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Photoshop is a photo editing software that makes flipping images easy by just following a few simple steps. It offers multiple options that enable you to adjust the orientation of your image completely or just make slight changes to the angles. So, let’s learn how to rotate or flip an image in Photoshop using different methods.
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Many reasons may make you plan to rotate a photo or flip the entire canvas without affecting its quality and purpose. Either you want to flip the entire canvas, want to rotate a particular layer, or just want to make slight angle adjustments in a layer. Fortunately, you can learn how to rotate an image in Photoshop.
The ability to flip or rotate a photo is a very important feature for photo editors. It allows them to use the image as they want. This editor provides many different techniques of image rotation such as Flip horizontal or Flip vertical. Here, I give you a step-by-step guideline to help you use this highly useful tool to rotate a photo.
If you want to rotate canvas in Photoshop, you can learn how to rotate an image in Photoshop using any rotation option. Either you want to alter the axes of the photo or just want to rotate the canvas in a 90 degrees clockwise or 90 degrees counter clockwise, Photoshop can help you do that easily.
The first method that I will explain on how to rotate an image in Photoshop is how to rotate the whole canvas through the menu bar. So, let’s look at the steps to rotate an image in Photoshop.
Open Photoshop on your device, navigate to File, and choose Open. This opens Finder if you are using Mac or File Explorer if you are using your Windows PC. Go to the folder that holds your photos, and then double-click on the photo you want to rotate.
Navigate to the menu bar on top of your screen, click on Image and then choose Image Rotation from the drop-down list. This displays the following image rotation options that you can use to rotate your canvas.
When you rotate an image using the arbitrary option, it leaves some space around your Image filled with a certain solid color after you rotate an image. If you wish to change the background color, go to the panel, click on Create New Color fill and then select Solid color.
Choose your desired color from the Color Picker window that opens, and then set a new background color. If you are not satisfied with the background color, you can change it again by double-clicking on the Color Fill layer thumbnail to open the Color Picker window and then choose a new color.
However, considering that there is no quick way of adjusting the background color after applying the arbitrary rotation, it's advisable to set the background color before you rotate.
If you don't know how to rotate an image in Photoshop, you can use the crop tool. Although the crop tool in Photoshop is mainly for cropping your images, you can also use it to rotate canvas or rotate an image. The crop tool allows you to easily rotate your canvas in just a single step. So, if you want to crop as well as rotate an image, it is just the tool you want.
Here is how you can rotate an image with the crop tool in Photoshop
Using the above steps, open up your photo in Photoshop and go to the toolbar panel present on the left side of your Photoshop interface.
On how to rotate an image in Photoshop, if you want to adjust the angle of individual layers instead of the whole canvas, the application can help you with that too. With the amazing feature of layers, this editor allows you to split your image into different layers so you can just choose the layer of the element and apply the image rotation.
In order to rotate an image on a picture with layers, you would have to use the ‘Transform tool.’ It allows you to rotate individual layers within the image in Photoshop using the transform tool to rotate individual layers, your main image or only a few elements as long as they are in their own layers.
Here is how to rotate an image in Photoshop:
If your image is on a single layer and you wish to rotate certain elements within it, then you will have to copy the respective element onto a new layer. Here is how you can do it:
Are you wondering how to rotate an image in Photoshop? Open up your image in Photoshop using the above steps. Select the ‘Quick Selection Tool’ from the toolbar panel on the left side of your interface and highlight the layer that you wish to rotate. Once the layer is selected, go to Layer > New >> Layer via Copy. This will create a new layer for the area you wish to rotate.
With the layer selected, press V on your keyboard to select the Move tool. This makes a transform box appear surrounding the layer. Hover your cursor outside any corner until a U-shaped arrow appears, allowing you to rotate your selection. Click and drag the mouse to the right or left to rotate the layer.
However, if you wish to rotate the selection to the set custom angle, you must use the transform tool. With the layer and Move tool highlighted, press Ctrl + T on your Windows Pc or Cmd + T if on MacOS to select the Transform tool.
Right-click in the Transform box to display the image rotation options such as 180 degrees, 90 degrees counterclockwise, or 90 degrees clockwise. Click on any options to rotate the layer to the set angle and press Enter to save the changes. Alternatively, click on the checkbox on the top settings bar.
With just a right-click using the transform box, do you notice the change in the direction of the pathway? That’s because I copied this area into a different layer and then rotated it using the Transform tool as explained above.
You can flip a layer vertically or horizontally by selecting the layer you wish to flip and then pressing V to select the Move tool. Alternatively, hold down Command using Mac or Control if on your Windows PC to activate the Move tool.
Press Ctrl + T if using a Windows PC or Cmd + T on Mac to access the Transform tool. Highlight the Transform option, right-click in the transform box and then select Flip Vertical Or Flip Horizontal. Press Enter to save the changes.
Even after you learn how to rotate an image in Photoshop, sometimes you don’t want to apply the image rotation without knowing how the rotated image would look like.
On how to rotate an image in Photoshop guide, the ‘Rotate View Tool’ is another tool that you can use to rotate images in Photoshop in either clockwise and counter clockwise direction. It allows you to rotate an image and view the outcome of rotating an image without making any permanent changes to it.
Are you wondering how to rotate an image in Photoshop without permanently affecting the pixels? Here is how to rotate an image in Photoshop for observation purposes:
Yes, you can flip the entire canvas in Photoshop by navigating to Image, Image Rotation, and then choosing Flip Canvas Vertical or Flip Canvas Horizontal from the rotation options. However, Unlike when you rotate a canvas, flipping images in Photoshop maintains the same orientation and changes the contents from left to right.
Yes, you need to save after you rotate images. After you rotate an image in Photoshop, navigate to File and choose Save As to open a dialog box. Specify the filename, location, and format you wish to save your photo. Save your photo in the JPEG format if you are not planning to edit it further in Photoshop, and click on Save.
An image with wrong orientation is a major and common issue people have with their photos. Thankfully, there are several rotation options that can help you flip or rotate a canvas in whichever way you want and then save them for later use. Is there a benefit of learning how to rotate an image in Photoshop? Learning how to rotate an image in Photoshop as elaborated above will help you get your desired orientation in just a few simple steps.
