Which one you choose?

If you have worked with previous versions of Adobe Photoshop, you will surely notice that Photoshop CS3 is packed with new features and enhancements of old ones. One new command in CS3 is the Refine Edge tool.

The Refine Edge tool is built to replace the Selection Feather command, but with improvements to allow easy image selection and editing. With one click of a button, you can easily feather, contract, or expand a selection. The Refine Edge also provides previews in various modes (Quick Mask, on black or white background, etc.) to let you know how your selection will turn out.

Additionally, the Refine Edge tool can also be used in tune with any selection tool in Photoshop (including the Quick Selection tool) by simply clicking the Refine Edge button at option. You can also click Select > Refine Edge from the menus, or hit Ctrl + Shift + R (or Cmd + Shift + R for Mac users) on your keyboard.

Before you start using the Refine Edge tool, here are a few options that you should know:

• Radius: counts the size of the area around the selection boundary, where the edge refinement will occur
• Contrast: used to sharpen selection edges and also to remove fuzziness. Increasing contrast can clear away unwanted noise near selection edges because of high radius setting
• Smooth: used to reduce the jagged edges in the selection boundary and create a smoother outline
• Feather: creates a smooth transition between the selection and its surrounding pixels
• Contract/expand: shrinks or enlarges the selection boundary

To see how your selection will turn out, use the Selection View. There are five modes that you can choose from: standard selection, Quick Mask, on black background, on white background and as mask (Alpha Channel). To change the view modes, click the icons or hit “F” on your keyboard.

If you want to restore the setting to default, hold down the Alt (Opt) key and click when the Cancel button turns into Reset. You can also turn off the preview by deselecting Preview. To zoom in on an image area, you can use Ctrl + Click (or Cmd + Click for Mac). To zoom out, use Alt + Click (or Opt + Click).
Now that you know the basic knowledge and how the Refine Edge tool works, you can use it to help you edit selections or extract detail-rich images that used to be hard work to do.

M.A.H.

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