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- How the Lasso tool works and when you should use it
- The Lasso tool’s advantages over other Photoshop selection tools
- Step-by-step guidelines on how to use the Lasso tool
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An Introduction to Photoshop’s Lasso Tool
Photoshop’s Lasso tool is a selection tool that makes it easy to select objects in your images by clicking and dragging around them.
The Main Uses of the Lasso Tool
The Lasso tool is most commonly used for two tasks:
- Selecting specific parts of an image: The Lasso tool lets you create selections by hand, which means that you can make precise selections that target specific parts of an image. For instance, if you’re working with an image of a tree and you want to select just one specific branch on the tree, the Lasso tool could help you make that selection quickly and accurately. Other selection tools, such as the Rectangular Marquee tool, would not enable you to select among the nooks and crannies of the various branches. Though the Lasso tool works particularly well with odd-shaped elements, such as tree branches, it can work just as well in selecting more conventionally shaped objects.
- Creating odd shapes: The Lasso tool also makes it possible to create shapes of your own design. Though tools such as the Rectangular Marquee tool and the Elliptical Marquee tool make it easy to create rectangles and ellipses, the Lasso tool lets you create any shape you need by hand. If you’re using Photoshop CS2 or later, you’d likely use the Polygonal Lasso tool to create shapes rather than the standard Lasso tool.
How the Lasso Tool Works
The Lasso tool is a freehand selection tool, which means that you control the selections (or shapes) it makes entirely by hand. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of how the tool works.
- With the Lasso tool active, you click on the image next to the area that you’d like to select—you do not click on (or within) the part of the image that you intend to select.
- With the mouse button held down, you then drag around the area that you’d like to select by hand, just as a cowboy would throw his lasso around the neck of a horse (hence the tool’s name). Usually it’s best to trace the contours of the area you’d like to select as closely as possible to its edges to avoid selecting any extraneous elements. As you trace, a faint gray line will trail your mouse to mark your selection’s boundary.
- Once you’ve “lassoed” (surrounded) the area that you’d like to select, you release the mouse button, and Photoshop automatically completes the selection—a line of “marching ants” will indicate the shape of the selection. Photoshop automatically completes the selection by adding a line that connects the first pixel you clicked on with the pixel on which you released the mouse button, so try to make the final pixel that you land on as close as possible to the first pixel that you clicked on.
After you’ve created a selection with the Lasso tool, you can change the selection’s content in various ways, such as by adding to it, subtracting from it, or refining its edges. Note that before you click to make a selection, you can adjust the Lasso tool’s settings to specify whether Photoshop should soften the edges of the selection, smooth the transition between the selection and the rest of the image, and so on. Adjusting these settings before using the Lasso tool often yields more satisfying selections on the first try. For more on how to adjust these settings, see “Step 1: Select a Feathering Amount” and “Step 2: Choose Whether to Use Anti-Alias” in How to Use Photoshop’s Lasso Tool.
How to Access Photoshop’s Lasso Tool
The Lasso tool is located near the top of Photoshop’s Tools palette in the same button that houses the Polygonal Lasso tool and the Magnetic Lasso tool (two specialized variations on the standard Lasso tool). The Lasso tool’s icon looks like a tiny lasso . If you don’t see the Lasso icon in the Tools palette, you can find it as follows:
- Click the Polygonal Lasso tool icon or the Magnetic Lasso tool icon located in the Tools palette and move your cursor to the right.
- A submenu will appear to the right in which you can select the Lasso tool. (You can also press Shift+W repeatedly to toggle between the Quick Selection tool and the Lasso tool.)
The Lasso Toolbar
Once you select the Lasso tool, the Lasso toolbar will appear just under the main Photoshop toolbar at the top of your screen.
The Lasso toolbar contains several options and features unique to the Lasso tool, all of which are explained later in this guide.
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