PAINT A QUICK MASK to make a detailed selection

You can select a rectangular or elliptical area with the marquee tools or select free-form or geometric areas with the lasso tools, or make other selections with the Quick Selection tool. You can also use the Brush tool in Quick Mask mode to make a detailed selection or to adjust any previously selected area. 

The Quick Mask mode is an editing mode in which protected areas are covered with a translucent colored mask. You paint directly on the areas you want to select, adjusting the brush size as you work to make the selection more precise. The quick mask covers the area with a translucent red so you can see what you are selecting. You can also specify a different masking color if the area you are selecting has a lot of red in it. 

Using this masking technique, you are actually masking the areas you paint, so you must invert the selection before making any adjustments. The areas you painted over are then selected, and the remainder of the image is now masked.

1 Click the Zoom tool and click and drag to enlarge the area you want to select. 

2 Click the Default Colors icon to set the foreground color to black and the background to white. 

3 Click the Quick Mask Mode button. 

4 Click the Brush tool. 

5 Click the Brush Preset drop-down menu to open the Brush picker. 

6 Select a hard-edged brush. 

7 Click and drag the Size slider to adjust the size. 

8 Paint over the areas you want to select. 

The painted areas are covered with a red translucent mask. 

Note: Press the left bracket key to reduce the brush size as you work in detailed areas. 

9 Click the Switch Colors icon to reverse the foreground and background colors and make white the foreground color. 

10 Paint over any areas that you do not want selected. 

11 Click the Switch Colors icon to make black the foreground color again. 

12 Continue painting until the whole area is covered in red. 

13 Click the Quick Mask Mode button to turn off the Quick Mask mode. 

A Dashed lines indicate the areas that were covered with the red overlay and are not selected. 

Note: You can optionally press Option+spacebar (Alt+spacebar) to zoom back out to see the edges of the image. 

14 Click Select. 

15 Click Inverse. 

The selection now includes only the area you painted in the Quick Mask mode. 

TIPS

Caution! 

Remember that you are creating a mask, which actually selects the inverse of the area you are painting over. You must invert the selection by clicking Select Inverse before you make adjustments to the selected area. 

Important! 

You may need to feather a selection before you make adjustments. After you invert the selection, click Select Refine Edge to adjust the selection using the Refine Edge panel as in task #25. 

More Options! 

If the image you are painting on is very red, change the masking color. Double-click the Quick Mask Mode button ( ) and click the color box in the Quick Mask Options dialog box to pick a new color. You can also reduce the default mask opacity of 50% if necessary to see the selected area below the mask more clearly.