Using interesting effects in Photoshop Elements sometimes requires selecting just a portion of an image.  For example, maybe you want to select one person in a group shot.

Photoshop provides several different selection tools, but figuring out which tool to use for which job can be a challenge;  not to mention mastering the use of the particular tool.  Have you ever had the lasso go skittering across the screen with a mind of its own?   Oops.

Here is a quick review of the available selection tools.  Over the next several days, I plan to focus on some of the tools individually.

Unless you've done some serious remodeling to your program's user interface, the Main Element Toolbar is the long, vertical strip along the left side of the Full Edit window.

Notice the faint, narrow horizontal lines separating different groups of tool icons?

Notice how some of the icons have tiny arrows at their lower right corner.  The tiny arrows indicate the presence of a sub-menu with further options.

First up is the Marquee tool.  The Marquee can be either Rectangular or Elliptical.  You'd use the Marquee tool if the area you want to select in your image is just a simple square, rectangle, circle or oval shape.

Second in line is the Lasso tool.    The available options are the basic Lasso, the Magnetic Lasso, and the Polygonal Lasso.  The Basic Lasso  allows to you draw freehand on your image to make a selection.  This is not as easy as it sounds.  Trust me on that. 

The Magnetic Lasso helps by detecting (by difference in color) an object's edge, and following that edge for you.  The Polygonal Lasso also seeks and follows edges, but only draws in straight lines.  Which is useful, because it is not easy to draw a perfectly straight line with a mouse.  And as Barbara Brundage points out in the Photoshop Elements 5 The Missing Manual book, it's less likely to get itself tangled up.

The Magnetic or Polygonal Lasso can be used to select complex shapes out of complex backgrounds.

In third position is the Magic Wand.  Notice that the Magic Wand has no sub-menu of options.  It is the ideal tool when the object you need to select is fairly uniform color, but an irregular shape.

The final tool is the Selection Brush, and the Magic Selection Brush is found in the sub-menu.  With the Magic Selection brush, you to simply doodle on an object, and the tool seeks out all portions of the image with the same colors as are in your "doodle".  The Selection Brush in unique in that it is the only Elements selection tool that allows you to work in Mask Mode.  Hold that thought.  Mask Mode is easier than it sounds, and we'll come back to it.

More on Photoshop Elements Selection Tools:

Being Selective: Photoshop Elements Selection Tools

Photoshop Elements Selection Tools: The Marquee Can Do More Than You Think

Photoshop Elements Selection Tools: The Magic Wand

Photoshop Elements: Fast And Easy Blue Skies