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Transforming the size and shape of a selection masks from within the mask mode.

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Quick reference

Topic: Transforming Selections

Transforming the size and shape of a selection masks from within the mask mode.

When to use

Use it to quickly adjust the section mask dimensions faster and without starting over. Great for workflow productivity in situations where fast image re-touching is needed.

Instructions

The ‘section modify’ allows you to modify the entire selection’s border in a number of ways.

  1. Make a selection of the image (example: use the elliptical tool for the tools bar).
  2. From the dropdown select menu, choose ‘modify’.
  3. This will give you a few choices selection modification including:
    • expand the borders;
    • contract the borders;
    • smooth the sharp angles of the selection;
    • feather the selection.

The ‘section transform’ on the other hand gives you even more options for altering your selection shape

  1. Make a selection of the image (example: use the elliptical tool for the tools bar).
  2. From the dropdown select menu, choose ‘transform’.
  3. This will give you a few choices selection transformation,  including:
    • stretch the selection just vertically or horizontally;
    • reposition the entire selection;
    • change the shape of one size of the selection only;
    • rotate the selection by grasping the rotation markers on the corners of the selection;
    • change the rotation point of the selection by moving the center dot point.

To work even faster you can even add a shortcut key.  

  1. Make a selection of the image (example: use the elliptical tool for the tools bar).
  2. Go to ‘Edit’ dropdown and choose ‘keyboard shortcuts’
  3. Choose ‘select’, and scroll down to the ‘transform selection’ option
  4. Assign the keyboard combination that you think is best (example: command-shift-’T’).
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  • 00:04 Hey everybody, Howard Pinsky here with a Photoshop tip that a lot of
  • 00:07 you probably already know about.
  • 00:10 But, it's one of those tips that I just learnt about the other day.
  • 00:14 And yes, even me, someone who teaches Photoshop.
  • 00:17 I learn new things all the time because Photoshop is such a vast application.
  • 00:22 There's so much going on.
  • 00:24 There are menus within menus within menus.
  • 00:26 It's just impossible to know everything.
  • 00:28 So, let me show you what I learned just the other day.
  • 00:32 It blew my mind.
  • 00:33 And, I'm really shocked that I didn't even know it existed before hand.
  • 00:36 I don't know if I overlooked it.
  • 00:38 Or, I just didn't bother to look to see if it existed.
  • 00:41 But, it's something I'm definitely going to use.
  • 00:43 And, something I could have used in the past.
  • 00:46 So, in this image here, and
  • 00:47 in this particular video, I'm working on changing the eye colors.
  • 00:51 So, I would probably grab my elliptical marquee tool from the tools bar and
  • 00:55 create a selection around the eye.
  • 00:57 Now, it's obviously not gonna be very perfect, but it's a good starting point.
  • 01:02 Now, in terms of modifying a selection, there are a few things you can do.
  • 01:05 Up in the select menu, you have a modify sub menu.
  • 01:09 Where you can contract your selection to bring it in, expand the selection to
  • 01:13 bring it out, or you can add a border, smooth or feather to the selection.
  • 01:17 But, there is one tool that I didn't know existed up until a few days ago.
  • 01:21 And, that's the ability to transform your selection.
  • 01:25 And, I'm not talking about the simple Command or
  • 01:27 Control T, and then transforming.
  • 01:29 Because that transforms what's inside of the selection.
  • 01:32 I'm talking about transforming the actual selection.
  • 01:35 So let me head back up to the Select menu, and there's the Modify submenu again, but
  • 01:39 a little bit lower, we have Transform Selection.
  • 01:42 And it's not even hidden anywhere.
  • 01:44 It's not hidden in the submenu, so
  • 01:46 I obviously don't know how I missed this tool.
  • 01:49 But somehow over the years I've completely overlooked it.
  • 01:52 I don't even know when this was added into Photoshop.
  • 01:54 But when you select that, you're now able to transform the actual selection.
  • 01:59 Vertically and horizontally, or uniformly.
  • 02:03 Just like that.
  • 02:04 It's that simple.
  • 02:04 And, it doesn't only go for the marquis selection.
  • 02:07 I can grab my regular lasso tool,
  • 02:09 make a free-hand selection around the eye and once again select transform selection.
  • 02:15 And, I can make the transformations if I want to.
  • 02:17 So, if I have only one side of the selection it's a little bit smaller or
  • 02:20 a little bit larger, I can transform only that one side.
  • 02:24 Where if I did select modify expand it would expand the selection on all sides,
  • 02:29 I only want the selection to expand on one side.
  • 02:32 And, what's nice about this feature is because it's a menu item.
  • 02:35 You can add a short cut to it.
  • 02:36 If you go to edit and then down to keyboard shortcuts and
  • 02:38 then go do keyboard shortcuts and then go do select, scroll down a little bit you
  • 02:43 have the transform selection option and you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it.
  • 02:48 So let's say Cmd+Shift+T, obviously that one already exists, edit transform again,
  • 02:53 but I don't really use that very often.
  • 02:55 So I can go ahead and replace that, and
  • 02:57 now every time I press Cmd+Shift+T, I can now transform my selections.
  • 03:01 So again, I don't know how I didn't know this existed, but it does.

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