Selection brush?

[karri]

I'm using Photoshop CS3, coming from Elements 4. I seem to remember in Elements there was a Selection Brush, where you could use a brush to fill in places you missed in your selections. I can't seem to find this in PS CS3. Is it not there or am I missing it? Or am I misremembering?
TIA

[Bob]

Yes, Photoshop Elements has a selection Brush. And, No, Photoshop CS3 doesn't. Photoshop has other selection tools.

Quick Mask is probably the closest to the PSE Selection Brush. When you activate Quick Mask, you paint on the image to create or modify a selection like you do with the PSE Selection Brush. It works a little differently though and actually has more capability than the PSE Selection Brush.

You enter Quick Mask mode by either clicking on the Quick Mask Mode button in the tool bar or typing the letter Q. You exit Quick Mask mode by clicking on the button or typing Q again. Before you use Quick Mask mode, I'd recommend that you change the default setting for it. Double click on the Quick Mask mode button in the toolbar and choose the Color indicates "selected areas" option. The default is the "masked areas" option and that leads to a lot of confusion for most people. "Selected area" is a lot more intuitive. It will also look like the PSE Selection Brush in that tool's mask mode.

quickmask.jpg

When you enter Quick Mask mode, you will paint on the image with the Brush tool to modify the selection. The foreground and background colors will automatically become white and black and you can switch between them by using the X key. Black will add to or create a selection, and white will remove from a selection. You won't see marching ants, instead you will see a red overlay. If you changed the default to "selected areas", the red area represents the selected areas. When you exit Quick Mask mode, the red areas become a selection and you will see the marching ants.

While in Quick Mask mode, you can use the other selection tools to select a portion of the image to fill with black or white or gray and you can use filters like gaussian blur (or the blur tool) to feather the selection. A soft brush will have a feathered edge, a hard brush will have a hard edge.

In addition to the Quick Mask mode, take a look at the Photoshop Quick Selection Tool also.

[karri]

Thanks Bob! I will give this a try

[Gerlinde]

I don't have CS3 installed anymore, but I believe, there is a selection brush in the tool bar to left. It looks like a brush with a dotted selection line around it. It might be hidden and you have to click on the little triangle on the currently showing selection tool. Once you have your object selected, you can refine your selection by going to >selection>modify selection and choose one of the options displayed.
You can feather your selection to make the borders blend in better, or you can expand or contract your selection.

[Bob]

...It looks like a brush with a dotted selection line around it.

That's the Quick Selection Tool.

And, I do recommend that Karri take a look at it.

[Gerlinde]

You are absolutely right Bob, I guess I miss understood Karri's post.

[karri]

Thanks Bob! This worked great. I had made my selections, but I needed to refine a couple spots that I couldn't quite get with the other tools. Also, definitely helpful to change the default to Selected Area, as you said it worked much like PSE's Selection Brush

[karri]

I don't have CS3 installed anymore, but I believe, there is a selection brush in the tool bar to left. It looks like a brush with a dotted selection line around it. It might be hidden and you have to click on the little triangle on the currently showing selection tool. Once you have your object selected, you can refine your selection by going to >selection>modify selection and choose one of the options displayed.
You can feather your selection to make the borders blend in better, or you can expand or contract your selection.

Thanks for the tips!