| Rectangular Marquee | Marquee option palette | Elliptical Marquee |
| Magic wand | MW Options palette | Lasso tools |
| Polygon Lasso | Magnetic Lasso | Crop Tool |
| Reposition selection border | Add&Subtract Selections |
The four basic set of selection tools in Adobe Photoshop are marquee,lasso, magic wand and pen tools. Using these tools you can make selections based on size, shape,and color. To start practicing using selection tools, open a new file(File > New) .Then save as .psd file to your hard drive.
Photoshop- Rectangular Marquee Tool 
The rectangular marquee tool makes rectangular selections.
 |
1) To make rectangular selection, Select the rectangular marquee tool and drag it diagonally from top let to bottom right corner as shown in fig. |
 |
2) To reposition the border of selection, Place the marquee tool anywhere inside the selection and drag it to desired position. When you place the marquee tool anywhere inside the selection, the pointer becomes an arrow with a small selection icon next to it.See move selection section to learn how you reposition the border while creating it.
|
If you want to deselect the selection, Choose Select>Deselect or click anywhere in the window out side the selection border.
| You can open options palette either by Choosing Window > Show Options from the menu or by Double-clicking the tool in the toolbox .
|
 |
| Select the style as (1)Normal to determine marquee proportions by dragging.(2) Constrained Aspect Ratio to set a height-to-width ratio. Enter the values (including decimal values) for the aspect ratio. For example, to draw a marquee twice as wide as it is high, enter 2 for the width and 1 for the height. (3) Fixed Size to specify set values for the marquee’s height and width.
Specify feathering and anti-aliasing settings. (You cannot select anti-aliasing for the rectangular marquee tool.) .Anti-aliasing smoothes the jagged edges of a selection by softening the color transition between edge pixels and background pixels.See the following examples.
Feathering blurs edges by building a transition boundary between the selection and its surrounding pixels.Try to experiment with different feather values.
You can reset to default values by selecting reset Tool from option menu.(Click the arrow on right side, option menu will appear). |
|
<– 
<–Anti aliasing on
Photoshop- Elliptical marquee tool 
The elliptical marquee tool makes elliptical selections. Hold down the mouse button on the rectangular marquee tool, and drag to the elliptical marquee tool.
Selecting from center point
Click the marquee tool at the approximate center of the picture and start dragging. Then press the Alt without releasing the mouse button.Notice that the selection is centered over its starting point. Then continue dragging the selection to the outside edge of the picture. After selecting the entire picture release the mouse button first and then the Alt.
circular selection
Holding down the Shift key, Click the marquee tool at the the picture and start dragging. The selection will be circular. Or in the elliptical marquee option palette select the style as Constrained Aspect Ratio and enter equal values for height and width.
 fig1 |
 fig2(adding to selection) |
 fig3(final selection) |
 fig4(Subtracting from selection) |
The magic wand tool selects similarly colored areas.For eg. in the fig1 click the magic wand tool anywhere in the yellow color.It will be selected.
 |
For Tolerance, enter a value in pixels, ranging from 0 to 255. Enter a low value to select colors very similar to the pixel you click or a higher value to select a broader range of colors. Select Anti-aliased to define a smooth edge. Select Use All Layers to select colors using data from all the visible layers. Otherwise, the magic wand tool selects colors from the active layer only. |
Lasso tools are used to make freehand and straight-edged selections.
The lasso tool  makes freehand selections. Select lasso tool.Then click on the picture and start dragging to create a free hand out line. You can close the selection between two points by double-clicking the mouse button. |
 |
 |
Specify feather and anti-aliasing options. Feathering blurs edges by building a transition boundary between the selection and its surrounding pixels. Anti-aliasing smoothes the jagged edges of a selection by softening the color transition between edge pixels and background pixels. |
| The polygon lasso tool makes freehand and straight-edged selections.Select polygon lasso tool .Then start clicking to make straight line selections. To create a parallel line between two points, press Shift and click the points you want to connect.ouble-clicking the mouse button. |  |
Photoshop- Magnetic Lasso Tool 
 |
The magnetic lasso tool is used to make free hand selections of an object with height contrast edges.When you draw, the border automatically snaps to the edge you are tracing. Select the tool and click at one point, release the mouse button, and begin tracing the outline by dragging over the curved edges. Notice that the tool snaps to the edge and automatically puts in fastening points. You can add your own fastening points by clicking the mouse button. Also you can remove the fastening points by pressing Delete. |
Magnetic lasso options palette:
| Specify feather and anti-aliasing options. To specify a detection width, enter a pixel value between 1 and 40 for Lasso Width. To specify the rate at which the lasso sets fastening points, enter a value between 0 and 100 for Frequency. A higher value anchors the selection border in place more quickly. To specify the lasso’s sensitivity to edges in the image, enter a value between 1% and 100% for Edge Contrast. A higher value detects only edges that contrast sharply with their surroundings; a lower value detects lower-contrast edges.Select or deselect the Stylus & Pressure option, if you are working with a stylus tablet. When the option is selected, an increase in stylus pressure will cause the lasso width to narrow. |
The crop tool is used to trim the image. Select the crop tool and drag the pointer diagonally from the top left to bottom right corner of the image to make the selection.Press enter key to crop the image.
Adding and subtracting Selections
(1)To add an area to current selection, Hold down the Shift key while you are selection. In fig2 to add the green circle area inside yellow square to previous selection, Hold down the Shift key and click the green circle area. Notice that a + sign appears with the tool indicating that you are adding newly selected area to old one.
(2)To subtract an area from current selection, Hold down the Alt key while you are selection. From fig4 to remove the green circle area inside yellow square, Hold down the Alt key and click the green circle area. Notice that a – sign appears with the tool indicating that you are removing newly selected area from the old one.
Combining Selection tools
 (fig1)Create circle |
 (fig2)add square to circle |
 fig(3) final |
Also You can combine two tool to make a selection.Open a new file. Select elliptical tool. Make a circle(Hold down the Shift key and drag). Then Select rectangular marquee. Holding down the Shift key and create a square.Then release the mouse key. The final selection is shown in fig3.