Photoshop

Scale, rotate, skew, distort, apply perspective, or warp

  1. Select what you want to transform.
  2. Choose Edit > Transform > Scale, Rotate, Skew, Distort, Perspective, or Warp.
    Note: If you are transforming a shape or entire path, the Transform menu becomes the Transform Path menu. If you are transforming multiple path segments (but not the entire path), the Transform menu becomes the Transform Points menu.
  3. (Optional) In the options bar, click a square on the reference point locator .
  4. Do one or more of the following:

    • If you chose Scale, drag a handle on the bounding box. Press Shift as you drag a corner handle to scale proportionately. When positioned over a handle, the pointer becomes a double arrow.

    • If you chose Rotate, move the pointer outside the bounding border (it becomes a curved, two-sided arrow), and then drag. Press Shift to constrain the rotation to 15° increments.

    • If you chose Skew, drag a side handle to slant the bounding box.

    • If you chose Distort, drag a corner handle to stretch the bounding box.

    • If you chose Perspective, drag a corner handle to apply perspective to the bounding box.

    • If you chose Warp, choose a warp from the Warp Style pop‑up menu in the options bar, or to perform a custom warp, drag the control points, a line, or an area within the mesh to change the shape of the bounding box and mesh.

    • For all types of transformations, enter a value in the options bar. For example, to rotate an item, specify degrees in the rotation  text box.

  5. (Optional) If desired, switch to a different type of transformation by selecting a command from the Edit > Transform submenu.
    Important: When you transform a bitmap image (versus a shape or path), the image becomes slightly less sharp each time you commit a transformation; therefore, performing multiple commands before applying the cumulative transformation is preferable to applying each transformation separately.
  6. (Optional) If you want to warp the image, click the Switch Between Free Transform And Warp Mode button  in the options bar.
  7. When you finish, do one of the following:

    • Press Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac OS), click the Commit button  in the options bar, or double-click inside the transformation marquee.

    • To cancel the transformation, press Esc or click the Cancel button  in the options bar.