picture of a half red half green converse sneaker with the photoshop logo and the text magic wand tool

How to use the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop

Daniel Scott

@dan

In Photoshop, the Magic Wand tool is a powerful way to make a selection from images. Combined with Generative AI, we can effortlessly select and change specific parts of our image. Let's learn how the Magic Wand works in five easy steps!

Ready for more? Become a BYOL member!

Explore 30+ Essentials and Advanced courses in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Webflow, and more. Enjoy personalized support, earn certificates, connect with other creators and tackle exciting community challenges.

START YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY
icon all courses benefit

Unlimited access to ALL content

Instant access to all of our courses and exclusive content while you're a member.

icon support benefit

Priority advice and support

Ask us anything! Our amazing Teaching Assistants are here to support you

icon certificate benefit svg

Certificates of achievement!

Celebrate and share the milestones in your learning journey

Follow along with this lesson! Download the photos used in this project. Background image by Jean-Philippe Delberghe and shoe image by Luis Felipe Lins can be found at Unsplash.com.

Step 1: Locate the Magic Wand tool

If this is your first time using the Magic Wand, you can locate it in the dropdown menu of the Quick Select tool.

Arrow pointing to Magic Wand tool in Photoshop

Click and hold on Quick Selection tool to find the Magic Wand tool.

Step 2: Make your selections

With the Magic Wand in hand, click on the areas or objects you want to select. For this example, we will choose the background because it is a solid color and is easier to set. 

Magic wand tool selecting blue background of image in Photoshop

Make a selection using the Magic Wand tool.

As you can see in this image, a slight difference in the shades of blue makes up the background. We can choose the Add to Selection icon at the top and continue clicking on the areas we want to add to our selection. 

Arrow pointing to Add to Selection icon in Photoshop

Click Add to Selection to grab more of the image.

Step 3: Inverse selection (optional)

We must invert our selection since we want to select the shoe in this image. However, you may wish to adjust the background, and you can skip this step. To select the shoe, click Select and choose the Inverse option.

Arrow selecting a menu item in Photoshop

Choose Inverse option to grab the subject of your image.

Now, we have just the shoe (and shoelaces) selected. You can tell by the marching ants around the object.

Red shoe on blue background

Ants Marching by Dave Matthews Band is a great song!

Step 4: Mask your selection

We have several options available to us when masking a selection in Photoshop. One way is to click Select and choose Select & Mask. In this screen, we can make adjustments to improve our mask selection. My Advanced Photoshop course teaches you more about the Select and Mask functions.

The other way to make a mask is by clicking the Add Layer mask icon at the bottom of our Layers panel. 

Arrow pointing to icon of dark circle in white square in Photoshop

Click the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Properties panel.

Now, we have just our object on a transparent background. It's magic!

Step 5: Create without limits

For this exercise, we will put this shoe on a different background. As you can see in this image, I have my new background image open in a separate Photoshop window.

Red shoe on a transparent background in Photoshop

The subject of the image is now isolated.

I can Click-Hold-Drag the shoe from one window to the tab of my new background window and Drop in place. Adjust your image by resizing, rotating, moving, and more!

Red shoe on white background with curvy lines

Place your object on a new background.

Bonus Step: Change the shoe color

Get creative and change the color after you have your object in place. Simply add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and move the sliders. My Photoshop Essentials course teaches you how with a few short videos.

Green shoe on white background with curvy lines

Get creative with your new image!

What’s next?

Dive deeper into Photoshop at Bring Your Own Laptop. When you become a BYOL member, you will gain access to my Photoshop courses as well as my 30+ additional courses on  Figma, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Webflow, and more. As a BYOL member you will also enjoy personalized support, earn certificates, and tackle exciting community challenges. Head here to sign-up!

See you in class! – Dan

Ready for more? Become a BYOL member!

Explore 30+ Essentials and Advanced courses in Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Webflow, and more. Enjoy personalized support, earn certificates, connect with other creators and tackle exciting community challenges.

START YOUR LEARNING JOURNEY
icon all courses benefit

Unlimited access to ALL content

Instant access to all of our courses and exclusive content while you're a member.

icon support benefit

Priority advice and support

Ask us anything! Our amazing Teaching Assistants are here to support you

icon certificate benefit svg

Certificates of achievement!

Celebrate and share the milestones in your learning journey

  • Powered by Marvin
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy policy
  • © Bring your Own Laptop Ltd 2024