What is the best way to make a selection?

[uxdesignerwt]

I do product photography. I may have to cut an object out of a picture and replace the background. I have been using the selection brush tool since that's the one I am familiar with, but the edges aren't defined enough for me.  I am getting jagged edges.  I need my edges to be more defined. I am going to attach a picture to explain what I am talking about.  I am using the "focus merge" to merge several pictures together. It is causing a halo around certain edges on the picture. I have my camera on a stand it is not moving. Is there a way to minimize getting a halo when merging files?

[Callum]

Hi uxdesignerwt,

Welcome to the forums

I recommend taking a look at our refining selections tutorial found below.

Thanks

Callum

[AffinityJules]

If you want more accuracy then I would strongly recommend that you use the pen tool, it's way more precise.

[tzvi20]

what is the next step after using the pen tool?

[GarryP]

You can close the shape and use it as a clipping mask (search the Help for clipping, look for Layer Clipping) or, in Photo, you can use one of the “Selection from…” functions in the Select menu.
The best choice will be dependant upon what you want to do next, and later.

[iconoclast]

In general, it depends on what you want to select. E.G. if you want to select geometric figures, I would use a shape or the pen tool to trace the shape of the figure. This will create the most clean and smooth edges. For more complex silhouettes, I would use the Selection Brush - if the contrast to the background is good enough. In some cases, if even the refinery doesn't work good enough, I use a Layer Mask. With a Mask, you can paint pixels away and back by hand as you need it. And you should be aware of that you can combine all this opportunities.

[tzvi20]

I was trying out cut a car from picture.

[iconoclast]

Sorry, I'm late.

I think, I would do this using the Pen Tool. Simply trace the silhouette of the car with the Pen Tool, fill the resulting shape and drag the layer containing the shape on the small preview thumbnail of the image layer that contains the car. That should do the job. If there are  some fragments of the background that must be removed afterwards, you can do that by modelling the curve (click on the tiny arrow on the left side of the layer that contains the car to fold out the layer that contains the curve and click on the curve layer). You can also use a Mask to refine the edges. In that case, click on the Mask Button at the bottom of the Layers Panel to add a mask to the Image Layer. Then paint away the parts you want to delete, with the Brush Tool, using black colour. If you want to restore parts, e.G. parts you deleted by accident, paint them back using white colour. If you set black and white as foreground and background colour in the Colour Panel, you can simply switch between them using the "X"-key. Take care that you are always on the Mask Layer if you want to work on the mask.

Edit: There is an alternative way, that may be a bit better. At first trace the silhouette of the car as described above and fill the resulting shape. Then create a selection out off this layer (menu "Selection" > "Selection from Layer"). Invert the Selection (menu "Selection" > "Invert Selection"). Add a Mask to the image layer. Fill the selection on the mask with black colour. Now all areas outside the selection should be transparent. You can remove the selection now (menu "Selection" > "Deselect"). If there are still areas you want to remove, you can do this by painting with black colour on the mask as described above.

[tzvi20]

this should be helpful thanks.