You can make Marquee selections at a set aspect ratio. Aspect ratio locks the shape of the selection, but not the size. This is especially useful for making perfect circular selections. You could hold down the Shift key to temporarily constrain the Elliptical Marquee tool to draw a perfect circle, but if you want to change the default to a perfect circle, say, for a painting stencil or other things, do this: Change the Style in the Options Bar from Normal to Fixed Ratio and enter 1 for both Width and Height. Now you can draw perfect circles at any size you need without holding the Shift key. And, as always when drawing a selection with the Marquee tools, you can press-and-hold the Spacebar while you’re drawing the selection to reposition it.
This tip originally published in Colin Smith’s “Photoshop Tips” column in the August, 2023 issue of Photoshop User magazine.
