Photoshop Tutorials 2013: Magic Wand Tool

You can make selections with a number of tools. But have you ever tried making a selection with the Magic wand Tool? Perhaps not. It can also be done. But I personally think that the Pen Tool is the best for making a selection. But let us try the Magic Wand and see if it can really work magic.

If you have a photo like this using the Magic wand is easy.

Step 1 : Click the Magic wand Tool to select it.

Step 2 : In the top panel set the Tolerance at 20. Also check the Anti-alias and Contiguous. The default Tolerance is set at 50. You can even begin by setting a Tolerance of 10.

Step 3 : Click anywhere in the white background with the Magic Wand. You will immediately get a selection of 'marching ants.

Step 4 : Hold SHIFT and click on the unselected parts. When you hold down shift you will find a tiny plus sign appear beside the Magic wand. Select the unselected areas.

Step 5 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to inverse the selection. Now only the figure is selected by the 'marching ants'.

Step 6 : Press CTRL+J. The selection will be copied and pasted on a new Layer 1. Look at the Layers pallette

Step 7 : Click off the eye icon in the Background layer.

Step 8 : The White Background has been deleted. This method will work for images on a uniformly colored background. This part is easy.

Now let us try something more complex.

Step 9 : I am setting the Tolerance at 10.
Step 10 : I have clicked once on the left of the image and a large portion is selected.

Step 11 : Now holding down SHIFT I have clicked on the unselected areas on the left. The entire left side is now selected.

Step 12 : Keeping SHIFT pressed keep clicking while changing the Tolerance from 10 to 15 to 20. If select wrongly press CTRL+Z to undo the last step. Or to undo more steps go to Edit>Step Backward.

Step 13 : I am varying the Tolerance as I click in different portions to select. It will depend on your image.

Step 14 : The entire background has been selected.

Step 15 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to inverse the selection. Then press CTRL+J to copy and paste the selection to a new layer. Lastly turn of the eye icon in the Background layer as earlier shown in Steps 5 and 6. The background will be deleted.

Step 16 : Open a new white layer and drag it on top with the Move Tool.

Step 17 : Press CTRL+SHIFT+[ to send the white layer to the back.

Step 18 : Zoom into the image and you might notice that some minor spots have remained behind.

Step 19 : Click on the erazer Tool. You should also make the tip soft. To do that hold SHIFT and press the [ (left bracket a number of times). Alternately to make the tip hard press SHIFT and ] (right bracket)
Step 20 : You are on the white layer (Layer 2). Therefore click back to Layer 1.

Step 21 : Zoom into the image and wipe away the spots gently. Switch between a large brush tip and a small brush tip. To make the tip large press the ] (right bracket) and to make it small [ (left bracket).

Step 22 : You can see that the selection is not that bad as the hair has been cleanly selected as also the rest of the image.

Step 23 : You can even put a new background to the image. Note that when you do so, the edges especially near the hair appear light. That has to be fixed.