Photo Studio has two free lasso tools for selecting an area you can outline yourself. Use Polygonal Lasso when you can describe the boundary with straight segments. Use Freehand Lasso when you want to draw around an irregular or curved shape. A storefront sign, a book cover at an angle and a triangular section of a collage are good polygon examples. A stone, a leaf or a splash of paint is easier to trace by hand.
A selection tells the editor where an edit can take effect. You can use it to restrict a brush stroke or create a mask on a layer. Both lasso tools are included in the browser editor. You can follow the steps and download the result for free.
Step 1. Open Photo Studio and load your image
Visit the Free Photo Editing Software homepage and choose Photo Editor from the navigation or Open Photo Editor in the header. In Photo Studio, choose Open a photo and select a JPEG, PNG or WebP from your device. If the editor already has a document open, use Open photo in the top bar. Wait until the photo appears on the canvas before choosing a selection tool.
Use Fit at the bottom of the workspace to see the whole photo. Then zoom in far enough to distinguish the subject from its background. Leave room to trace past each corner without running into the edge of the viewport. A little extra space around the subject makes it easier to finish a continuous freehand stroke.
Step 2. Place corners with Polygonal Lasso
Choose Polygonal Lasso in the toolbar or from the Select menu. On a keyboard, K opens the tool. Set Mode to New selection for your first outline. Click one corner of the subject, then click each following corner in order. Photo Studio connects successive points with straight lines.
Try it on a closed notebook photographed from above. Place a point at each corner of the cover, including the two far corners if perspective makes the cover look narrower at the top. Follow the cover's edges rather than the outline of its shadow if you want to keep only the cover. Use more points where a small bevel or bend interrupts a straight edge.
After placing at least three points, choose Finish polygon in the tool options. The editor joins your last point to the first. Escape clears an unfinished path, so you can start over if you place a corner on the wrong edge. Inspect the completed outline before applying an edit.
Step 3. Trace curves with Freehand Lasso
Choose Freehand Lasso in the toolbar or the Select menu. Its keyboard shortcut is L. Press and hold the mouse button, or touch the canvas and keep your finger down, while tracing around the area. Work in one direction until you approach your starting point, then release. The editor closes the outline between the last recorded point and the first.
On a photo of a leaf, start on a broad section where the edge is clear. Slow down near the tip and where the stem joins the leaf. Bring the trace close to its starting point before releasing. Ending halfway around the leaf would close the gap with a straight segment that cuts across the subject.
If the edge disappears into a similar background, decide whether that detail matters at the final viewing size. For a small image, a clean outline around the main silhouette may read better than a shaky trace around every tiny serration.
Step 4. Refine your selection in smaller passes
With either lasso active, use Add in the Mode menu to include a missed area. Draw a small outline around the missing piece and overlap the existing selection. Use Subtract for the opposite job. Draw around the unwanted part and overlap only the area you want to remove. Intersect keeps the overlap between the old selection and the outline you draw next.
These modes let you mix the two tools. Trace the sides of a product box with Polygonal Lasso, then use Freehand Lasso in Add mode to include its rounded handle. Set the mode after switching tools and check the resulting outline. If you make the wrong change, choose Undo in the tool bar and retry the smaller section.
Check narrow openings separately. For example, if you outlined the outside of a pair of scissors and want the holes to remain open, trace each hole in Subtract mode. Zoom in and start the trace slightly inside the visible boundary, then compare the result after you mask the layer. Small openings are easy to miss while you are concentrating on the outer shape. Correcting them before the mask makes it easier to see the complete cutout at once.
Step 5. Turn the outline into an edit
To make a local paint mark, choose Brush, pick a drawing color and paint across part of the selection. The active selection limits the stroke to the selected pixels. This is handy when you want a solid accent to stop cleanly at a straight edge. For a reversible cutout, open Layers, select the visible and unlocked photo layer, then choose Keep selected pixels. The layer mask hides the area outside your outline.
Use Hide selected pixels when you outlined the part you want to conceal. For example, select a piece of tape along the edge of an image and hide that part of the layer. The area becomes transparent when there is no visible layer beneath it. Use Disable mask to compare with the full layer or Undo to return to the previous edit. The layer mask guide covers brush cleanup and reveal controls.
Step 6. Inspect the edges and download
Choose Deselect in the selection tool options or Deselect pixels in the Select menu. Removing the outline makes it easier to see where the cutout or paint edge actually lands. Look for slivers of background, missing tips and accidental corners. Check at a close zoom first, then choose Fit and judge the whole composition.
Choose Download image for a PNG, especially if the cutout needs transparent pixels. Use Download options when you need a different format or output size. If you expect to adjust the mask later, use File and Download project to keep an editable Photo Studio copy as well. Reopen the PNG in an image viewer to see how the edge looks outside the editor.