Select None To Select Them All

So far, we know that we see things very differently from how Photoshop sees them. We see independent, recognizable objects while Photoshop sees everything as pixels, and we tell Photoshop which pixels we want to work on by selecting them with one or more of the various selection tools. In fact, before we can do anything at all to an image, Photoshop first needs to know which pixels we want to edit.

For example, let's say I want to change the color of the main apple in the photo. I want to change it from red to green. Based on what I just said, I shouldn't be able to do that without first selecting the pixels that make up the apple. Let's give it a try anyway, just for fun. I'll select the Brush Tool from the Tools panel:

Then I'll select a green color to paint with by clicking on the Foreground color swatch near the bottom of the Tools panel:

Clicking on the color swatch brings up Photoshop's Color Picker. I'll select a light green:

I'll click OK to exit out of the Color Picker, and now that I have my Brush Tool selected and green as my Foreground color, I'll try to paint over the apple. Since I didn't bother to select any pixels before painting, we already know that I'm wasting my time (and yours) here. Photoshop isn't going to let me do anything. In fact, as soon as I try to paint over the apple, it throws a big warning box at me threatening to crash my hard drive if I ever try to get away with this again:

Wait a minute, what just happened?! I was able to paint over the apple! Photoshop didn't complain at all! Okay, let's recap. I said we can't do anything to an image unless we first select the pixels that we want to edit. Then to prove it, I grabbed my Brush Tool and tried painting over part of the image without first selecting anything, yet I was still able to paint over it. This can only mean one thing... I have no idea what I'm talking about!

Seriously though, the real reason why I was still able to paint over the apple without first selecting any pixels is because of a little known fact. Whenever we have nothing selected in an image, we actually have everything selected. Photoshop assumes that if we didn't select any specific pixels first, it can only be because we wanted every pixel selected so we can edit the entire photo. Or at least, we have the option to edit the entire photo. As we saw in this example, I was able to paint over just a small area of the image even though I didn't select any pixels first, but if I wanted to, I could have just as easily painted over the entire image and there would have been nothing preventing me from doing that.

While having the freedom to go where we want and do what we please sounds wonderful, it can actually be a very bad thing, at least when it comes to photo editing. In this example, all I wanted to do was change the color of the apple, yet because I didn't select the apple first, Photoshop allowed me to paint anywhere I wanted, and all I ended up doing was making a mess of things. Let's see what happens if I select the apple first.

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