Color Range Tool...does anyone use it

SitterS

Wanted to know if anyone out there uses the color range tool. I found a tutorial on it awhile back and use it sometimes to make selections on highlights/shadows/midtones or just use the sample colors and the eyedroppers to add and subtract from specific areas I want to select.

Any cons on using this tool vs other tools that may do the same thing? Is it better than using the magic wand, etc? I am not familar with all the ways to make selections so any help will be appreciated.

Shane

digismile

Hi Shane,

Yes I use the Color Range tool, just as I use a multitude of other ways to make a selection.

What I think you're going to find over time is that you will use several tools to make a selection, e.g. the lasso tool to make a really rough selection, and on from there.

The magic wand is one of those tools that does a pretty good job when used under ideal conditions. It really depends on how exacting a selection you require. In general, any of the magic/magnetic tools can suffer in conditions where your selection edge does not have a good contrasting edge (i.e. a dark, transitional shadow area).

This tool could be useful for changing the color of a person's shirt for example (but is certainly not the only way to do this! Isn't photoshop frustratingly great?!?). I probably would almost always use this tool before the magic wand, just because it gives you the ability to be very specific about the color you're trying to select, as well as giving you a bit of a preview.

I have a whole library of Photoshop books that I've collected over the years, and all I can say is that you need to find from trial and error the strengths/weaknesses of each. You will find that your selection rarely fits the "ideal" examples presented in the books. That's why I said at the beginning that you will often use multiple tools to get the job done. My other general rule about selection tools is that the quality of the selection is inversely proportional to the amount of time it takes you to do it ... In other words, the magic wand is generally not the best tool in your selection bag ...

But for a very basic description of Color Range, take a look at this link. I think this will give you a better comparison of Magic Wand and Color Range tools.

Regards,

SitterS

Thanks so much Brad for replying to this and also for the link. You are totally correct in that Photoshop can be so frustrating but at the same time I love the challenge of finding new things to do and play with.

Shane