Make an initial selection with any of the selection tools. Open the Select and Mask workspace by choosing Select > Select and Mask, or by clicking Select and Mask in the Options bar for any of the selection tools.

Tip: Alternatively, you can open the Select and Mask workspace first, and use the selection tools there to make your initial selection.

Choose a view

In the Select and Mask workspace, go to the View menu and choose a view mode.

For example, if you choose the Overlay view, selected areas appear transparent and nonselected areas are highlighted in red. You can drag the Transparency slider to control the opacity of the red overlay.

Use Select and Mask tools

Use the tools in the panel on the left, with their Add to selection and Subtract from selection options, to clean up the selection.

• Use the Quick Selection tool to select automatically based on similar tones and image edges.
• Use the Refine Edge Brush tool for more precise selection of soft edges, like hair or fur.
• Use the Brush tool to paint selections where you want them.
• Use the Lasso tool for making free-form selections and the Polygonal Lasso tool for selecting straight edges.

Fine-tune the selection

Use controls in the Properties panel on the right of the Select and Mask workspace to further fine-tune selection edges.

For example, drag the Smooth slider to the right to make selection edges smoother. Drag the Contrast slider to the right to make selection edges crisper. If you notice a fringe of unwanted color at a soft selection edge, check Decontaminate Colors and drag the Amount slider.

Output from Select and Mask

Go to the Output To menu in the Properties panel and choose an output method. For example, if you choose New layer with layer mask, your selection will be represented as a flexible layer mask on a new layer in the Layers panel.

Click OK to close the Select and Mask workspace and return to the main workspace.