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The Adobe Photoshop software lets you edit specific parts of your image using selection tools. The workspace on the Adobe image becomes limited once you make a selection, so you can edit the area inside the selection but nothing will happen when you try to work on the parts of the image that are outside the selection. The method used to add to a selection in Photoshop is the same regardless of which tool you are using for selecting.
Steps
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Open the image that you want to edit in Photoshop. -
Choose the selection tool you want to use to make your first selection. You can access the tools by clicking on the Marquee button (which has the icon of a dotted shape) on the top-left of the toolbar or the Lasso button located under the Marquee button. You may have to keep 1 of the selection tool buttons pressed in order to see more options appear in the pop-up menu. The following tools are available on Photoshop for selection purposes.- Rectangular Marquee Tool: make rectangular selections with this tool.
- Elliptical Marquee Tool: used to make round and curved selections.
- Single Row Marquee Tool: selects a single row of pixels on your image.
- Single Column Marquee Tool: select a vertical column of pixels.
- Lasso Tool: used to make freeform selections of no predetermined shape.
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Click on the area of your image where you want your selection to begin. -
Drag your mouse to where you want the selection to end. As you drag your mouse you will see the selection expand in the shape you specified. If you select the Lasso tool, you will have to draw the selection and close it by bringing it back to the point where you started. It is important to keep your right mouse button clicked while making the selection. -
Release your right mouse button and move the mouse cursor away. The selection should remain in the area where you created it. -
Pick the selection tool that you want to use to add to your first selection. -
Press the "Add to Selection" button in the Options bar that appears at the top when you have any of the selection tools activated. The button looks like 2 solid squares that are joined to depict 2 selections added together. -
Create the second selection using the same method that you had used to create the first selection in Adobe Photoshop. Any area that you select outside the first selection will get added to it.
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Video
Tips
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A faster way to add to a selection in Photoshop is to press the Shift key on your keyboard and then make the selection that you want to add.Thanks
Warnings
- Check for the small plus sign that appears next to your mouse cursor icon when you are about to make a selection that is going to be added to the previous selection. If the plus sign does not appear it means that you are about to make a new selection which will delete the previous selection.Thanks
References
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