Special Edition Using Adobe Creative Suite 2

IN THIS CHAPTER

Telling Photoshop Where to Work 146

Working with the Selection Tools 148

Working with Selection Commands 156

Understanding Alpha Channels and Masks 161

Paths: Working with Vectors in Photoshop 164

Using Photoshop's Shape Layers 176

Clipping Paths and Vector Masks 179

Selections are used to identify pixels that are to be the target of your editing. Selections are stored in masks, which can be used to create complex selections. Masks are also used to show and hide parts of a layer or an image. Photoshop has many tools and commands available for creating selections and masks.

Photoshop uses vector paths in a variety of ways, for a variety of purposes, including converting to selections. Paths are nonprinting, mathematical descriptions of lines and shapes, also called Bézier curves. They can be used to precisely define selections, create objects, and even be used to clip out portions of the image for page layout programs.

This chapter looks at how selections and paths work, as well as the tools and commands you use to make them and apply transformations to them.