Chapter 12: Geometric Transformations
(These features are available when you are in the cropping mode.)
You can quickly change the geometric properties of an image. This is useful when a camera doesn’t correctly tag whether an image should be in portrait or landscape mode. You can also flip or flop an image to create a mirrored image.
Rotating an Image
Using the Image menu you can easily rotate an image in 90˚ increments.
(Note: Cropping is not available when using Photoshop as the host application).
Choose Image > Rotate and choose from two options:
Rotate Left turns the image 90˚ counterclockwise.
Rotate Right turns the image 90˚ clockwise.
If needed, the command can be chosen multiple times.
Flipping an Image
Whether it’s for creative purposes or for technical reasons, you can flip or flop an image. This effectively creates a mirrored image.
Choose Image > Flip and choose from two options:
Flip Horizontal revolves the image 180˚ horizontally to create a mirrored image.
Flip Vertical revolves the image 180˚ vertically to create a mirrored image.
If needed, the commands can be combined.
Transforming a Layer
Once you’ve added a new layer to a document, it’s easy to transform it to a new size.
Click the + symbol at the top of the Layers panel and choose Add Image….
Navigate to a logo, watermark, or layer on your hard drive and click the Open button to add the file to your document. The layer is automatically named with the filename of the selected file.
To scale the texture, right-click on its thumbnail and choose Image Mapping.
To prevent unwanted distortion of the watermark or logo, choose Fit.
To scale the layer, click the Transform Tool or press Cmd/Ctrl + T.
If you want the layer to not distort, click the Lock icon in the Info Bar to prevent unwanted distortion.
Drag a corner handle to resize the layer. Drag in the center to position. Resize and position the logo to taste.
To Move the image, just click inside the image area and drag to reposition the image.
To Rotate an image you can click on the Angle readout to reveal a drop-down slider for adjusting the angle of the image up to 45 degrees in either direction. You can also click and drag just outside a corner to rotate. A grid overlay appears to help you with accurate cropping.
10. When happy with the position of the new layer, click the Done button. To cancel this action click the Reset button then click Done.
