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How to Use the Rectangular and Elliptical Marquee Tools in PSE

4 min read

Why the Marquee Tools Belong in Every Family Editor's Toolkit

Sometimes you need to select a very specific part of a photo — maybe a rectangular frame around a single face, or an oval spotlight on a wedding bouquet. That is exactly what the Marquee Tools in Photoshop Elements are designed for. Unlike freehand tools that follow irregular edges, these selection tools give you clean geometric shapes every time.

Whether you want to copy your grandson's face into a digital scrapbook, apply a soft vignette around a portrait, or simply crop a holiday snap in an unusual oval shape, the Rectangular Marquee Tool and Elliptical Marquee Tool make the job quick and precise. Let us walk through exactly how to use them in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Finding the Marquee Tools in Photoshop Elements

Open your photo in Advanced mode (where you have full control over layers and selections). Look at the Toolbox on the left side of your screen.

  1. 1Click and hold the Rectangular Marquee Tool icon — it looks like a dotted rectangle near the top of the Toolbox.
  2. 2A fly-out menu appears showing both the Rectangular Marquee Tool and the Elliptical Marquee Tool.
  3. 3Click whichever shape you need for your project.

You can also press M on your keyboard to activate the Marquee Tool, then press M again to toggle between the rectangle and ellipse versions.

Making a Rectangular Selection

The Rectangular Marquee Tool is perfect for selecting square or rectangular portions of a photo — think cropping around a doorway, isolating a printed sign, or framing a group of faces.

  1. 1Select the Rectangular Marquee Tool from the Toolbox.
  2. 2Click at one corner of the area you want to select, then drag diagonally to the opposite corner.
  3. 3Release the mouse button. You will see the familiar "marching ants" outline around your selection.

Tip for Perfect Squares

Hold down the Shift key while you drag. This constrains the rectangle to a perfect square — handy for social media profile pictures or scrapbook embellishments.

Making an Elliptical Selection

The Elliptical Marquee Tool creates ovals and circles. Family photographers love it for classic portrait vignettes or highlighting a single element in a busy scene.

  1. 1Select the Elliptical Marquee Tool from the fly-out menu.
  2. 2Click and drag from one edge of the area to the opposite edge.
  3. 3Release when the oval surrounds your subject.

Tip for Perfect Circles

Just like with rectangles, hold Shift while dragging to constrain the selection to a perfect circle.

Adjusting Your Selection After You Draw It

Did the selection land slightly off-centre? No problem.

  1. 1With the marching ants still active, go to Select → Transform Selection.
  2. 2Drag the corner handles to resize, or click inside and drag to reposition.
  3. 3Press Enter (or Return on Mac) to confirm.

If you need to start over, press Ctrl+D (Windows) or Cmd+D (Mac) to deselect, then try again.

Practical Family Photo Uses

Copy a Face into a Collage

  1. 1Draw an elliptical selection around your grandchild's face.
  2. 2Go to Edit → Copy.
  3. 3Open your collage document, then Edit → Paste. The face appears on its own layer, ready for positioning.

Create a Classic Oval Vignette

  1. 1Use the Elliptical Marquee Tool to select the central subject.
  2. 2Go to Select → Feather and enter a value like 40 pixels for a soft edge.
  3. 3Go to Select → Inverse to select everything outside the oval.
  4. 4Press Delete to remove the background, leaving a dreamy fade around your subject.

Isolate an Area for Colour Correction

  1. 1Draw a rectangular selection around an area that needs brightening — perhaps a shaded porch.
  2. 2Go to Enhance → Adjust Lighting → Brightness/Contrast.
  3. 3Increase brightness. Only the selected rectangle is affected; the rest of your photo stays untouched.

Options Bar Settings Worth Knowing

When a Marquee Tool is active, look at the Options Bar at the top of the PSE workspace:

  • Feather — Enter a pixel value here before drawing to give your selection soft, blurred edges from the start.
  • Mode — Choose Normal for freeform sizing, Fixed Ratio to lock width-to-height proportions, or Fixed Size to type exact pixel dimensions.
  • Selection mode icons — Use New Selection, Add to Selection, Subtract from Selection, or Intersect with Selection to combine multiple marquees into complex shapes.

When to Choose Marquee Tools Over Other Selection Methods

Photoshop Elements offers many selection tools, so when should you reach for the Marquee Tools?

  • Use Marquee Tools when your subject fits neatly inside a rectangle or oval.
  • Use the Quick Selection Tool or Lasso Tools when edges are irregular.
  • Use Select → Subject when PSE's AI can detect your subject automatically.

For geometric crops, framing effects, or copying tidy portions of an image, the Marquee Tools are your fastest option.

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