Selections and Compositing Flashcards
7 cards from real ACE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Selections and Compositing flashcards as text
Which blending mode in the Layer Style dialog makes white pixels transparent while preserving dark tones, useful for compositing smoke or fire?
Answer: Screen
Screen blending mode makes white areas transparent and lets darker pixels composite naturally, making it ideal for fire, smoke, and light effects.
When using the Polygonal Lasso tool, how do you close a selection without clicking exactly on the starting point?
Answer: Double-click
Double-clicking with the Polygonal Lasso tool automatically closes the selection by drawing a straight segment from the current position back to the start point.
What does the 'Decontaminate Colors' option in Refine Edge/Select and Mask do?
Answer: Replaces fringe pixels with colors from nearby edge pixels
Decontaminate Colors replaces residual background-colored fringe pixels near extracted edges with colors sampled from the foreground subject.
In the Channels panel, what is the quickest way to load a saved alpha channel as an active selection?
Answer: Ctrl/Cmd+click the alpha channel thumbnail
Ctrl/Cmd+clicking any channel thumbnail instantly loads that channel's luminosity as a selection in one step.
What is the effect of holding Alt/Option while clicking a layer mask thumbnail in the Layers panel?
Answer: Displays the mask as a grayscale image on the canvas
Alt/Option+clicking a layer mask thumbnail switches the canvas view to display the raw grayscale mask, making it easy to paint or inspect its details.
Which Select menu command lets you select all pixels on the current layer that fall within a specific color range?
Answer: Select > Color Range
Select > Color Range opens a dialog where you sample colors with an eyedropper and adjust Fuzziness to select matching tones across the layer.
When compositing a subject shot on a green screen, which Photoshop feature is specifically designed to remove color spill from the subject's edges?
Answer: Decontaminate Colors in Select and Mask
Decontaminate Colors in Select and Mask is purpose-built to neutralize green (or blue) spill that bleeds onto subject edges during chroma-key extractions.