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What is Smart Radius in Photoshop

I know that you see Smart Radius checkbox in Photoshop every day. I also know that you also never bothered to check what is smart radius for months or maybe for years.

Allow me to explain to you what’s smart radius in Photoshop.

What is Radius in Photoshop?

Before we understand further, let’s understand what’s Radius in Photoshop.

Radius in Photoshop determines the size of the selection border in which edge refinement occurs. Use a small radius for sharp edges, and a large one for softer edges.

What is Smart Radius in Photoshop?

Smart Radius in Photoshop helps in edge detection.

Smart Radius allows for a variable width refinement around the edge of your selection. There are many cases where you can use the Smart Radius. Among those cases, this option is helpful if your selection is a portrait that includes both hair and shoulders. In such portraits, the hair might require a larger refinement area than the shoulders.
-Source: Adobe Official Website

Should I always use Smart Radius in Photoshop?

Personally, I see that the Smart Radius is doing any good when I need to select hair.

Let me show you why. Here’s an image of the hair. I am going to roughly select the hair. One time I’ll turn on Smart Radius and another time I won’t.

Scenario 1: Smart Radius is turned on

Scenario 2: Smart Radius is turned off

Note: In both images, I have not done any kind of refinement with the Refine Edge brush.

You can clearly see that the Smart Radius keeps more hair. I can further refine the selection with the Refine Edge brush.

Places where you see Smart Radius

The only place where you can find (as far as I remember) Smart Radius is Select and Mask. You can find Smart Radius in the Refine Edge in older versions of Photoshop.

The Brand New Select Subject in Photoshop

Hey guys, welcome the brand new Select Subject in Photoshop. I received a notification on my Creative Cloud that a new version of Photoshop is available. I quickly checked what Adobe has added to Photoshop and I saw the Select Subject.

I quickly updated my Photoshop to use this tool. I had already guessed what this feature does by its name. Yes, you are correct. This feature tries to find the subject in the photo. I cannot say that Select Subject in Photoshop is flawless and I am expecting few improvements in this feature in the upcoming months.

Time to try it. Fig 1 shows the lion that I selected with the help of Select Subject.

Let’s begin with the tutorial, guys.

What is Select Subject in Photoshop?

Select Subject feature in Photoshop tries to find the subject in the photo. It uses artificial intelligence to draw a selection around the subjection.

Where is Select Subject in Photoshop Located?

The feature is hidden in Photoshop. You need to grab either Quick Selection or Magic Wand tool by pressing W to see it. Fig 2 shows the exact location.

You can also use it by going to Select>Select Subject.

How to Use Select Subject in Photoshop?

Umm. Just click on it and that’s it. 😀

Did you notice that Photoshop automatically selects the subject in Fig 3? I did not need to make the selection using any tool. It was a one-click selection. Just one and then bam.

The selection made by Select Subject in Photoshop is not flawless. You need to refine the selection. I am going to use Select and Mask feature to refine the selection. Go to Select>Select and Mask.

I have highlighted the imperfection in Fig 3 that I am going to fix with Select and Mask.

The first thing that I am going to do is grab the Refine Edge Brush Tool (press E in Select and Mask). Now I am going to use it on the edges.

Pro Tip: Whenever you use Refine Edge Brush Tool, make sure that the center of the brush is outside the subject. If you can’t keep it outside, increase the size of the brush.

Look at Fig 5 to see how beautiful the selection is made.

In case you haven’t noticed, I did not even touch the controls on the right side. The selection is made just with the help of Select Subject and Select and Mask. Press OK to make the selection.

This is all guys.

Share this tutorial with your friends and family.

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Welcome the Brand New Select and Mask in Photoshop 2017

Hey, folks! it’s been a few weeks since I have uploaded a new article on TrickyPhotoshop. I must say that I am quite busy with my another venture, I Innovate Magazine – the magazine for Entrepreneurs, these days. But this should not be an excuse. I know that you get upset about not seeing any new tutorial for weeks and I also know that I need to upload more frequently. I will also try my best to upload at least a new article every week. Last time I discussed Brush Tool in Photoshop. Today, as the title already gave you a hint, we’re going to see the brand new Select and Mask feature in Photoshop 2017. Yes, you saw it right. Photoshop 2017 is here.

