How to Use the Lasso Tool in Photoshop

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

Do you want to know how to use the Lasso Tool in Photoshop? In this Lasso Tool tutorial, I will show you a few simple and effective techniques to use this instrument.

What You'll Learn in This Lasso Tool Tutorial

The basics of how to use the lasso in Photoshop
How to use the Polygonal Lasso Tool
How to use the Magnetic Lasso Tool in Photoshop

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this Lasso Tool tutorial:

1. Basics of Using the Lasso Tool in Photoshop

Step 1

Open our illustration and select the Lasso Tool in the Tools panel.

Step 2

Let's make a selection around the astronaut with the Lasso Tool.

Step 3

You can refine your selection with the Shift and Alt keys. Hold Shift while using the Lasso Tool in Photoshop to expand the selection or Alt to decrease it.

Step 4

You can also activate different selection settings by pressing the icons in the top panel. The first one is the standard selection, the second one works the same as the Shift key and will expand your selection, the third one will work the same as the Alt key, and the last one will intersect with your selection.

Step 5

You can also use the Feather setting to define the "featheriness" of the edges of your selection. Take a look at these examples of the same selections with different feather settings:

2. How to Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool

Step 1

Let's open another image and select the Polygonal Lasso Tool in the Tools panel.

Step 2

The Polygonal Lasso Tool can be a great instrument to select geometrical elements. Let's make a selection with single clicks. If you make a mistake while selecting your object, you can always press Backspace to remove the last point and go back to the previous stage of selection.

making a selection with a polygonal lasso tool

Step 3

Let's press Delete to better see our selection:

3. How to Use the Magnetic Lasso Tool in Photoshop

Step 1

Another use of the Lasso Tool is magnetic selection. The Magnetic Lasso Tool can select an object with a great level of accuracy just by dragging it around the object. Let's open the other image and select the Magnetic Lasso Tool.

Step 2

Make a first point of the selection with a single click and then just drag your lasso around the orange. Voila!

making a selection with magnetic lasso tool

Awesome Work: Today You've Learned How to Use the Lasso Tool

Today, we've discovered how to use the lasso in Photoshop for selecting and cutting objects. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, and if you want to learn more about Photoshop tools, check out these amazing tutorials: