How to Make a Perfect Circle in Photoshop

There are many ways to incorporate a perfect circle into a digital image. You probably already know how to make a basic circle using shapes, but did you know you can make a perfect circle using the marquee tool? In this guide, we’ll show you how to make a perfect circle in Photoshop.

How to Make a Perfect Circle in Photoshop

To make a perfect circle in Photoshop:

1. Create a new image or open an image on which you want to draw a perfect circle in Photoshop.
2. Find the Rectangular Marquee tool on the Photoshop tools menu (hotkey: M).
3. Left-click and hold the Rectangular Marquee icon on the Photoshop tools menu.
4. Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
5. Left-click and drag on your image to create a circle.
6. Press and hold the Shift key to make the circle perfectly symmetrical.
7. Release left-click to place the circle.

Pressing Shift while using any Marquee Tool or any Marquee Tool will make it perfectly symmetrical. Without doing this, drawing a perfect circle by hand is difficult, and you’ll likely end up with something resembling an oval.

After the circle is drawn, you can right-click the outline created by the Elliptical Marquee Tool and choose the fill or stroke option to fill it in with color or outline it with a brush stroke.

For more walkthroughs and guides, check out our website’s Photoshop section.