Flip an image in Photoshop using the Transform Tool

Flipping images is not so difficult and should be an easy task even for beginners

Steps to flip an image properly

1. First of all, start Photoshop program, click on the Start >> All Programs >> Adobe Design Premium CS5 >> Adobe Photoshop CS5.

2. Open the image that you want to flip. To open the image, click on the File >> Open and select the file you want to open. Then click on the Open.

3. Click on the Image >> Image Rotation >> Flip Canvas Horizontal.

4. Now you have noticed the complete image has flipped horizontally. Let’s say for example you want to flip a particular image / object instead of whole image. In that case, you have to make selection around the object / image you want to flip. To do this, select Magnetic Lasso Tool (Shortcut – L) and make selection around the portion you want to flip. Use the “tolerance” value to get better results

5. If we directly flip the selected portion then the background image might get distorted because you will see some gaps. To avoid this, we shall create new layer by clicking on the Create new layer button in the Layers palette. If your Layers palette is hidden, press F7 or click on the Window >> Layers. Then copy the selection by pressing Ctrl + C or click on the Edit >> Copy.

6. Select the newly added layer in the Layers palette and paste the copied selection by pressing Ctrl + V or click on Edit >> Paste.

7. On the menubar, click on Edit >> Transform >> Flip Horizontal

8. Now your image is flipped excluding it’s background. You can arrange the picture by moving the object a little left or right so it looks good. That are the complete steps to flip an image in Photoshop

Conclusion

Flipping objects can be useful when you want to have a “twin effect” on your pictures or sometimes you just need to have a duplicate