Why does photoshop erase the image instead of the background?

[stumars1]

I have been making some retro graphics for a website but i have come across to a problem which i cannot seem to resolve when i use the magic wand tool to select the background, it seems to select inside of the image instead of the background which results in half of the image being deleted, i have tried everything as i possible could to resolve it but no luck. Can anyone give me a possible resolution on how this can be fixed?

Version: Photoshop CC 2017

Operating system: Windows 10 Home Premium

Stuart

[Trevor.Dennis]

What do you after using the Magic wand tool?  Do you just hit the Delete key?

That would delete the selected area unless something was very wrong.

Have you tried inverting the selection?  (Ctrl Shift I)

Or hitting the Q key to turn on Quickmask?

Before using Quickmask you need to double click the Quickmask icon to see if the colour shows the Masked or Selected areas.  The default is Masked, but a lot of people prefer to set it to Selected. 

The bottom line is that Quickmask will show what is selected, and you will know that hitting delete will remove those pixels.

Note, Delete does not work the same way on a Background layer, and instead opens the Fill dialog.

[stumars1]

Hi Trevor,

Unfortunately, the steps you have provided me does not resolve the situation. At this moment in time it is still occuring.

In regards to your question to me, yes i generally use the magic wand tool and hit the delete button once the pixels have been selected.

Stuart

[Trevor.Dennis]

Are you saying that when you make a selection and hit the delete key, it is the unselected area that is deleted?

Can you show us a screen shot?  just copy to the clipboard, and paste here with Ctrl v

[jane-e]

Be sure to include your Layers panel and maybe the Channels panel. Trevor has given your the correct answer (as he always does), and seeing these panels with your selection will help to troubleshoot.

[stumars1]

Hi Trevor,

I attach this screenshot to you which hopefully might give a solution to resolve this. http://prnt.sc/f7h3ss

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Stuart

[stumars1]

This does still remain unresolved, i would appriciate if someone can help me get this fixed. I do have graphics to make for others but i am not able to do it at the moment due to this issue.

[davescm]

Your screenshot shows your selection has gone beyond the area you wanted to select and into some of the area that you did not want selected.

The Magic wand tool relies on contrast between different areas and when your image is close to the background (lots of dark) it will not differentiate.

You can do a couple of things :

1. Adjust the tolerance value for the magic wand tool in the options bar

2. Hold down the shift key and click again to add to the selection or hold down the Alt key and click again to remove from the selection

3. Finish off your selection using another tool. For example, Trevor already mentioned clicking on quick mask mode where you can directly paint your selection using a black/white brush.

Dave