Tutorial: How to use Photoshop's Pen Tool

I've seen people asking about the Pen Tool from time to time, so I thought I'd write a brief tutorial about it. I guarantee your selections will improve a hundred-fold.

Pen Tool Tutorial

Hoping to provoke debate here.

Damo77 wrote in post #7210684
I've seen people asking about the Pen Tool from time to time, so I thought I'd write a brief tutorial about it. I guarantee your selections will improve a hundred-fold.

Pen Tool Tutorial


(Tee hee! I'm sure to start a fight with this one!!)

WOW !!!
This is the best tutorial evvvver....very, very informative.

Mike.

Don't quite agree with the tutorial

Ohh, 100% agree with the tutorial. Press Q!

René Damkot wrote in post #7211338
Don't quite agree with the tutorial

watchtherocks wrote in post #7211347
Ohh, 100% agree with the tutorial. Press Q!

... and so it begins ...

... depends on what you want to select...

For smooth, hard edged objects, the pen tool is a lot more precise, and quite a bit faster as well IMO.

I'm putting paths around about 40 sunglasses at the moment

For what purpose?

lmao, great tutorial. I've tried to learn the pen tool and it gets very frustrating. Getting better at it, but still very clumsy and go back to other selection methods most of the time. It is amazing to see someone that understands the pen tool use it. I attended a PS seminar last year and Bert Monroy was showing some stuff. He made it look so damn simple. He made some complex selections in just a matter of seconds. In the end it is whatever method gets you there.

True, if you use it all the time. I don't, & don't recommend it either. For beginners, this is almost as fast as an expert, 10 times as fast as a beginner, just as accurate, & will get the same results without great quantities of hair having been pulled out.
Selecting areas in PS.

To clip them out...

I need to make a montage (collage like) out of them "suspended in mid air" so to speak.

Photographed against a white BG, yet stuff needs to be visible around them (and partly through the glasses, to keep it interesting ).

Since it's for a client, I can't show it unfortunately

I'd like to see anyone work in the repro industry without the pen tool. Clipping paths are a necessity and moreover clean clipping paths with as few points as possible are a must to enable clean trapping.

Of course, Hank. I was a prepress tradesman long before I was a retoucher, and I'm as slick as anybody with the pen tool.

The tutorial is directed at photographers, and discusses selections during photo editing.

I might edit the tute to make that distinction a little clearer.

You lost me at step 2, second sentance...But I also have this same problem with other photoshop features as well.

René Damkot wrote in post #7212325
To clip them out...

Yes, of course.

In Australia we call this "deep-etching", but I don't think that is a common term in other countries.

That's exactly what the pen tool should be used for, particularly if the montage is to be created in another program.

Where I get riled up is when photographers advise other photographers "well, start by selecting the skin with the pen tool, then feather ..."

I have never really gotten into or used the PS pen.

How did you know I needed you to write a tutorial for me!

Thanks for taking the time and for sharing it.

Edit: Well, you turkey! I wrote that comment before viewing it! (Still, a useful tutorial in more ways than one! )