To deselect in Photoshop, press...

• A. Ctrl D or Command D
• B. Ctrl C
• C. Ctrl V
• D. Ctrl Z

Answer: (A)

Deselecting a selection in Photoshop turns off the active marching ants so you’re no longer editing only the chosen area. When something is selected, edits apply to that region; turning off the selection lets you work freely on the whole image again. The quickest way to do this is with Ctrl+D on Windows or Command+D on Mac. If you’re not using shortcuts, you can also go to the menu and choose Select > Deselect.

Keep in mind other shortcuts do different things: Ctrl+C copies the selected pixels, Ctrl+V pastes, and Ctrl+Z undoes the last action. Deselecting simply ends the active selection, not any of those operations.