Using PS5/Quickmask - Giordan on Graphics | 3

Having spent so much time creating these artistic selections, the last thing you want to do is deselect them and have all your work disappear forever. To avoid this, you can save the selection using Photoshop's Save Selection command. This ensures that your selection is securely archived, ready to be reactivated whenever you need it.

Saving a Selection

1. With the selection still active, choose Select>Save Selection.
   
2. Enter a name for the selection channel in the dialog box that appears.
   
3. Make sure that the current document’s name is showing in the Document pop-up menu, and select New Selection from the Channel pop-up menu (Figure 18.11).
   
4. Click OK to complete the process.
   

Figure 18.11-The Save Selection dialog box.

When Photoshop saves your selection, it creates a new channel, called an Alpha channel, that records the selection information. Found in the Channels palette right next to the RGB or CMYK channels, the Alpha channel shows you the grayscale info that is used to reactivate the selection. Open the Channels palette to see that the selection was saved and named as your requested. This channel contains the exact same selection info that you created in the Quickmask mode, it's just archived for future use.

Once a selection is saved, you can reload it at any time. Follow the steps below to reload a saved selection from an Alpha Channel.

Loading a Selection

1. Choose Select>Load Selection
   
2. Select the desired Alpha channel from the Channel pop-up menu. If you have just one selection saved for this document it will appear in the menu automatically.
   
3. Check off the Invert check box if you wish to select everything except the Alpha channel's contents.
   
4. Click OK to load the selection.
   

Photoshop Tip