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In some cases, the image content makes it difficult (or at least tedious) to select by
color. The bottle image in this ad, for example, has only black colors — the bottle
is black, the shadow is a medium black, and the background is a mottled light gray.
Selecting by color range will almost certainly result in some of the selection intruding
into the bottle shape, and some of the background/shadow area being omitted from
the selection. The good news is that Photoshop has other ways for making selections,
including several that are specifically designed for selecting areas with hard edges.

Understanding Anchor Points and Handles

An anchor point marks the end of a line segment, and the point handles determine the shape of that segment. That’s
PHOTOSHOP FOUNDATIONS generic industry-standard terms. For more information on Adobe’s terminology, refer to the Photoshop Help files.)
the basic definition of a vector, but there is a bit more to it than that. (The Photoshop Help files refer to handles as direction
lines, and distinguishes different types of points. Our aim here is to explain the overall concept of vector paths, so we use the

It’s important to understand that every line segment is
Each segment in a path has two anchor points, and
connected to two handles. In this example, Handle A1 and
can have two associated handles.
Handle B2 determine the shape of Segment AB. Dragging
You can create corner points by simply clicking with the
either handle affects the shape of the connected segment.
Pen tool instead of clicking and dragging. Corner points do
not have their own handles; the connected segments are
controlled by the handles of the other associated points.

Handle of other A1 AB B2
connected point controls
the segment shape.

Corner point B1
has no handles.
When you use the Pen tool, clicking and dragging a point
creates a symmetrical (smooth) point; both handles start out
In the following image, we first clicked to create Point A at equal length, directly opposite one another. Changing the
and dragged (without releasing the mouse button) to create angle of one handle of a symmetrical point also changes
Handle A1. We then clicked and dragged to create Point B the opposing handle of that point. In the example here,
and Handle B1; Handle B2 was automatically created as a repositioning Handle B1 also moves Handle B2, which
reflection of B1 (Point B is a symmetrical point). affects the shape of Segment AB. (You can, however, change
the length of one handle without affecting the length of the
A A1 other handle.)

B2
AB
B B1
B2 A
A1
This image shows the result of dragging Handle B1 to AB
the left instead of to the right when we created the initial B
curve. Notice the difference in the curve here, compared to
the curve above. When you drag a handle, the connecting B1
segment arcs away from the direction you drag.

A A1
AB B2

B
B1

58 Project 1: Composite Movie Ad