How to Use the Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop

Finding the Quick Selection Tool

The Quick Selection Tool shares a slot with the Magic Wand. Press W to grab it, or Shift + W to cycle between the two. The options bar has three modes: New Selection, Add to Selection, and Subtract from Selection.

Paint a Selection with the Quick Selection Tool

Click and drag across the area you want and the selection grows to include everything similar, stopping at the edges Photoshop detects. A few strokes across a floppy disk selects the whole yellow body. Press Q to view the selection as a Quick Mask, where the red overlay shows what is not selected, then Q again to return.

Add and Subtract

Click the Add mode, or just hold Shift, and paint over anything the Quick Selection Tool missed; release and it works out the border. Hold Alt (Option on Mac) to subtract, which is how Aaron pulls a strip of white background back out of the selection. Shift and Alt/Option are faster than the buttons once you’re used to them.

Recolor the Selection

With the disk selected, add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation) and the selection becomes the layer’s mask automatically. Alt/Option-click the mask to see it: white areas are affected, black areas are protected. Slide Hue and the yellow disk turns green while the metal and the white background stay exactly as they were.

A Second Selection for the Metal

Paint over the metal shutter with the Quick Selection Tool, Alt/Option-drag to remove the parts inside it you don’t want, and add a Curves adjustment layer. Again the selection becomes the mask, so the curve brightens or darkens only the metal.

Know the Quick Selection Tool’s Limits

The Quick Selection Tool is for reasonably simple objects with clear edges. It won’t cope with a person’s hair against a busy background; for that you’ll want more advanced techniques like channels, which PHLEARN covers in other courses.

Quick Selection Tool Quick Reference

• W selects the Quick Selection Tool; Shift + W swaps with the Magic Wand.
• Drag to select; Shift adds, Alt / Option subtracts.
• Q toggles Quick Mask to check the selection.
• Add an adjustment layer and the selection becomes its mask.
• Alt / Option-click a mask to view it.