Select A Circle The Way The Pros Do

This is a great tip if you have to select a circle. You might already know to constrain the Elliptical Marquee tool to a circle you hold down the shift key while making a selection. The hard part is getting the selection to be exactly the right size. Not only that , but then you also have to get it positioned right on the circle.

The trick to overcoming these obstacles is to hold down the shift key with one finger and hover your thumb over the spacebar. Begin making your selection, and then without letting go of the shift key or the mouse button, press the spacebar down with your thumb.

This action will stop growing your selection and instead when you move the mouse it will move your selection. You can then take your thumb off the spacebar to continue drawing your selection.

This is way faster than guessing at your circle size and then dragging it into place.

The way I do it is I hold down the shift key with my middle finger and hover my thumb of the same hand over the spacebar. I use my opposite hand to operate the mouse. It's the fastest way I know to select a circle in Photoshop Elements.

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