Basic Question

[RweTHEREyet]

I am having trouble with "selections." If I use one of the tools that lets you "select" an area, then what do you do? If I want to move the selection, how do I do that. I see a lot of tuts that say Select or De-Select, and I am not sure how do to either.

Example, I used the lassoo tool to "select" an area, then I used control + c to copy it and tried to move it with the move too. I kept getting a message telling me no pixels had been selected.

Where am I missing the boat here?

While a lot of you are smiling at my "so basic" question here, I want to say how much I appreciate the fact that the people here are willing to answer questions so quickly and not make someone feel like an idiot. I am not finding PSE to be an intuitive program and just because my brain is still stuck in word processing functions, a lot of things are not working like I think is the logical way.

So, thanks again for being kind and gentle. :o

[vawitt]

If you have more than one layer in your image, and one layer is blank, it's easy to select an area of your photo but still have the blank layer active (highlighted in the layers palette). This is often what triggers the "no pixels" message. Simply click in the layers palette on the actual image and you should be able to now work with your selection.

If you select a part of your image and copy with CTRL+C, then the next step is usually to paste that copied area to somewhere else - a second photo, for example.

Do you have a certain tut you are having trouble with? Let us know and we can give more specific answers.

~Val in cloudy IL

[frank abramonte]

Once copied you should be able to move the selection with the move tool. Sounds like your not on the correct layer, you may have the wrong layer activated.
Click on the proper layer in the layer palette and try again, if necessary reselect the object.
Post back if you need additional help.

[Diana]

Actually, "copy" is only half of the process....you need a "paste" to go with it before it is ready to be moved.

One shortcut way to put a selected object on its own layer is, after making the selection, press Ctrl-J, which duplicates the selected area on to its own layer.

Diana

[joshhuntnm]

you might try create layer via copy (ctrl j) and move that layer around. they key to understanding PSE is layers.