In the spotlight today is the Marquee Tool. In this blog article we will cover the first Marquee tool which is the Rectangular Marquee tool in the marquee selection drop down list. (The other marquee selection tools will be covered in additional articles – so check back tomorrow!)
Basically, the Rectangular Marquee Tool creates rectangular or square selections and it is available in both Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
Digital Scrapbookers love this tool as it lets us cut digital scrapbooking papers and make great designs in our digital scrapbooking projects. We can select rectangular or square on our photos or digital scrapbooking supply and then do lots of creative things after we have made the selection.
For example in the digital scrapbooking page below, you can see the brown banner behind the framed photo (see the purple arrow pointing to banner). The banner was made by using the marquee tool to select a part of a digital scrapbooking paper, and then dragging the selection to another digital scrapbooking project!
Those doing photo editing also use the marquee tool to select parts of photographs to enhance or change the images.
What is the process of using the Rectangular Marquee Tool?
Here are some helpful hints to use the Rectangular Marquee Tool:
To make just a regular Rectangle selection make sure at the top of the option bar the first selection is chosen. This will allow you to drag out a rectangle and that will be the selection.
To add an area to the existing selection. Choose the Add to selection option on the Options bar or to hold down (Shift) key while selecting. - To
subtract an area from the existing selection you have either to choose the Subtract from selection mode on the Options bar or to hold down (Alt) key while selecting. (Mac: Option) - To intersect an area with
the existing selection you have either to choose the Intersect with selection option on the Options bar or to hold (Shift+Alt) keys while selecting. (Mac: Shift + Option)
Photoshop Option Menu works the same but looks a little different – basically a different color. See example:
Next continue along the Option bar and you will see an an area that will let you soften the edges of the selection, this is called the Feather option. It allows you to type a number in and this will soften the edges of the marquee tool selection. Look below and you can see that edges are more rounded when the feather option is being used. By the way, Photoshop Elements works the same way as Photoshop.
Make a Pre-defined Size Selection:
One thing you can do is make the Marquee tool select pre-defined sizes. To do this go to the Option Bar and do the following:
For Photoshop Elements go to the Mode section and drop down menu and select Fixed Aspect Ratio, then type in values.For Photoshop go to Style and drop down menu and select Fixed Ratio, then type in values.
Hot Tip:
Select a Fixed Size:
- Photoshop Elements: Go to Option bar > Mode > Fixed Size and type in the width and height
- Photoshop: Go to Option Bar > Style > Fixed Size and type in the width and height
More Hot Tips:
To reposition a rectangle marquee, first drag to create the selection border, keeping the mouse button depressed. Then hold down the spacebar and continue to drag. Release the spacebar, but keep the mouse button depressed, if you need to continue adjusting the selection border.
Photoshop Users Only Extras:
Photoshop Users, on the Option Bar you have another button called Refine Edges. When you push this button it lets you refine the edges of your selections more.
You can move the sliders and if the preview button is checked then you can see the changes it makes to your selection.
Try some of these features out, they are handy and give you lots of control and function over your selection you have made with the marquee tool!
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PS. Check back with us tomorrow as we cover the Elliptical Marquee tool!
If you want to learn more about how to use the Marquee tool in digital scrapbooking projects then you should check out the Getting Started in Digital Scrapbooking Series – in these tutorials you learn how to use the Marquee tool to do several digital scrapbooking tasks!
Please check out our Scrap Shop for great video tutorials!
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Do you have any Marquee Tool tips or Stories? Let us know how you Digitally Scrap using the this tool!
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