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Using Paths

Most everyone is familar with using the marquees, lassos, and other selection tools, yet for some odd reason, the pen tool (which is used to create paths) is ignored. If you fit this discription, prepare your underprivledged mind to enter the exciting world of paths. Basically, paths are special types of selections that are made up of a group of movable points that allow us to create any kind of shape we want.

Start by firing up Photoshop and creating a new image. For this example, I chose dimensions of 200x200 pixels. Find the regular pen tool and select it.

Create some vertices for you path by clicking in your image.

Select the convert point tool and click on some of your vertices and drag your mouse to add some smooth curves to your path. If you hold down the control key you'll be able to move some of your points around. Also, if you feel the need to add or remove any points, use the add archor point or delete anchor point tools.

Once your path looks the way you want it to, go to the paths pallete. There should be one path already selected called Work Path. Hold down Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) and click the path to the load it as a selection.

That's it. Now that you have a selection, you can fill it in and do whatever you would like with it. I used some of the techniques found in the Lighting Effects tutorial in my example.

Tutorial provided by: Spoono.com

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