Photoshop has many tools available for making selections. I, personally, do not use all of them. I find that most selections I need can be made by using the Magic Wand Tool, the Magnetic Lasso, and the Quick Mask Mode. So, as I do not have much experience using the other tools such as the other lasso tools, I am going to describe only the tools listed above. However, as I stated earlier, I have never had to use the others.

The tool I use most often is the Magic Wand Tool. This tool lets you select an area of one color. I use this tool a lot to select the background of a picture. I can than invert that selection so that I am left with everything but the background. I also use this tool to select different sections that are clearly defined by color. It is not a good idea to use this tool to make selections where there is shading, as it won't pick up the whole area because the shade of color is different.