BREAKDOWN: Select and Mask vs. Refine Edge - Photoshop CC

What is wrong with Select and Mask? Why doesn’t it seem to work like we all wish it would? Are you not using it right, or is it just a broken tool? The answer is that it’s probably a little of both. The tool is deeply flawed in a number of ways and can be incredibly frustrating to work with, but there are some tips and tricks to be able to work with Select and Mask a little more effectively.

In this video I’ll compare four different photos head-to-head cutting out the subject with Select and Mask and then cutting out the subject with Refine Edge. I really want to love Select and Mask, but it breaks my heart over and over again. It’s just not quite where it needs to be for a professional application. It shows great promise, but I really wish Adobe had left the Refine Edge command in place. At least we could pick or choose what works best for us in that case. All things considered, my hope is that this tool will get better and better as new versions of Photoshop arrive.

SNAPCHAT & MORE:

[marcherrmann]

Can't believe having the great honor of informing you, one of the "masters of Photoshop", about the way how to access the legacy Refine Edge tool in CC 2017... Just hold down SHIFT when selecting Select and Mask tool in the menu!

Thanks for your amazing work, keep it up!

[SumanKarPhotography]

Great video as always! Removing Refine Edge & introducing Select & Mask is the worst thing Adobe did. But luckily there is a workaround of getting back Refine Edge in CC 2017. After creating selection beforehand if you hold down Shift key & manually go into the select menu & select " Select & Mask", the old Refine Edge appears! But Keyboard shortcuts or top panel "select & mask" button don't work though.

[thebird]

I have been struggling like crazy trying to select dragsters from the drag strip in select and mask and getting halos and horrible edges and thought I was doing something very wrong, like you I have watched loads of tutorials but nothing has helped, this video is a breath of fresh air because I know I am not alone. I have just had the update to CC 2018 but so far I am not finding select & mask to be any better.

[Stefansemafo]

One of the best tutorials I saw. It is worth and normally should be paid because it could save hours of frustration! Thank you for your work.

[NukeWand]

When you're doing a lot of "catching up" with all previous videos you made and then realize there's a new upload to watch.Feels good man.

[JackStruss]

No need to install an older version, You can still use the older version in CC2017, with a selection active, you click on selection (the menu) and click on "select and mask" with SHIFT pressed

[debicon]

I have been using photoshop cc for about a year, after a long hiatus, i.e., back when I was using film. I am definitely an amateur with no studio, so I frequently put my subjects in different backgrounds. With my older, slower brain, and less patience, I tend to avoid any photoshop tutorials longer than 1 min. This one at let me follow along, and see what menus and settings you were using without slowing down the video too much (I simply made screenshots of things I wanted to remember). Learning photoshop is much more difficult now for me, but I picked up a few invaluable things not even related to the topic I did not know I could do. And even though I saw in the comments below a way to get refine edge back (which I had kind of learned and fell in love with only to have it disappear the next week), this video helped me a lot in learning about the tools available. So thanks tutuvid! And hats off to you, Suman Kar and all y'all for the tip on how to access in CC 2017! Why does Adobe not tell us?!!! I have searched and did not find it until here.

[celsoaz]

When I saw the new function of Refine & Mask I thought it was one of the best functions of PS. But when I started to use it I saw that it was not so good ... I continued to have problems with my complicated backgrounds selections. I had problems with the old version of the redify edge too ... with the Vertus Fluid Mask I was able to make selections and remove backgrounds
faster and more accurately, but it's still not 100%, I still need to make corrections using history brush and rubber, but that's
what enabled me to make the complex selections more quickly and accurately ... This tutorial was the first honest tutorial I've seen about these functions. Thank you for sharing !!

[mikedimples]

Whew, I came back to Photoshop after 5 years and tried masking with "select and mask" and thought I had forgotten how to mask properly. Good to see it's the program. I'll download the older version, thanks

[RahulChauhankaku]

At last someone made a video that truly explains the blunder the select and mask creates, otherwise every other channels that did video on this features took the safer route and tried to work on easy images, thanks man for this great video @tutvid ..
Hope adobe will fix this feature soon coz i don't want to go back to the older version..

