Quickest Way To Create Circular Mask To Fill Square Canvas

[Chris]

While working on a square canvas, sometimes I need to make a circular mask to completely fill the canvas. The only way I know is to use the elliptical marquee tool while holding the shift key. It's tricky, as I have to start in the top left corner and drag and release at exactly the right position. Then It may be too small or too large and I have to adjust and reposition it.

Q1- Is there a quicker way to do this? 
Q2- Is there a quick way to place a smaller circular mask exactly in the centre of the image without trial and error?

Your advice would be appreciated.

Kind regards
Chris

Circular Mask Fills Canvas


Centre Mask on Canvas

[Sepiana]

Chris, try this.

First, find the center of your image using any one of the methods discussed in How to Find the Center of an Image.

Then, place your cursor on the center of the image, hold down the Shift key and the Alt key and draw your selection.

[fotofrank]

An Alternate way:

1. Draw any size circle any shape.
2. Go to Select>Transform Selection
3. Drag the handles as needed to have your selection go all the way to the edge.

[Chris]

Thank you very much Sepiana and Fotofrank for the advice. This is very helpful. This will enable me to create a circular mask and centre it much more easily.

However, some time ago I was watching a photoshop tutorial and I think I saw someone making a circular mask to fill the square frame of a new layer instantly in some automated way. Maybe I was mistaken. Anyway, if such a method exists, I hope I can find out it it can be used with PS elements.

Kind regards
Chris

[Sepiana]

May 5, 2021 8:02:50 GMT Chris said:

However, some time ago I was watching a photoshop tutorial and I think I saw someone making a circular mask to fill the square frame of a new layer instantly in some automated way. Maybe I was mistaken. Anyway, if such a method exists, I hope I can find out it it can be used with PS elements.

Chris, I have been thinking about this. Here is what I came up with.

1.  Find the center of your file using the method of your choice.
2.  Change the Elliptical Marquee tool settings: Aspect >Fixed Size    W and H dimensions > same as your file.

[Chris]

Thank you very much Sepiana. Yes, this appears to be the fastest way to make a circular mask exactly fill the entire canvas to the exact pixel! The good thing is that when I manually move the mask to near the centre, it will automatically snap to the edges and be centred automatically! This is exactly what I wish to do.


Kind regards
Chris

[Sepiana]

Chris , you are most welcome! Glad to hear "This is exactly what I wish to do." The automatic edge-snapping and centering is very clever, isn't it?