In Summary

Here's the thing with the Selection tools: they're fast and convenient, but as I mentioned earlier, they're a bit blunt. Sometimes, depending on your intent, an accurate selection may not be necessary and a general selection will suffice. Sometimes what you need to select will be a rectangular or elliptical shape or a shape conveniently made up of nice straight-sided segments. Other times you will need to make selections of subjects that twist and turn, are sometimes crisp and sometimes vague, and that are shot against backgrounds that offer little or no contrast. When working with such images, the selections you make with the Selection tools are a start, but that's all they are. The Lassos, Marquees, and the Magic Wand will get you 90% of the way there, but for that remaining 10% (which always takes way more than 10% of the time), you'll need to use Quick Masks, which we'll cover in the next chapter.