When you make a selection in Photoshop, the default is for the selection to be “antialiased” or have a soft edge. This is because the hard edge of a selection can sometimes cause artifacts or “jaggies” when the image is manipulated or when it’s saved at a lower resolution. In some cases, though, you may want a hard edge on your selection.
Maybe you’re making a graphic for the web and want to avoid any blurring when the image is displayed at a low resolution. Or maybe you want to make a cutout of an object in an image and you don’t want any fringe pixels around the object. Whatever the reason, Photoshop gives you control over whether your selections have hard or soft edges.
To change the edge style of a selection, go to the Select menu and choose Modify. From there, you can choose whether to smooth, Feather, or Expand your selection. Each of these options will give your selection a different look:
- Smooth: This option will smooth out the edges of your selection by 1 pixel. If your image is at 72 ppi, this is equivalent to smoothing out the edges by 1/72 inch.
- Feather: This option will feather the edges of your selection by 2 pixels.
If your image is at 72 ppi, this is equivalent to feathering the edges by 2/72 inch.
- Expand: This option will expand the edges of your selection by 3 pixels. If your image is at 72 ppi, this is equivalent to expanding the edges by 3/72 inch.
Conclusion:
When you make a selection in Photoshop, you can choose whether to have a hard or soft edge on your selection. To change the edge style of a selection, go to the Select menu and choose Modify. From there, you can choose whether to smooth, feather, or expand your selection.
Each of these options will give your selection a different look.
Smooth will smooth out the edges of your selection by 1 pixel. Feather will feather the edges of your selection by 2 pixels. Expand will expand the edges of your section by 3 pixels.
You can also use these options to create a cutout of an object in an image without any fringe pixels around the object.
