- The stuff that I showed you in the previous chapter
works great, and I mean absolutely great,
for selecting people against contrasting backgrounds
and preserving fine filigree details, such as the strings
in that guy's tennis racket and, of course, hair;
but it doesn't always fare as well for smooth,
well-defined contours, such as those associated
with faces, man-made objects, and product shots.
In which case, what you need is the pen.
This elegant but demanding drawing tool allows you
to trace any sometimes cornered, sometimes smooth,
but always well-defined contour on a point-by-point basis.
Like the shape tools that I reviewed
back in Chapter 22 of the advanced course,
the pen tool always draws a vector-based outline;
but instead of creating a shape layer,
it results in a freeform path outline that you can use
to select even the finest elements of a photographic image.
Now call me a sick puppy, but we're going to use the pen
to select this little boy's face,
add it to this shredded dude's body, and with the help
of additional masks and layers, blend the two together.
Then we're going to composite our freaky creature
against a jungle backdrop, make his hair look all nice,
replicate him a few times, and throw in some custom type.
The pen tool requires skill, determination,
and a fair amount of manual labor.
It's not for everyone; but in the right hands,
it might be the most capable tool
for selecting complex surfaces in all of Photoshop.