Since the past few years, or at least I am noticing, Adobe has been trying hard to make the selection as easy as possible. This can be seen by removal of extraction and introduction of Refine Edge back in Photoshop CS3. Now with the addition of Select and Mask tool, the selection is now easier than ever.

Let me show you how to use this feature. All you need to have is the Quick Selection Tool activated.

Select Using Quick Selection Tool

Let’s grab Quick Selection Tool from the tool panel or press Shift+W again and again until it comes. Make sure that “Add to Selection” is turned on.

Now hold your mouse button and drag it to select.

You can also go through my tutorial on How Beginners can use Quick Selection Tool. I have explained everything in detail in that tutorial.

Once you’re done with the selection, you need to make sure every single part is selected. In hurry, usually what happens is that we forget to select every bit of the thing that we want to select. Later, when we use Refine Edge (it’s gone in Photoshop 2017, at least in version 20161012.r.53 x64), we struggle to get the desired outcome.

In below image, I have made few rectangles that show where we usually miss the selection.

Let’s zoom in to see it better. Are you seeing the marching ants? See how precisely are the walking around the hair.

Refine the Selection Using Select and Mask Tool

Now, let’s go to Select and Mask. Activate it by pressing Cmd+Opt+R/Ctrl+Alt+R.

As my image is quite big, one thing that I usually always go is turning on “Smart Radius” and increase the radius all the way to 250 pixels.

This does all of the work.

Did you see how efficiently it worked around the hair? It selects the hair flawlessly.

Did you notice one more thing? All of the other settings are the default. This means alone Radius did all of the work.

Isn’t it amazing?

Now, let your friends know about this tool by sharing this with them on Facebook and Twitter.

Also, make sure that you make most of the offer below.

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How to Select Complex Hair in Photoshop

Believe me, one of the most asked questions on Photoshop is that how do I select complex hair in Photoshop. You might have heard that the refine edge tool helps you with that. You heard it right, but you need more. You might have also heard that the use of Channels also pays off. But do you have enough time to analyze every channel? The third method that you are going to learn is probably the easiest and most efficient way to select complex hair in Photoshop.

If you are presuming that I am not going to use refine edge tool then that’s bad. Definitely, I am going to use Refine Edge tool but not in a traditional way. With the help of layer mask, the performance and output of the refine edge tool improves drastically, and that’s what I am going to show you.

Final

Step 1

The first thing needs to be done is to open that image with messy hair. I am going to select the whole image by pressing Ctrl+A/Cmd+A. As soon as it is pressed, you’ll see marching ants around the edges of the photo. Press Ctrl+C/Cmd+C to copy the area that is inside the marching ants i.e. the whole image.

Open the another photo where you want the face and hair to be placed.

Press Ctrl+V/Cmd+V to paste the selected image. Don’t worry about the unwanted grey background that hid the nice looking wooden background. We’ll fix it soon.

Step 2

The next that needs to be done is to create a highly rough selection around the face, body, and hair.

I am going to use Quick Selection Tool for that. In case you are not aware of this tool, probably the article that I wrote over a year ago may help you. Here it is: How to Use Quick Selection Tool in Photoshop.

Go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal Selection, and you’ll see the unattractive selection comes into the picture.

Step 3

Go to Window>Properties.

Now the trick is here. Instead of using Refine Edge Tool after Quick Selection Tool, we’re going to use it now.

In the Properties tab, click on Mask Edge.

The fact that I am using a picture that is huge in size, I am choosing 250 pixels as my radius. For small images, I choose lower values of radius.

The other bars also help a lot. I have explained all those bars in my tutorial on Refine Edge.

Step 4

Our work is not over here. There are some traces of gray color still presents. It can be fixed with the help of Refine Radius Tool Brush. Press E to activate (make sure that Refine Edge Tool is up and running). Now brush on the areas where there are some traces of background. You can use [ and ] to decrease or increase the size of the brush.