How Do You Transform a Selection in Photoshop?

Transforming selections in Photoshop allows you to resize, rotate, distort, or flip your selected areas, offering precise control over image editing. There are several ways to achieve this:

Method 1: Using the Transform Selection Command

This method is ideal for modifying the outline of your selection.

1. Make a selection: Use any selection tool (Marquee, Lasso, Magic Wand, etc.) to select the area you want to transform.
2. Access Transform Selection: Go to the Select menu in the menu bar and choose Transform Selection. This will add handles to your selection boundary.
3. Transform: Use the handles to resize, rotate, skew, distort, or perspective-transform your selection. You can also use keyboard shortcuts for more precise adjustments (Shift for constrained proportions, Alt for scaling from the center, etc.). The transformation affects only the selection boundary, not the underlying pixels. This means you can transform the selection mask without changing the pixels.

Method 2: Transforming a Layer

This method works best if you have a selection, and that selection is masked to a layer.

1. Create a layer: Ensure your selection is on its own layer (or layer mask). If it's not, create a new layer and copy-paste the selected area.
2. Access Free Transform: Go to Edit > Free Transform (or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T on Windows or Cmd+T on macOS). This will add handles to your layer (or masked area).
3. Transform: Use the handles to scale, rotate, skew, distort, warp, and flip your selection (and thus the associated layer). This method transforms the pixels within the layer, unlike Transform Selection.

Method 3: Using the Transform Controls in the Options Bar

After making a selection and using either Transform Selection or Free Transform, the options bar at the top will show numeric options that allow you to specify the precise amount of scaling, rotation, or other transformations. This offers more precise control over the transformation process.

Key Differences & Considerations

• Transform Selection: Modifies only the selection outline, leaving the underlying pixels unchanged. Useful for precise adjustments to selection boundaries.
• Free Transform: Modifies the pixels within the selected area or layer. Useful for resizing and warping images within a selection.
• Multiple Layers: Transforming a selection on multiple layers requires different methods. You may need to group the layers first, or use layer masks to make sure only the desired pixels are affected.

The process described in the provided references aligns perfectly with these methods. Remember that the choice of method depends on whether you want to adjust only the selection boundaries or modify the pixels within the selection.