- 1). Open the Window menu and choose "Paths" to bring up the Paths panel if it isn't already visible. Click on the "Create New Path" icon at the bottom of the panel to add a path to your document.
- 2). Activate the Ellipse tool and set its drawing mode to "Paths" in the Photoshop Options Bar. Hold down the "Shift" key to constrain the tool to drawing circles, then click and drag in your document window to draw the center of the flower.
- 3). Switch to the Custom Shape tool, nested with the Ellipse tool. Open the "Shape" drop-down menu in the Options Bar and choose "Raindrop." Click and drag from below your flower center to farther down the document window to draw your first petal shape.
- 4). Switch to the Selection tool. Shift-click on or marquee around your two path shapes to select them. Click on the "Align Horizontal Centers" button in the Options Bar to center the widths of your two shapes to one another.
- 5). Hold down the "Alt" key (Windows) or "Option" key (Mac) while you open the Edit menu, select its "Transform Path" submenu and choose "Rotate 180 Degrees." Because you hold down the modifier key while you make your menu selection Adobe Photoshop duplicates your two shapes and rotates the duplicates instead of rotating the original shapes.
- 6). Click on an unused area of your document window to deselect your artwork, then click on your original circular path to select it. Open the Edit menu and select "Free Transform Path." Set the point of origin of the Free-Transform measurement readouts to the top center point on the square proxy at the left end of the Options Bar. Highlight the measurement in the "Y" position data field and copy its value to the clipboard. Press the "Escape" key to exit Free Transform mode.
- 7). Shift-click on your duplicated flower center and petal to select them, then enter Free Transform mode again. Set the measurement point of origin to the bottom center position on the proxy. Highlight the "Y" position value and paste in the value you copied. Click on the check-marked "Commit Transform" button to finalize the transformation.
- 8). Marquee around all of your paths to select them. Hold down the "Alt" key (Windows) or "Option" key (Mac) while you open the Edit menu, select its "Transform Path" submenu and choose "Rotate 90 Degrees" to create another set of petals. Hold down the "Alt" or "Option" key, reopen the Edit menu and choose "Free Transform Path." Set the "Rotate" value to 45 degrees and click on "Commit Transform." Hold down the "Alt" or "Option" key one more time and bring up "Free Transform Path" again. This time enter 90 degrees as the rotation value and commit your transformation.
- 9). Click on the center of the flower and press the "Delete" key to remove the first of the three overlapping copies of the circular shape. Click and delete twice more to remove the remaining duplicates.
- 10
Apply your path as the vector mask for a shape layer. Alternatively, you can choose "Make Selection" from the fly-out menu at the top right corner of the Paths panel to create an active selection in your flower shape, then use the selection to create a layer mask on image-layer content. You also can choose "Fill Path" or "Stroke Path" to add a filled shape or stroked shape outline to an image layer.
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