Unlocking AI Magic: Enhance Photoshop Edits with Smart Selections

We're going to talk about how AI improves selections in Photoshop, particularly for color corrections and creating different masks. Let’s get started.

If you want to select a subject in an image, one simple option is to use Select Subject. You can find this at the bottom of the interface. When you click it, Photoshop automatically selects the subject. From there, you can create a mask by clicking Create Mask from Selection, which masks the subject quickly and easily.

Another option is Remove Background. If you click this, Photoshop performs the same task in one step,selecting the subject and removing the background automatically. This is essentially a faster, one-click version of the same process.

Sometimes, however, you may want to work more selectively. For example, you might want to brighten the subject while darkening the background. In that case, you can first select the subject, then go to the Select menu and choose Inverse to select the background instead. Once the background is selected, you can apply an adjustment layer, such as Brightness/Contrast, and reduce the brightness to darken it.

Now, let’s say you want to select a specific part of the subject, such as the shirt. Instead of selecting the entire subject, you can use the Object Selection Tool, which is powered by AI. Make sure you’re working on the correct layer before using this tool. When you select it, you’ll see Photoshop analyzing the image.

With the Object Selection Tool active, you can choose Select People. Photoshop recognizes the person and presents a list of selectable areas, such as the entire person, hair, eyebrows, eyes, irises, lips, nose, ears, facial skin, clothing, and more. For example, you can select Upper Clothes with a single click and apply the selection.

Once the shirt is selected, you can apply an adjustment layer, such as Brightness/Contrast, and increase the brightness. If you want to change the color as well, you can load the selection again by holding Command (Mac) or Control (Windows) and clicking the mask thumbnail. Then you can apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment and shift the hue to change the shirt color.

Next, if you want to select the person again or work with different parts of the image, you can use the Object Selection Tool once more. When you choose Select People, Photoshop allows you to select multiple attributes at once,such as eyebrows, eyes, irises, glasses, nose, mouth, ears, skin, arms, and clothing,while excluding others like hair or lower clothing. Once applied, you can adjust brightness, contrast, or other properties to refine the look.

This technique is useful for targeted edits, and it works well for demonstrating how selections can isolate very specific parts of an image. The goal here is not perfection, but understanding how flexible these AI-powered selections can be.

There is another way to use the Object Selection Tool if you want to select a specific area manually. For example, in a different image, you can draw a rectangle around part of the subject,such as the face or clothing,and Photoshop will automatically refine the selection within that region. Sometimes this works very well, and other times the result may not be ideal.

In many cases, selecting people directly provides better results. For example, you can select facial features, skin, arms, and clothing while excluding accessories. If you want to make the subject appear more tan, you can slightly reduce contrast and brightness. You can then repeat the process to select another feature, such as hair, and apply a Hue/Saturation adjustment to change its color.

If you notice that some areas aren’t selected perfectly, you can refine the mask manually. Select the mask layer, choose the Brush Tool, and paint with white to reveal areas or black to hide them. Using a soft brush allows you to blend adjustments more naturally. This helps integrate color and brightness changes so they look more realistic.

Beyond working with people, you can also use these tools to select clothing items. For example, when selecting a sweater, Photoshop may detect multiple clothing layers. If extra areas are included in the selection, you can hold Option (Mac) or Alt (Windows) to subtract areas from the selection. You can also use the Lasso Tool while holding Option or Alt to fine-tune what’s included.

After refining the selection, you can apply adjustments such as Hue/Saturation to change the color of the sweater. This method gives you flexibility and precision when working with clothing or layered elements.

There are multiple ways to select subjects in Photoshop. You can use Select > Subject, which produces similar results. However, when using the Object Selection Tool, you’ll notice an additional option next to Select Subject that allows you to choose between Device and Cloud processing.

When Device is selected, Photoshop performs the selection using your computer’s hardware, including the graphics card. When Cloud is selected, Photoshop uploads the layer to Adobe’s servers and processes the selection there. In many cases, cloud processing produces more accurate results, although it may take slightly longer depending on your connection.

If you want to make cloud processing the default, you can go to Photoshop > Settings > Image Processing. On Windows, this is located under Edit > Preferences. In this section, you’ll find options for Select Subject and Remove Background. By switching these to Cloud, Photoshop will process selections on Adobe’s servers instead of your local machine.

In my experience, cloud-based selections often produce better results, especially for complex images. This is something you’ll notice as you continue working with these tools and comparing outcomes.