1. Basics
2. Things to Remember About the Pen Tool
3. Cutting Out an Object
(1) Basics:
Ok, so some people can use it, and others can't, but nevertheless it is a very useful tool that I find myself using every time I use Photoshop. It makes very nice curves and is much more flexible and useful than any of the marquee tools. To begin, select the pen tool from the bottom left of the third section of the left toolbar.
Next, lets put on the settings that we will use for this tutorial (these are actually the settings I use for anything). Look on the top toolbar now and see the three options on the left. The selections are Shape Layers, Paths, and Fill Pixels. Selecting either Shape Layers or Paths will do the same thing, but Shape Layers creates a shape in the Foreground Color rather than just creating a path to use. Keep it on Paths for now.
Now, to make a shape, simply click anywhere. Now click somewhere else. Note that it is a straight line. Now, click somewhere else and drag. And now it is a curve! But clicking on another place will be a curve regardless because the pen tool always keeps a curve flowing. To close the path, just end by clicking on the box you started at (anchor point).
You can make points with the alt key. Make a curve, then hold alt while finishing the curve. Now click somewhere else and drag. Mine looks like this:
(2) Things to Remember:
Here are a few things to remember about the pen tool:
a. It is vector which means that it has much better antialiasing. Basically it makes the curves less pixelated.
b. You can never lose the work path! If you need to come back to one you used in the document a long time ago, just go to the layers panel and change it to Paths. There you can create another instance of the work path you used.
c. To make a marquee selection of the path, have the pen tool selected and right click inside the path to chose Make Selection. The marquee still retains all quality of the work path.
d. The pen tool can only make a maximum of a 90 degree curve between to anchor points. To make a 180, just use three.
(3) Cutting Out an Object:
The pen tools greatest use to me is the function of cutting out objects (taking away the bg). I will demonstrate with this image and feel free to use it:
To start, click with the pen tool somewhere around the car (feel free to zoom in if it helps). Next, start outlining the car with the pen tool. Note that it will still appear ok if it is not perfect, so don't spend an hour on one cut-out.
Now, just make the path a selection and then go to the marquee tool. Right click on the selection and Select Inverse. After copying that layer and deleting the original (a background), press delete. You now have the cut out image to move around and manipulate.
As you can see this is a great tool with great opportunities! Try it out more and get a feel for it; I am sure you will love it in no time.
