1. A method for selecting a portion of an image, the method comprising: receiving a selection to open an image for display in a display area; before the image is displayed in the display area, identifying edges in the image; displaying the image unmodified in the display area; while the image is displayed unmodified in the display area, receiving a selection of a user interface tool to re-identify edges in the image; after re-identifying the edges, receiving a single continuous movement of a location indicator across the unmodified image; identifying a plurality of reference points along the re-identified edges of the image in the vicinity of the single continuous movement of the location indicator; defining an initial border over the image based on the single continuous movement of the location indicator by drawing segments between the identified reference points; and after the single continuous movement is finished, smoothing the initial border to generate a deformable curve that approximates a shape of the segments of the initially defined border.