How to Use the Selection Tools in Affinity Photo
Posted on 19th June 2023
Affinity Photo is a great photo editing software with a wide variety of selection tools. In this article, we’ll go over how to use some of the most common selection tools in Affinity Photo.
Lasso Tool
The lasso tool is a great way to make a freehand selection. To use the lasso tool, simply click and drag your mouse around the area you want to select.
Polygonal Lasso Tool
The polygonal lasso tool is similar to the lasso tool, but instead of making a freehand selection, you click to create anchor points. To use the polygonal lasso tool, simply click around the perimeter of the area you want to select.
Magnetic Lasso Tool
The magnetic lasso tool is great for making selections around objects with clearly defined edges. To use the magnetic lasso tool, click around the perimeter of the object you want to select. The tool will automatically create anchor points as you move your mouse.
Quick Selection Tool
The quick selection tool is a great way to quickly select an object. To use the quick selection tool, simply click and drag your mouse over the object you want to select. The tool will automatically create a selection around the object.
Refine Edge Tool
The refine edge tool is a great way to fine-tune your selections. To use the refine edge tool, simply select the object you want to select and then click the refine edge button. This will bring up a new window with a variety of options for refining your selection.
Selection Brush Tool
The selection brush tool is a great way to quickly select an object. To use the selection brush tool, simply click and drag your mouse over the object you want to select. The tool will automatically create a selection around the object.
Magic Wand Tool
The magic wand tool is a great way to quickly select an object. To use the magic wand tool, simply click on the object you want to select. The tool will automatically create a selection around the object.
In the first part of this series, we looked at the three main ways to make selections in Affinity Photo: the Rectangle, Lasso and Pen tools. We also briefly touched on the Selection Brush. In this second part, we’re going to look at the Selection Brush in more detail, as well as two other selection tools: the Magic Wand and the Quick Selection.
The Selection Brush
The Selection Brush is a very versatile tool. As well as being able to make detailed selections, it can also be used for a variety of other tasks such as masking, retouching and even painting.
To use the Selection Brush, simply select it from the toolbar and then start painting over the area you want to select. By default, the Selection Brush will add to your selection, but you can also hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) to subtract from your selection.
If you make a mistake, you can always use the Undo command (Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z) to go back a step.
The Quick Selection
The Quick Selection tool is similar to the Selection Brush in that it can be used to quickly and easily make selections. However, the Quick Selection tool has one big advantage: it can automatically detect the edges of an object.
To use the Quick Selection tool, simply select it from the toolbar and then click and drag over the area you want to select. The Quick Selection tool will automatically detect the edges of the object and make a selection.
If you want to add to your selection, simply hold down the Shift key and click and drag over the additional area. To subtract from your selection, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) and click and drag.
The Magic Wand
The Magic Wand tool is another quick and easy way to make selections. It works by selecting pixels that are similar in color to the pixel you click on.
To use the Magic Wand tool, simply select it from the toolbar and then click on the area you want to select. The Magic Wand tool will automatically select all adjacent pixels that are similar in color.
If you want to select all pixels that are similar in color, regardless of whether they are adjacent or not, simply hold down the Shift key and click on the additional areas. To deselect pixels, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) and click on the area you want to deselect.
Making a Selection
Now that we’ve looked at the various selection tools, let’s put them to use and see how they can be used to make a selection.
In this example, we’re going to make a selection of the woman’s face. First, we’ll use the Quick Selection tool to quickly make a selection of her face. Then, we’ll switch to the Selection Brush and use it to fine-tune our selection.
1. Select the Quick Selection tool from the toolbar.
2. Click and drag over the area you want to select. The Quick Selection tool will automatically detect the edges of the object.
3. Switch to the Selection Brush.
4. Paint over the areas you want to add to your selection.
5. To subtract from your selection, hold down the Alt key (Windows) or Option key (macOS) and paint over the areas you want to deselect.
6. When you’re happy with your selection, go to the Select menu and choose Invert Selection. This will invert your selection so that everything except the face is selected.
7. To save your selection, go to the Select menu and choose Save Selection. This will save your selection as an alpha channel.
And that’s how you can use the selection tools in Affinity Photo to make a selection. In the next part of this series, we’ll look at how to use the Selection tools to mask an image.
