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Learn how to use the Elliptical Marquee Tool and Layer Masks to circle crop any image in Photoshop.
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CIRCLE CROP ANY PHOTO IN SECONDS
How to Crop a Photo into a Circle in Photoshop
This Quick Tip turns a rectangular photo into a circular crop using a constrained transform, a layer mask, and Photoshop’s Crop command, giving a perfectly round result instead of the usual square or rectangular frame.
Constraining the Transformation
With Shift held down, the transformation is constrained proportionally, which keeps the circular shape perfectly round instead of letting it stretch into an oval as it’s resized.
Why Proportions Are Locked
Holding Shift while transforming is what stops the shape from being scaled unevenly on one axis, since even a small mismatch between width and height would turn a circle into an ellipse.
Ctrl-Clicking to Load the Selection
Ctrl-clicking (Cmd-clicking on Mac) is used to load the shape as an active selection, turning the resized circle into a selection that can be applied elsewhere in the document.
Turning a Shape Into a Selection
Loading a shape’s outline as a selection this way is what makes it possible to use that exact circular outline as a mask on a different layer, rather than being limited to the shape layer itself.
Clicking the Layer Mask Icon
With the circular selection active, clicking the Layer Mask icon applies that selection as a mask to the photo layer, hiding everything outside the circle and revealing only the round portion of the photo underneath.
Masking Instead of Deleting
Applying the circle as a mask keeps the rest of the photo intact behind the mask, so the crop shape can still be adjusted afterward without losing any of the original image data.
Going to Image, Then Crop
From the Image menu, choosing Crop trims the canvas itself down to the bounding box of the visible content, tightening the document around the circular photo rather than leaving the original rectangular canvas in place around it.
A Cleaner Final File
Cropping the canvas after masking removes the leftover rectangular space around the circle, so the final document is sized to the round photo itself rather than carrying extra transparent area around it.
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Why This Technique Works
Keeping the shape proportionally locked while resizing is what guarantees a true circle rather than an oval, and loading that shape as a selection is the bridge that lets it act as a mask on the photo layer. Cropping the canvas afterward is what turns a masked photo into a genuinely round image file, rather than a circular photo still sitting inside a rectangular canvas.
Final Thoughts
Cropping a photo into a circle in Photoshop comes down to constraining a shape’s transform to keep it perfectly round, loading that shape as a selection, masking the photo with it, and using Image > Crop to trim the canvas down to the circular result.
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