5 secrets of selection tools in Photoshop

There are two key tools in Photoshop: rectangular and elliptical marquee tools (rectangular and oval selection areas), and they jointly occupy a position in the toolbar. Here are some things you might not know about these tools.

Squares and circles
Rectangular and elliptical marquee tools (rectangular and oval selection areas) can be used to draw regular squares and circles. When you click and drag a region, hold down the Shift key to restrict the shape to a circle or square.

Is a circle a square? No thanks!
Try to draw a circle or oval in a fixed position on the image, you may get confused where the drawing of the shape begins. A circle or square is drawn as if it were placed in a square or rectangular shape, so you start drawing them from the corner of a square or rectangular object. All this complicates the exact location of the figure. To simplify the task, you can draw your shape from the center outwards by holding the Alt key while using the selection tool. Add the Shift key to hold the oval within the circle.

The right figure, but the wrong position?
What do you do when you have already drawn the correct shape, but in the wrong place in the image? Do not release the mouse! Instead, holding down the spacebar, you can move your shape to the desired position. Release the space bar and then the left mouse button to lock the selection at the selected position.

The right figure, but the wrong turn?
When you want to create an unfolded shape, such as a rectangle, square, or oval, first create it using the selection tool, not paying attention to the rotation. Now release the mouse button and select Select > Transform selection . The shape now shows transform markers that you can use to rotate it. Press the Ctrl key and you can drag the corner of the shape and distort it. Press Enter or Return to apply the transformation and remove the markers. Now you can continue your work with the selection area.

Strict selection size
If you want to create a selection area with exact dimensions, from the Style drop-down menu, select Fixed Size . Write the pixels in width and height in the frames and click on the image, the selection will appear exactly the same as you specified. Use Fixed Ratio (fixed ratio) to create a selection with a fixed ratio, for example 1: 1.25, as shown here.

The next time you need to create a selection on an image using the selection tool, remember that it has a lot more features than it seems at first glance.

Posted by: Helen Bradley
Translation: Alexander Antsiperovich
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