[MatthewClowney]

In March of 2019, after numerous Ps updates, the argument made in this video still holds essentially true: the Select and Mask tool is complete stink compared to the best versions of the Refine Edge tool. It's worth noting that somewhere along the line, Adobe DID add a hidden option to the Select menu, which grants access to the Refine Edge tool if you hold the Shift key while choosing Select and Mask from the menu. The menu text doesn't change when you hold the shift key, but it *does* work.
Especially as the last pre-Select-and-Mask version of Ps gets smaller & smaller in the rear view mirror, it's REALLY good to be able to access the Refine Edge tool again in newer versions of Photoshop. I remain perplexed, however, by Adobe's decision to keep releasing new Ps versions that continue NOT to address just how terrible the Select and Mask tool is. I've even spoken with members of the Ps development team about it directly, and they don't seem to be entirely convinced that the Select & Mask tool IS IN FACT WORSE than Refine Edge was, so I fear that actually getting this problem fixed will remain a tall hill to climb for the foreseeable future. :\

[daidnz]

When painting in the mask itself and trying get rid of some of that fuzzy grey, you can also use the Dodge and Burn tools set to a low percentage. Eg, use the Dodge tool set to highlight to whiten the whites and the Burn tool set to shadow to blacked the blacks.

[owenkilleen]

Just read your more info description for this vid. Absolutely agree. The select and mask is way too confined in a window of automation. The refine edge tool allowed me to work manually, as well as with photoshops atomative process's. Glad I found this vid to verify my newly found bugbear with this tool and that it wasn't just me.

[PaulEkert]

Ah I have been beating myself up over this feature because of all the online tutorials that show it working perfectly and could not understand why I couldn't get it to work. Started to wonder if all those times in PS 2015 when I did cut outs, did I just imagine they were better than I can now do in 2017? And now your video explains it all. Thank you so much for posting this, and for showing conclusively how crap the new selection and removal tool really is! I can now stop beating myself up over a tool that Adobe must full well know does not work correctly!!! I can't believe none of their beta testers saw this, but probably all under NDA so can't report this fact. Nasty Adobe! Not a great way to treat your subscriber base!

[markgundy]

I've watched hours and hours of masking... without a doubt this is the most honest review/tutorial I've seen... any thoughts on 3rd party tools for masking? Topaz, Fluid Mask, Perfect Mask, etc

[OmeSake]

Tip : With a selection or mask active, press-and-hold Shift, and go to Select > Select and Mask. This will open the Refine Edge window instead of the Select and Mask Workspace!

[tutvid]

🔥 ↓ VIDEO GUIDE ↓ 🔥
00:32 Opening remarks about Select and Mask
02:00 Cutting out a woman with Select and Mask
08:25 Select and Mask cannot make selections
08:50 Cutting out muscle guy & more problems with Select and Mask
10:10 “It’s annoying, frustrating, and instills zero confidence.”
10:24 Working with Select and Mask as if it’s Refine Edge
14:39 “Refine Edge brush took the worst aspects of Refine Edge and made them worse”
17:26 Getting Refine Edge and reinstalling an older version of Photoshop
19:44 Rant about Adobe getting rid of features we use
20:40 Using Refine Edge on the muscle guy image to compare
23:07 Brush tool trick to clean up edges for Refine Edge or Select and Mask
26:01 An example of where Select and Mask is better than Refine Edge
31:27 Where Select and Mask fails compared to Refine Edge (again)
36:27 Final thoughts about Select and Mask vs. Refine Edge

[moicechumbey]

In the latest 2017 version of CC, if you hold down the Shift key when you choose "Select and Mask" you get the old version of the Refine Edge tool instead of the Select and Mask workspace.

[justme-fesf]

completely agree Recently I had to do a lot of intensive photoshop work and I was wondering if I was the only one that thought this tool was crap

[ramirosanchez]

You can get refine Edge screen if you, after make your initial selection, go to menu, Select, drop menu, go to Select and Mask, press Shift and Select: then there it is: The old Refine Edge screen. Thank you for your videos.