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How to Use the Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop Elements

4 min read

Why the Quick Selection Tool Changes Everything

Imagine you want to brighten just your grandchildren's faces in a group photo, or swap out a dull sky behind your anniversary dinner shot. To do any of this, you first need to select the part of the photo you want to change — and that's where the Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop Elements becomes your best friend.

Unlike clicking one colour at a time, the Quick Selection Tool lets you paint over an area, and PSE automatically finds the edges for you. It's almost like magic — you brush loosely over your subject, and Photoshop Elements figures out where the person ends and the background begins.

For family photo editors who want fast, accurate selections without learning complicated techniques, this tool hits the sweet spot between speed and precision.

Finding the Quick Selection Tool

Open any photo in Advanced mode in Photoshop Elements. Look at the Toolbox on the left side of your screen. The Quick Selection Tool shares a spot with the Selection Brush Tool — you may need to click and hold the icon to reveal both options.

Alternatively, press the A key on your keyboard to jump straight to it. You'll know you have the right tool when your cursor turns into a small circle with a plus sign inside.

How to Make Your First Selection

Let's walk through selecting a person from a family photo:

  1. 1Open your photo in Advanced mode by clicking Advanced at the top of the Editor window.
  1. 1Select the Quick Selection Tool from the Toolbox (or press A).
  1. 1In the Tool Options bar at the bottom of the screen, set your brush size. Start with a medium size — around 30–50 pixels works well for most family photos.
  1. 1Click and drag your brush over the subject you want to select. Paint inside the person, pet, or object you're targeting.
  1. 1Watch as Photoshop Elements automatically expands your selection to find the edges. Marching ants (the animated dotted line) appear around the detected area.
  1. 1Continue painting over any missed areas. PSE adds them to your existing selection.

Refining Your Selection

The Quick Selection Tool rarely gets everything perfect on the first pass — and that's completely normal. Here's how to clean things up:

  1. 1To add to your selection, keep painting with the tool. By default, it's set to add mode (the plus sign in your cursor).
  1. 1To subtract from your selection (remove areas you accidentally included), hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) while painting. The cursor changes to show a minus sign.
  1. 1For tricky edges like hair or fur, make your brush smaller using the Size slider in the Tool Options bar. Smaller brushes give you more control around detailed areas.
  1. 1If you need even more precision around hair or fuzzy edges, click Refine Edge in the Tool Options bar after making your initial selection. This opens additional controls specifically designed for difficult edges.

Practical Uses for Family Photo Editors

Once you've made a selection, the creative possibilities open up:

  • Brighten faces: With people selected, go to Enhance → Adjust Lighting → Brightness/Contrast to lighten just your subjects while leaving the background unchanged.
  • Change backgrounds: Select your subject, then use Select → Inverse to select everything except them. Now you can delete, blur, or replace the background.
  • Adjust colours selectively: Select a faded sunset sky, then use Enhance → Adjust Color → Hue/Saturation to make the oranges and pinks more vibrant without affecting skin tones.
  • Remove colour casts from clothing: Select just a shirt or dress that looks too blue under indoor lights, then correct only that portion.

Tips for Better Selections Every Time

Start inside, work outward: Begin painting well inside your subject, then gradually move toward the edges. This helps PSE understand what you're trying to select.

Use short strokes: Rather than one long continuous brush stroke, use several shorter ones. This gives you more control and makes it easier to undo individual mistakes.

Check the Auto-Enhance option: In the Tool Options bar, tick the Auto-Enhance checkbox. This tells Photoshop Elements to automatically improve edge detection as you paint.

Save your selection: If you've spent time perfecting a tricky selection, save it for later by going to Select → Save Selection. Name it something memorable like "Grandma portrait" so you can reload it anytime via Select → Load Selection.

When to Use a Different Tool

The Quick Selection Tool works brilliantly for subjects with clear edges against contrasting backgrounds — a person against a blue sky, a red toy on a white table. For angular shapes like buildings or picture frames, the Polygonal Lasso Tool might serve you better. For selections based purely on colour, try the Magic Wand Tool.

The beauty of Photoshop Elements is having the right tool for each job. Now that you know how the Quick Selection Tool works, you've added one of the most versatile selection methods to your editing toolkit.

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