How to use quick selection in Photoshop

Photoshop CS3 and above comes with a useful and powerful Quick selection tool. Let's see how it works.

Open a picture you want to select an object from.

I've chosen a 2011 Dodge Challenger.

Choose Quick Selection Tool (W for a keyboard shortcut).

If you don't see the Quick Selection Tool, click and hold the button for a second.

Set the Quick Selection Tool size to aprox. 5 px.

You can be more accurate with a smaller diameter.

Now start clicking the object (car in my case). Click near the edges of the object you want to select, but don't go over.

You can hold the mouse button and drag the mouse over the car. Or you can click your way step-by-step.

Don't worry if the selection looks a bit of like mine, we will "bring it home" in the next few steps.

Click Substract from selection.

Now start clicking the area that was selected but it wasn't suppose to be.

Click or drag your mouse at the edges, but on the outside of the object.

Zoom in on the details ...

...and correct the problem zones.

You can always switch back to Add to selection if some car parts are still outside of the selection...

...and fix the problem area.

The selection should look something like this.

Now we're going to make the selection a little bit smoother on the edges.

Klick Select and Refine Edge (Alt+Ctrl+R for the keyboard shortcut)

Set the Smooth to 5 px or less and feather to less then 2 px.

You can observe the changes in the left pane, when satisfied click OK.

One more last thing, we're going to copy the selection we just made into a new layer.

Click Layer > New > Layer via Copy (Ctrl+J for a keyboard shortcut)

Now you can use your cut out object anywhere you like.