How to use the Magic Wand tool in Photoshop

In Photoshop, the Magic Wand tool is a powerful way to make a selection from images. Combined with Generative AI, we can effortlessly select and change specific parts of our image. Let's learn how the Magic Wand works in five easy steps!

Follow along with this lesson! Download the photos used in this project. Background image by Jean-Philippe Delberghe and shoe image by Luis Felipe Lins can be found at Unsplash.com.

Step 1: Locate the Magic Wand tool

If this is your first time using the Magic Wand, you can locate it in the dropdown menu of the Quick Select tool.

Step 2: Make your selections

With the Magic Wand in hand, click on the areas or objects you want to select. For this example, we will choose the background because it is a solid color and is easier to set. 

As you can see in this image, a slight difference in the shades of blue makes up the background. We can choose the Add to Selection icon at the top and continue clicking on the areas we want to add to our selection. 

Step 3: Inverse selection (optional)

We must invert our selection since we want to select the shoe in this image. However, you may wish to adjust the background, and you can skip this step. To select the shoe, click Select and choose the Inverse option.

Now, we have just the shoe (and shoelaces) selected. You can tell by the marching ants around the object.

Step 4: Mask your selection

We have several options available to us when masking a selection in Photoshop. One way is to click Select and choose Select & Mask. In this screen, we can make adjustments to improve our mask selection. My Advanced Photoshop course teaches you more about the Select and Mask functions.

The other way to make a mask is by clicking the Add Layer mask icon at the bottom of our Layers panel. 

Now, we have just our object on a transparent background. It's magic!

Step 5: Create without limits

For this exercise, we will put this shoe on a different background. As you can see in this image, I have my new background image open in a separate Photoshop window.

I can Click-Hold-Drag the shoe from one window to the tab of my new background window and Drop in place. Adjust your image by resizing, rotating, moving, and more!

Bonus Step: Change the shoe color

Get creative and change the color after you have your object in place. Simply add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and move the sliders. My Photoshop Essentials course teaches you how with a few short videos.

What’s next?

Dive deeper into Photoshop at Bring Your Own Laptop. When you become a BYOL member, you will gain access to my Photoshop courses as well as my 30+ additional courses on  Figma, Illustrator, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, Webflow, and more. As a BYOL member you will also enjoy personalized support, earn certificates, and tackle exciting community challenges. Head here to sign-up!

See you in class! – Dan