Scaling and transforming photos using the Pick tool

The Pick tool lets you transform images interactively in the following ways:

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Scaling resizes an image horizontally, vertically, or proportionally.

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Shearing skews an image vertically or horizontally.

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Distorting an image stretches or contracts it in any direction.

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Applying perspective to an image corrects the perspective or applies a false perspective. For information about correcting image perspective, see Correcting photographic perspective.

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Rotating an image moves it around a pivot point. For information about rotating images, see Rotating images.

When you transform an image, the transformations are applied to the layer on which the image resides. You can apply transformations to any raster layer or selection.

Setting scaling and transformation options

You can precisely control many of the deform settings. The following options appear on the Tool Options palette when the Pick tool is active:

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Pivot X, Pivot Y — sets the X and Y coordinates of the rotation pivot point

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Position X, Position Y — sets the X and Y coordinates of the top left corner handle

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Scale X (%), Scale Y (%) — sets the percentage of change for the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) resizing

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Shear — sets the offset of a side. Positive values shear to the right, and negative values shear to the left.

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Angle — sets the rotation around the pivot point. The image is rotated clockwise, from 0 to 360 degrees.

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Reset button

— resets the deformation rectangle to its original shape but keeps any current deformations

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Perspective X, Perspective Y — adjusts the perspective of the deformation

The best way to create and adjust perspective is by dragging the control handles. When you create a perspective effect with the control handles, you manipulate many variables. Changing the values in the Perspective X and Perspective Y controls may affect the scale, shear, and position values.

Important! The Pick tool works on grayscale and 16 million– color images only. For more information about increasing the color depth of an image, see Increasing the color depth of an image. For more information about deforming vector objects or text, see Sizing, shaping, and rotating vector objects or Sizing and transforming text.

To scale or transform a selection, layer, or image

Edit workspace

Choose a selection, layer, or image by clicking its name on the Layers palette.

On the Tools toolbar, choose the Pick tool

A bounding box with handles appears.

Perform one or more tasks from the following table.


To	Do the following
Resize while keeping the current proportions	Drag a corner handle.
Resize while changing the current proportions	Right-click and drag one of the corner or edge handles.
Change the center of rotation	Drag the rotation pivot point.
Rotate the image	Drag the rotation handle.
Change perspective symmetrically	Hold down Ctrl, and drag a corner handle horizontally or vertically.
Change perspective asymmetrically	Hold down Ctrl + Shift, and drag a corner handle horizontally or vertically.
Shear the image	Hold down Shift, and drag a side handle.
Distort the image	Hold down Ctrl + Shift, and drag a side handle.

By default, you must hold down Ctrl + Shift to distort an image. To distort an image without holding down keys, choose a different Mode setting on the Tool Options palette. The Scale mode is the default setting, so you must hold down a key or keys. The Shear mode lets you shear without holding down Shift. The Perspective mode lets you change perspective without holding down Ctrl. The Free mode lets you distort without holding down Ctrl + Shift.

When the Pick tool is active, you can scale and transform precisely by setting values in any of the boxes on the Tool Options palette.