The Magic Wand tool selects pixels within a similar color range with one click. By experimenting with the tool options before making your final selection you will end up with a clear and crisp extraction, thus removing the need for fiddly and time consuming removal of stray pixels and jagged edges.
Options functions:
Tolerance
Entering a low value will select colors very similar to the pixel you click, or enter a higher value to select a broader range of colors. (values can be set from 0 to 255). Between 30 to 100 is a good place to start
Anti-aliased
Check/Select Anti-alias. Anti-aliasing smoothes the jagged edges of a selection by softening the color transition between edge pixels and background pixels. Because only the edge pixels change, no detail is lost.
(Contiguous selects adjacent areas using the same colours do not select
Sample All Layers selects colours using data from all visible layers do not select)
Your photograph or image must have clear and defined edges.
(In this instance I chose to delete the background, again you can experiment at this stage)
Start with a transparent layer
Duplicate your original image Ctrl J and hide the original by clicking on the eye next to it in the layers palette (it is always handy to have a spare original)
TIP work on a full screen Ctrl+ to enlarge image to fit screen. It also helps to delete as much of the back ground. DO NOT USE THE ERASER. Use lasso tool or marquee tools (select the area to delete press delete)
In the Editor, select the Magic Wand tool
Set Magic Wand tool options in the options bar
YOU MUST select Anti-alias before making your selection
Now experiment with the tolerance value (I started with 30 and ended with 50, notice how almost the entire flower is outlined by marching ants the some of the green, the flower centre and a couple of stray pixels top left have not been selected)
Now click on the add to selection icon (see photo 1) and continue to click on each stray area with the magic wand tool. (in this instance the flower centre was too dark so I decided to delete it also and use the centre from my original image)
TIP
Before deleting I like to tweak the selection a little more. Again it is worth experimenting here. Keep in mind you can go to Undo History (in layers palette) to get back to your original selection before selecting feather & expand.
Go to Select Feather (for this image I set the pixel value to 2 pixels only) then
Select Expand (I set 2 pixels this makes the selection of the background pixels a fraction bigger/closer to the petals)
Then press delete or back space to remove/delete the background pixels.
TIP
Because in my example I could not successfully select the flower centre, below are the steps I used to add the original flower centre.
NOTE: Anti-aliasing can also be used with the Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, Magnetic Lasso, and Elliptical Marquee tools, just remember to select Anti-alias before making your selection.
Enjoy experimenting and please feel free to post any questions you may have in the forum.
Making the most of your Magic Wand Tool - PSE 5
SITE STATISTICS
