera Raw settings
- Open, process, and save images in Camera Raw
- Repair images with the Enhanced Spot Removal tool in Camera Raw
- Rotate, crop, and adjust images
- Adjust color rendering in Camera Raw
- Process versions in Camera Raw
- Make local adjustments in Camera Raw
- Image repair and restoration
- Image enhancement and transformation
- Drawing and painting
- Paint symmetrical patterns
- Draw rectangles and modify stroke options
- About drawing
- Draw and edit shapes
- Painting tools
- Create and modify brushes
- Blending modes
- Add color to paths
- Edit paths
- Paint with the Mixer Brush
- Brush presets
- Gradients
- Gradient interpolation
- Fill and stroke selections, layers, and paths
- Draw with the Pen tools
- Create patterns
- Generate a pattern using the Pattern Maker
- Manage paths
- Manage pattern libraries and presets
- Draw or paint with a graphics tablet
- Create textured brushes
- Add dynamic elements to brushes
- Gradient
- Paint stylized strokes with the Art History Brush
- Paint with a pattern
- Sync presets on multiple devices
- Migrate presets, actions, and settings
- Text
- Filters and effects
- Saving and exporting
- Color Management
- Web, screen, and app design
- Video and animation
- Printing
- Automation
- Troubleshooting
Learn how to use the dedicated Select and Mask workspace in Photoshop.
Creating accurate selections and masks in Photoshop is now quicker and easier than ever before. A dedicated new workspace helps you make precise selections and masks. Use tools like the Refine Edge Brush to cleanly separate foreground and background elements and do much more.
The Select and Mask workspace replaces the Refine Edge dialog in earlier versions of Photoshop, offering the same functionality in a streamlined way. To learn more, see Tools.
Launch the Select and Mask workspace
- Enable a selection tool, such as Object Selection, Quick Selection, Magic Wand, Lasso, or Marquee tools.
- Now, select Select and Mask in the options bar.
User interface
A. Tool options B. Tools C. Adjustable properties
Tools at a glance
The Select and Mask workspace features a combination of familiar and new tools:
Quick Selection Tool: Make quick selections based on color and texture similarity when you select or click-drag the area you want to select. The selection you make doesn’t need to be precise, because the Quick Selection tool automatically and intuitively creates a border.
For an even easier experience while using the Quick Selection tool, select Select Subject in the options bar to automatically select the most prominent subjects in your image with a single click.
Check out Make quick selections for more information about this tool.
Refine Edge Brush Tool: Precisely adjust the border area in which edge refinement occurs. For example, brush over soft areas such as hair or fur to add fine details to the selection. To change the brush size, press the bracket keys.
Brush Tool: Begin with making a rough selection using the Quick Selection tool (or another selection tool) and then refine it using the Refine Edge Brush tool. Now, use the Brush tool to finalize or clean up details.
Use the Brush tool to fine-tune selections in two simple ways: paint over the area you want to select in the Add mode, or paint over areas you don’t want to select in the Subtract mode.
Object Selection Tool: Object Selection Tool uses machine learning to detect, refine, and select objects and regions in an image and create corresponding selections. Hover over the image to see what objects or regions are detected. Select to select a detected object, or use the Rectangle or Lasso, and drag around the object you want to select.
Lasso Tool: Draw freehand selection borders. Using this tool, you can make precise selections.
Check out Select with the Lasso tool to learn more.
Polygonal Lasso Tool: Draw straight-edged segments of a selection border. Using this tool, you can make straight or freehand selections. You can select this tool from the options when you right-click Lasso Tool.
Check out Select with the Polygonal Lasso tool
Hand Tool: Navigate around an image document quickly. Select this tool and drag around the image canvas. You can also quickly toggle the Hand tool by holding spacebar while using any other tool.
Zoom Tool: Magnify and navigate around the photo.
Options bar
Add or Subtract: Add or subtract from the refinement area. Adjust the brush size if necessary.
Sample All Layers: Creates a selection based on all layers rather than only the currently selected layer
Select Subject: Select the main subjects in a photo in a single click
Refine Hair: Easily find and refine difficult hair selections in a single click. Couple with Object Aware for best results.
Refine the selection
You can refine your selection in the Properties panel of the Select and Mask workspace. To do so, adjust the following settings:
View Mode settings
View Mode: From the View pop-up menu, choose one of the following view modes for your selection:
- Onion Skin (O): Visualizes the selection as an animation-style onion skin against the background. The transparency can be adjusted with the Transparency slider.
- Marching Ants (M): Visualizes the selection borders as marching ants
- Overlay (V): Visualizes the selection as a transparent color overlay. Unselected areas are displayed in that color. The default color is red.
- On Black (A): Places the selection over a black background
- On White (T): Places the selection over a white background
- Black & White (K): Visualizes the selection as a black and white mask
- On Layers (Y): Surrounds the selection with areas of transparency
Press F to cycle through the modes and X to temporarily disable all modes.
Show Edge (J): Shows the area of refinement.
Show Original (P): Shows the original selection.
High Quality Preview: Renders an accurate preview of the changes. This option may affect performance. When this option is selected, while working on the image, hold down the left mouse button (mouse down) to view a higher-resolution preview. When this option is deselected, a lower-resolution preview is displayed even on mouse down.
Transparency/Opacity: Sets transparency/opacity for the View Mode.
Real-time Refinement: When enabled, affects the preview while brushing using the refine edge tool. When this option is deselected, the brush strokes are displayed even on mouse down, and the results get updated with the refined area on mouse-up.
Refine modes
Set the edge refinement method used by Edge Detection, Refine Hair, and the Refine Edge Brush Tool.
- Color Aware: Choose this mode for simple or contrasting backgrounds.
- Object Aware: Choose this mode for hair or fur on complex backgrounds.
Edge Detection settings
Radius: Determines the size of the selection border in which edge refinement occurs. Use a small radius for sharp edges, and a large one for softer edges.
Smart Radius: Allows for a variable width refinement area around the edge of your selection. Among other use cases, this option is helpful if your selection is a portrait that includes both hair and shoulders. In such portraits, the hair might require a larger refinement area than the shoulders, where the edge is more consistent.
You can view the radius when the Show Edge checkbox in the View Mode section is enabled.
Global Refinement settings
Smooth: Reduces irregular areas (“hills and valleys”) in the selection border to create a smoother outline
Feather: Blurs the transition between the selection and the surrounding pixels
Contrast: When increased, soft-edged transitions along the selection border become more abrupt. Typically, the Smart Radius option and refinement tools are more effective.
Shift Edge: Moves soft-edged borders inward with negative values or outward with positive ones. Shifting these borders inward can help remove unwanted background colors from selection edges.
Output Settings
Decontaminate Colors: Replaces color fringes with the color of fully selected pixels nearby. The strength of color replacement is proportionate to the softness of selection edges. Adjust the slider to change the decontamination amount. 100% (maximum strength) is the default value. Because this option changes pixel color, it requires output to a new layer or document. Retain the original layer so you can revert to it if needed.
Output To: Determines whether the refined selection becomes a selection or mask on the current layer, or produces a new layer or document.
- Select (Reset The Workspace) to revert the settings to the original state in which you entered the Select and Mask workspace. This option also reverts to the original selections/masks applied to the image when you entered the Select and Mask workspace.
- Select Remember Settings to save the settings for use with future images. The settings are applied afresh to all future images, including the current image if it is reopened in the Select and Mask workspace.