THE PHOTOSHOP CS2 HELP DESK BOOK [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

What is feathering?

Feathering softens the edges of a selection.A Feather of 0 pixels means the selection has a hard, sharp edge, while a Feather of 5 pixels will have softer edges. The higher the number, the softer the effect.

How do I set the feathering for a selection?

Before you make a selection, change the Feather amount in the Options Bar; after you've made a selection, from the Select menu choose Feather; or Control-click (PC: Right-click) and choose Feather from the contextual menu.

Note:
You can only add more feathering with the Select>Feather command, not reduce feathering by entering a lower number.

How do I know how much feathering to use? I can't really see the effects of feathering until several steps later. Is there another way to make a feathered selection so I can predict what the feathering will look like?

Here's a possible solution: Make a selection with no feathering and then inverse the selection (Select>Inverse). Press Q to enter Quick Mask mode. You'll see a red overlay that represents your selection. Now use the Gaussian Blur filter (Filter>Blur) to try different blur settings. This gives the same result as a feathered selection, but with a little more interaction and prediction of the final result.

Is it possible to reduce the amount of feathering?

Short of deselecting and starting over again, the only other way that might help is to change to Quick Mask (by pressing Q), go to Image>Adjustments>Adjust Brightness/Contrast, and play around with the Contrast slider by dragging it to the right to increase it. As you do, the softness of the mask will change.

Is it possible to remove feathering from a selection?

Press Q to change to Quick Mask mode. Then use Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast and increase the Contrast to around +98. The feathering will be removed, but the roundness will remain. Otherwise, you would have to deselect (Command-D [PC: Control-D]), change the feathering option for your selection tool, and re-create the selection.

Why do my selection tools always have feathering? Sometimes, when I go to use my selection tools, some feathering appears. Why does that only happen sometimes?

Remember, Photoshop has a long memory for tool settings. So if you changed the Feather amount in the Options Bar for a tool and left it at that setting, that will be the "default" setting for the tool until you change it. You can avoid that in a number of ways:

Always check the Feather option before you use a tool.

Always put the Feather amount back to 0 pixels in the Options Bar after using the tool.

Don't change the Feather for the tool in the Options Bar; instead, add feathering after making the selection by Control-clicking (PC: Right-clicking) within the selection and choosing Feather. (This way you are not changing the default amount.)

Create a couple of different tool presets: one with feathering, one without.

Is there a quick way to add more feathering?

With an active selection, Control-click (PC: Right-click) and from the contextual menu choose Feather. Enter an amount in the resulting dialog and click OK. (This is a great alternative to entering a Feather amount in the Options Bar, which changes your default setting for that tool. This way, you leave the default at 0 pixels and add feathering as necessary.)