How to Use Object Selection, Remove Background, and the Selection Brush in Photoshop

How to Use Object Selection, Remove Background, and the Selection Brush in Photoshop

Selections determine the quality and flexibility of almost every edit you make in Photoshop. Three modern tools — the Object Selection tool, Remove Background with Harmonize, and the Selection Brush — handle the most common selection tasks with far less manual effort, while keeping your original image intact through non-destructive layers.

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Video by Adobe Photoshop. Any links or downloads mentioned by the creator are available only on YouTube

Practical Tips

These techniques from the tutorial will help you work more precisely and stay flexible throughout your edits.

  • Use Shift+click to add objects to a selection with the Object Selection tool, and Alt/Option+click to remove any accidental picks.
  • After selecting your subjects, invert the selection before applying an adjustment layer so the effect targets only the areas you want unchanged.
  • After removing a background, use Harmonize to match the extracted subject's lighting and color to the new scene — it also generates a shadow automatically.
  • With the Selection Brush, close a freehand stroke into a lasso shape by connecting back to your starting point, and Photoshop fills the area automatically.
  • Build complex Generative Fill results in separate steps — one selection per element — so each generation sits on its own layer and can be adjusted independently.

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