Intro
In many cases, you need to distort an image from its standard shape. In Photoshop you can correct Perspective or distort an image to fit a pre-determined size or shape. This tutorial will show the different tools that you can use to make your images different. Some will be used often, others rarely - but it's good to know how to use them. Check out the video at the bottom for more info.
Basic Transformation The easiest way to transform something is using "CTRL+T". This will make a bounding box that can be adjusted by grabbing the nodes. In the example below, I have two layers, one is the image and the other is text.
You'll see that I am transforming the text layer. This is a very common use of the tool. First I made the Text layer active and then pressed CTRL+T. Then I can use a node (highlighted in red) to adjust the size and shape of the image by dragging it. You can open the file and try it for yourself.
Make the text layer active, press CTRL+T. Click and drag to resize. If you grab the corner nodes, you can adjust both vertical and horizontal. Grabbing the inside nodes will adjust either horizontal or vertical depending upon the node. There are some options when using this tool.
Keys used while dragging
Resulting Transformation
NONE
Scale without Constraints
SHIFT
Scales the object to the same proportions.
ALT
Scales the object using the center of the area being transformed.
SHIFT+ALT
Constrains the object, but the transforming is based on the center of the area being transformed.
CTRL
Distort the area in a freeform manner.
CTRL+ALT
Freeform distort based on the area's center.
While the area is highlighted for transforming, you can also Move the area by picking near the middle and dragging. Once you have your area how you want it, press ENTER. To cancel the transformation, press ESC.
Using CTRL+T also allows you to rotate the area. This is done by moving your cursor outside of the bounding box near any of the nodes. If you press the SHIFT key while rotating, you can rotate to a precise vertical positron as the you are now locked into 15° increments. Also, you can change the location of the pivot/center point by clicking and dragging it.
You can see how using something as simple at CTRL+T can give you a lot of flexibility. These tools are also accessible from the Edit menu.
Looking at the menu, you'll see that the first item (Again) is grayed out. This is because the image has not previously been transformed. Using this option allow you to apply the same transformation that was previously used.
The next two items, Scale and Rotate were both shown about and can be accessed much faster using CTRL+T than the menu. Another way to start to Transform is to highlight an area with a marquee tool, then right-click in that area. Choose either of the transform items in the menu.
Skew Skewing is used to distort the area either horizontally or vertically. Grabbing a node along the top or bottom will allow you to slant the area and an angle to the left or right. Grabbing a node on the side lets you skew up or down. Note that the indicator under the cursor changes just like when you are rotating.
Another way of skewing is to enter in a precise angle in the option bar.
If you look at these options, you'll see that there are ways to precisely transform you objects. Try transforming by typing directly into the option bar.
Distort Using Distort will dramatically change your image. In this example, I have used the distort transformation to give the photo a perspective look. I also added a Drop Shadow to give the look more depth.
Distort can used for a variety of special looks to make your designs more dramatic and visually exciting.
Perspective
Using perspective can
be used to correct photos or to create an effect. If you've learned from the previous examples above, you should already have an idea how it works - but this tool has one difference. When you grab a node, it 'controls' the one on the opposite side as well.
If you've seen Star Wars, this has to look familiar. Actually even if you haven't seen the movies, you seen the parodies. This is a very easy effect to create by using Perspective Transforming. In this example, I started with a block of paragraph text. If you try this with regular (non-paragraph) text, you can't do it until you rasterize the text.
To give this a shot, start with a black background. Create a block of text with a white color. Now select the Pointer or some other tool (remember, Transform doesn't work with the text tool active) and navigate to Edit > Transform > Perspective.
Now you'll see the regular bounding box. Grab the top left node and move it towards the middle. You should now see how "Star Wars" text is done. Use the same process to change buildings or add depth to an image.
The rest of the items in the list are pretty straightforward (except for Warp). Rotate 90 or 180 degrees is really handy for rotating photos before your start editing them. Flip Horizontal will mirror the selection from left to right. Flip Vertical will mirror the selection from top to bottom.
See if you can figure out how to create something like the image below using Flip Horizontal.
Distort with a Warp
Using a Wrap in Photoshop isn't always an easy task.
Warps are used to give dramatic distortion to and area. With a Warp, you can treat the image like silly putty. Below is an example of one way to use a Warp.
I have taken the regular straight text and Warped it to give the look that it is part of the label. On problem which you can see is that although the change looks better, the sharpness of the edges is gone due to the Wrap.
When you are using the Wrap tool, you are pulling the image around using nodes on a mesh that surrounds the selected area. You can drag the corners and the top and bottom lines; it's almost like modifying a path. Here I have zoomed in on the image to see the mesh better.
You'll find this tricky to work with at first, so one idea might to be to line your text up with something you can reference it with on the image like where the red meets the white on the can. Here is the file so you can try this. For extra practice, open an photo and warp it, then try to use the warp tool put it back to normal.
Distorting with Filters
Another way to distort an area is using the Distort Filters. Filters are covered more in this course, but let's look at some while we're on the subject.
Navigate to Filters > Distort and you will see a few more options.
We're just going to look at one option for now, but play with the others and see what they do. Start with a selection of something and then Navigate to Filters > Distort > Spherize - you'll see this dialog box pop up.
This is used to give a rounded effect to images and text. If you move the slider to the right, the distortion moves the selection in on itself, move it to left and it expands the selection. You can see that there are options for Horizontal or Vertical distortion only. Try an effect and UNDO to try another. See what happens if you combine distortions.
Keep in mind that if you expand the selection, you are enlarging the image area, and you'll likely cause a loss of sharpness. You can get away with this if you start with a large image, distort it and then make the image smaller. Try this effect on some text and think about how you could use it.
Conclusion
I will guarantee you that you will use the Transform tools a lot in your everyday Photoshop use. Not every image or block of text will be the size you need it. You can use these tools to correct of distort - they're very versatile. Remember these options and the keys that work with the tool.