How to Use the Marquee Tool in Photoshop
WouterUsing Photoshop’s marquee tool, you can continue your selection as long as you keep your mouse button pressed. Similarly, the regular Lasso tool lets you drag your mouse across the selected area. Using the aforementioned tools in conjunction with a layer mask will prevent you from accidentally erasing pixels.
You’ll find the marquee tool in the Tools panel, as well as the Single Row and Single Column Marquee tools in the Marquee toolsetter. The marquee tool can be used to select one column of pixels and one row of pixels, respectively.
The marquee tool can also be used to select a small section of a large picture, or to crop a portion of an image. You can even use it to draw a straight line. The marquee tool has one major limitation: it can only be used on a layer with a locked background.
The marquee tool is a worthy prize in the Photoshop prizefight, and it’s worth the trouble. The marquee tool is the most important of the three tools and should be used in conjunction with the other two tools. You’ll also want to make sure your cursor is on the right layer to avoid having your work splattered all over the place. The marquee tool is also one of the few Photoshop tools that can be used on multiple layers at once. This is particularly handy if you want to make a selection on the fly.
The marquee tool should be paired with the marquee toolset, which contains the Single Row and Single Column Marquee, as well as the aforementioned Lasso tool. For the record, a marquee tool paired with the Lasso tool is akin to having two paintbrushes.
