Editing and Transforming Photos

Editing and Transforming Photos

Learn how to scale, rotate, flip, warp, and distort your photos inside of Photoshop.

When to use

Anytime you'd like to change the properties or orientation of an image you can do so with these techniques.

Instructions

Basic Transformations

• Begin by importing an image into your document so you have a Smart Object Layer.
• Click and drag a different photo into your document so you will also have a Raster Layer.
• Select the Raster image and press Command/Ctrl+T to initiate a Free Transform.
• From here you can click and drag any of the four corners of the bounding box in and out to scale the image from that corner.
• You can also hold the Alt/Option Key while dragging inwards from any of the four corners of the bounding box to scale the image from the center.
• Next, move your cursor over any of the four corners until the cursor turns into a rounded line with an arrow on each side. If you now click and move your cursor, you will be able to freely rotate the photo.
• If you do this while holding the Shift Key, you will rotate your image by 15° increments.

Flipping and Skewing Photos

• Select your Raster image with the Move Tool (V) and then press Command/Ctrl+T to initiate a Free Transform.
• Hold the Control Key and click on the image to reveal a dropdown menu.
• From this menu, click on the 'Flip Vertical' option at the bottom to flip your photo upside down.
• Click on this option again to return it to an upright position.
• Try the same thing, but with the 'Flip Horizontal' option to flip your photo horizontally.
• After returning your photo to it's original position, press Command/Ctrl+T and then hold the Control Key and click on the image to reveal the menu once again.
• This time, choose 'Skew' from the dropdown.
• If you now move your cursor over any of the four edges of the photo, you will notice that your cursor changes to a double-sided arrow.
• You can now click and drag up or down, left or right to skew the photo.

Distorting Photos

• Select your Raster image with the Move Tool (V) and then press Command/Ctrl+T to initiate a Free Transform.
• Hold the Control Key and click on the photo to reveal a dropdown menu.
• From the menu, choose 'Distort'.
• You can now click on any of the four corners of the bounding box and move the cursor around to make the photo appear to come forward or recede into space.
• Distorting photos like this can be very useful if you are trying to align your photo to a sign or a screen to make it look like it's in a 3d space.
• After distorting your Raster image, you can return to its original state by using Command/Ctrl+Z to Undo your last few adjustments.

Adjusting Smart Objects

• Select your Smart Object Layer with the Move Tool (V) and then press Command/Ctrl+T to initiate a Free Transform.
• Hold the Control Key and click on the photo to reveal the dropdown menu once again.
• Choose 'Distort' from the menu and apply a similar transformation where two of the corners recede into space and the other two come forward, making it look like the image is in a 3d space.
• You can also do this by selecting the 'Perspective' option from the dropdown menu, and then clicking and dragging in or out from any of the four corners of the bounding box while holding the Alt/Option+Shift Keys to change the perspective of the photo.
• You can now double-click on the Smart Object Layer to go into it, make any adjustment you wish, and then save it by pressing Command/Ctrl+S and then close out of the tab by pressing Command/Ctrl+W on the keyboard.
• Your Smart Object Layer will now be automatically updated in your main document.
• If you want to bring back your original image, you will need to go into the Smart Object, select all of the layers, hold the Control Key and click on any of the layers, and then choose 'Convert To Smart Object' before dragging this back into your original document.

Warping Photos

• In addition to scaling, rotating, flipping, skewing, distorting, or changing the perspective of a photo, you can also Warp it.
• To do this, select the photo layer, press Command/Ctrl+T, and then click on the image while holding the Control Key to reveal the transform menu.
• From here, click on the 'Warp' option.
• Doing this will reveal a grid on top of your photo.
• You can now push and pull the columns and rows to warp your photo in 2d space.

Hints & tips

• Transforming a Raster Image applies the adjustments directly to the photo, so you can only get your original photo back by using the Undo command or by opening a new instance of the photo.
• Transforming a Smart Object retains the original image nested inside.
• Press Command/Ctrl+T to initiate a Free Transform, and then click on the image while holding the Control Key to reveal the transform menu.
• Command/Ctrl+Z is the keyboard shortcut to Undo any action in Photoshop.
• Command/Ctrl+S is the keyboard shortcut for Saving.
• Command/Ctrl+W is the keyboard shortcut for closing a tab.