Hi everyone, Steve Patterson here from
Photoshop Essentials. In this video, I show you how to select objects in your image using the
improved Object Selection Tool in Photoshop 2022, along with its brand new feature called
Object Finder that lets you select objects just by hovering over them! I’ll cover everything
that’s new with the Object Selection Tool in 2022, but I’ll also cover the old ways of using it
from previous versions which we still use today. To learn more about Photoshop, be sure to
subscribe, and let’s get started! I’ll be using this image that I downloaded from Adobe
Stock. The Object Selection Tool is found in the toolbar. And if you click and hold on its
icon, you’ll see that it’s nested in with the Quick Selection Tool and the Magic Wand Tool. I’ll
choose the Object Selection Tool from the list. Before we look at what’s new with the
Object Selection Tool in Photoshop 2022, let’s start with a quick look at how the tool was
used in previous versions. The reason is that we can still use it like this today and there are
lots of times when we need to, especially when it comes to fixing problems with the selection.
So in previous versions, we would start by going up to the Options Bar and setting the tool’s
mode to either Rectangle or Lasso, depending on whether we wanted to draw a rectangular selection
outline or a freeform selection outline around the object. I'll choose Rectangle which is the default
setting. Then to select an object, or in this case a person, we would drag out a selection outline
around them. When you released your mouse button, Photoshop would analyze the image inside the
selected area and would then redraw the selection around the object that it found. To add a second
object to the same selection, we would press and hold the Shift key on the keyboard and drag a
selection outline around the object or person we wanted to add. And to subtract an object from the
selection, we would press and hold the Alt key, or the Option key on a Mac, and drag around them.
We could keep adding objects, or people, to the selection by holding the Shift key and dragging
around them. But notice when I add the guy on the right to the selection that Photoshop missed the
bag on the side. To fix that, I’ll hold my Shift key to add to the existing selection and I’ll
drag around the missing area. And when I release my mouse button, Photoshop re-analyzes that part
of the image and adds the bag to the selection. Now depending on the shape of the object, it might
be easier to draw a freeform selection outline rather than a rectangle. So let’s say I want to
subtract the bag from the selection. I’ll go back to the Options Bar and I’ll change the
tool’s mode from Rectangle to Lasso. Then I’ll hold the Alt key or the Option key on
a Mac and I’ll drag a rough selection around the bag, making sure to surround it without needing
to be precise. I’ll release my mouse button, and the bag is removed. And that’s how the Object
Selection Tool worked in previous versions of Photoshop. But there’s now an even faster way to select objects in 2022 thanks to a new feature
called Object Finder. I’ll remove my current selection outline by going up to the Select menu
and choosing Deselect. Object Finder is found in the Options Bar and is turned on by default.
It uses Adobe’s artificial intelligence known as Adobe Sensei to analyze the entire image looking
for objects that we can select. And you may notice right after you choose the Object Selection Tool
that the Refresh icon next to Object Finder is spinning. This means that Photoshop is analyzing
the image looking for objects, and you’ll want to wait until it stops spinning to let Photoshop
finish what it’s doing. The Object Finder will refresh automatically any time you make a change
to the image. But you can click the icon yourself to refresh it manually. If you don’t want the
Object Finder to refresh automatically, then click the gear icon and change the Object Finder
Mode from Auto Refresh to Manual Refresh. And then it will only refresh when you click the icon
yourself. But usually, Auto Refresh works best. To see the objects that Photoshop found, click the
new Show All Objects icon. And the objects appear highlighted with a blue overlay. So with my image,
Photoshop was able to detect all five people as objects that can be selected. If you find
the blue color hard to see, click the gear icon. And in the Overlay Options, you can choose a
different color. You can also change the opacity of the overlay from the default of 65 percent. And
if you would rather see the overlay as an outline around the objects instead of in front of them,
you can enter a size value into the Outline box. I’ll increase it to 2 pixels. And
if I turn Show All Objects back on, the objects are now highlighted with an outline
or border around them. But I like the standard overlay better, so I’ll click again on the gear
icon and I’ll set the outline back to 0 pixels. I’ll click Show All Objects again, and now we’re
back to the overlay in front. And just a quick tip. You can toggle Show All Objects on and off
from your keyboard. Press and hold the letter N to turn it on, and then release N to turn it off.
