Select Subject

Photoshop's New Hair Selection Is Embarrassingly Good (June 2020 Update)
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Photoshop's New Hair Selection Is Embarrassingly Good (June 2020 Update)

Hair selection has been the thing that separates “I know Photoshop” from “I know Photoshop” for as long as I’ve been doing this. Client sends you a photo of someone with long, wispy, flyaway hair against a complicated background? That used to mean clearing your afternoon. I’ve spent entire evenings coaxing individual strands out of a background with Refine Edge, channel masking tricks, and a level of stubbornness that probably isn’t healthy.

Stop Fighting Fuzzy Edges: The Smarter Cutout Workflow Aaron Nace Taught Me
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Stop Fighting Fuzzy Edges: The Smarter Cutout Workflow Aaron Nace Taught Me

There’s a specific kind of defeat that comes from spending forty-five minutes with the Pen tool trying to cut out a fuzzy sweater, only to end up with edges that look like they were drawn by someone using a mouse for the first time. I’ve been there. More than once. The problem isn’t skill, it’s using the wrong tool for the wrong edge, and it took me longer than I’d like to admit to accept that.

Photoshop's June 2025 Update Just Made Background Removal Actually Good
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Photoshop's June 2025 Update Just Made Background Removal Actually Good

There’s a specific flavor of client nightmare I’ve lived through more times than I’d like to admit. Someone sends over a photo with a person they love, shot in front of a background they hate, and they want that person dropped onto something completely different. Fine. Except the subject has flyaway hair, or wispy strands catching the light, or some other detail that makes a clean cutout feel like defusing a bomb.

Select Subject vs. Object Selection vs. Remove Background: I Ran the Tests So You Don't Have To
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Select Subject vs. Object Selection vs. Remove Background: I Ran the Tests So You Don't Have To

Client wants a cutout. You’ve got five minutes. You open Photoshop, stare at the toolbar, and suddenly realize you’re not totally sure which of the three automatic selection tools you should be using or whether it even matters. That used to be me, and honestly it got embarrassing fast. When you’re freelancing and someone’s paying by the hour, “let me just try all three” is not a workflow. Watch the full tutorial on YouTube

Photoshop's Cloud-Powered Select Subject Is Embarrassingly Good (And I Mean That as a Compliment)
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Photoshop's Cloud-Powered Select Subject Is Embarrassingly Good (And I Mean That as a Compliment)

There’s a specific kind of pain that every Photoshop user knows. You’ve got a photo with a subject, a complicated background, maybe some wispy hair or thin strands poking out in every direction, and you need a clean selection. You run Select Subject, it does its best, and then you spend the next 45 minutes playing whack-a-mole with the background trying to clean up the edges. I’ve billed clients for that time.