If releasing N doesn’t work, just press it again. So with Show All Objects turned on, we’re seeing
a preview of all the objects in the image that the Object Finder detected. But nothing is actually
selected yet. To select one of the objects, first turn Show All Objects off. Then hover your cursor over an object, and
the overlay will appear over just that one object. So as I move across the image,
each object is highlighted separately. To select the highlighted object, all we need
to do is click on it. I’ll click on the guy on the left and Photoshop instantly draws a selection
outline around him. You can then move your cursor away from the object to hide the overlay and view
the selection outline itself. To add a second object or person to the same selection, hover
your cursor over them to highlight them. Then press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard and
click. I’ll add a third person as well by hovering over them, holding Shift, and clicking. To
subtract an object or person from the selection, hover over them to highlight them. Then press
and hold the Alt key, or the Option key on a Mac, and click. And if you want to deselect everything
at once and start over with a new selection, simply click on a different object to select it.
I’ll click on the guy in the center to select him and deselect everyone else. So as we’ve seen, the
Object Finder in Photoshop 2022 can make selecting objects in an image easier than ever. The problem
is, it doesn’t always work perfectly. Notice that even though the Object Finder did a good job
overall at detecting the guy himself, it missed part of the book he’s holding in his hand.
And if I try to add the book to the selection by holding Shift and clicking on it, nothing happens
because the Object Finder doesn’t see it as an object. But earlier, we covered how the Object
Selection Tool used to work in previous versions of Photoshop, where we needed to drag around
objects to select them. And we can use those same methods in Photoshop 2022 to fix problems
when the Object Finder makes a mistake. To add a missing area, first go up to the Options Bar and
set the tool’s mode to either Rectangle or Lasso. I’ll change it back to Rectangle. Then press and
hold the Shift key on your keyboard to add to the existing selection and drag around the missing
area. Release your mouse button, and the missing area is added. If Photoshop missed a spot, like it
did here, then simply hold Shift and drag around it again to clean things up. I’ll add a couple
more people back to the selection by hovering over them, holding Shift, and clicking. But now
watch what happens if I try to subtract the guy in the center by holding the Alt key, or the Option key, and clicking. Photoshop again missed that same part of the book, this time leaving
it selected. To remove it manually, I’ll hold Alt or Option on a Mac and I’ll drag around it.
And now the guy and the book have been removed. But what if the Object Selection Tool just can’t
figure out what it is we’re trying to subtract, no matter how many times we drag around it? Well
there’s one more option in the Options Bar that can help us out. I’ll clear my current selection
by clicking on an empty part of the background. Then I’ll select the woman on the left by hovering
over her and clicking. And notice that Photoshop included the notebooks she’s holding as part of
the selection. But let’s say I want to subtract the notebooks. If you go back to the Options Bar
and click the gear icon, you’ll find an option at the top called Object Subtract which is turned
on by default. Object Subtract is what allows the Object Selection Tool to automatically detect
objects that we want to remove from the selection when we hold the Alt or Option key and drag around
them. It’s basically the opposite of how the Object Selection Tool normally works. Instead of
finding objects to add to the selection, it looks for objects to remove. I’ll leave Object Subtract
turned on for the moment, and I’ll press and hold the Alt or Option key and I’ll drag around the
top part of the notebooks to subtract them. And Photoshop detects the notebooks and removes
them as expected. Then I’ll do the same thing with the bottom part below her arm, holding Alt
or Option and dragging around it. And again, the notebook is detected and removed. But that’s
because Object Subtract was turned on. So I’ll undo those steps and add the notebooks back to
the selection by pressing Ctrl+Z or Command+Z on a Mac a couple of times. Then I’ll go back to the
gear icon and this time, I’ll turn Object Subtract off. And now if I try to subtract the notebooks
by holding Alt or Option and dragging around them, this time Photoshop does not try to detect
any objects within the selected area. Instead, it uses my selection outline itself as the area to
subtract. I’ll do the same thing with the bottom part of the notebook. And again, Photoshop
subtracts everything inside my selection. So turning Object Subtract off removes any
intelligence that the Object Selection Tool had, at least when it comes to subtracting objects. And
instead, it acts like a standard selection tool. So why then would you ever want to turn
Object Subtract off? Well, for the most part, you’ll want to leave it on. But for times when
Photoshop is having trouble detecting the area you're trying to remove, you can turn Object
Subtract off. Then set the tool Mode to Lasso. Zoom in on the area if you need to. And then
hold the Alt key or the Option key on a Mac and manually draw a precise selection around
the exact object or area you need to remove. Now drawing a precise selection with the Lasso
Tool can be a real challenge. So I’ll press Ctrl+Z or Command+Z on a Mac to undo my selection. And
here’s how to switch from the Lasso Tool to the much easier Polygonal Lasso Tool so you can select
areas just by clicking around them. First, since we want to subtract from the selection, press and
hold the Alt key or the Option key on a Mac. Then with the key held down, click and hold your mouse
button to start the selection with the Lasso Tool. Keep your mouse button held down but release the
Alt or Option key. Then press and hold the Alt or Option key again and release your mouse button.
It’s a bit confusing at first, but if you did it right, you’ll switch from the Lasso Tool to the
Polygonal Lasso Tool. Then just keep the Alt or Option key held down and click around the area to
draw your selection as a series of straight lines. Once you’ve made your way back to the starting
point, release the Alt or Option key to complete the selection. I’ll do the same thing
with the bottom part of the notebook. I’ll hold the Alt or Option key and I’ll click and
hold my mouse button to start with the Lasso Tool. Then with my mouse button still down, I’ll release
Alt or Option. And then I’ll hold Alt or Option again, and I’ll release my mouse button. And now
that I’ve switched to the Polygonal Lasso Tool, I’ll click around the area to select it. I’ll
release my Alt or Option key to complete the selection. And now both parts of the notebooks
have been removed. Now since you won’t always need to subtract an area manually like this, make
sure to go back to the gear icon when you’re done and turn Object Subtract back on. Once you have
your objects selected, you’ll usually need to refine the selection and clean up any rough edges
by switching over to Photoshop’s Select and Mask workspace. Which you can get to by clicking the
Select and Mask button in the Options Bar. But since Select and Mask is a whole other topic,
I’ll cover it in a separate video. Instead, I’m going to use the Object Selection Tool to
help me create a quick selective color effect. I want to select two of the people in my image,
leave them in color, and turn the rest of the image to black and white. So I’ll start by
clicking on the woman on the left to select her. Then I’ll add the woman on the right by holding
my Shift key and clicking. So I now have the two people selected. But what I really need is
to have everything except for them selected, which means I need to invert my selection.
To do that, I’ll go up to the Select menu and I’ll choose Inverse. And we can see by
the selection outline around the edges that the selection is inverted. I’ll add a Black and
White adjustment layer by going to the Layer menu, choosing New Adjustment Layer,
and then Black and White. I’ll click OK to close the New Layer dialog box.
And Photoshop instantly converts the selection to black and white while leaving the two people I
initially selected in color. And just to quickly see what happened, if we look in the Layers panel,
we see that Photoshop added a Black and White adjustment layer above my image, which means the
image and the effect are separate from each other. And the layer mask preview thumbnail shows us
that Photoshop converted my selection into a layer mask. The white part of the mask is the
area that was selected and where the adjustment layer is affecting the image. And the black
part was the area not selected that remains in color. And there we have it! That’s how to select
objects in your image using the Object Selection Tool and the new Object Finder in Photoshop 2022.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve used the Object Finder and what you think of it. And if
you found this video helpful, don’t forget to click the Like button and subscribe to my channel
to learn more about Photoshop. As always, thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.
I’m Steve Patterson from Photoshop Essentials.
