How to Paste a Ruler Into a Photo With Adobe Photoshop

See how Photoshop's pasting technique measures up.

Photoshop, the graphics software component of the Adobe Creative Suite, offers a variety of tools, filters, colors and menus to assist you taking your photos and images and transforming them into works of art. Photoshop also allows you to perform common tasks such as cutting and pasting, all with a couple of quick clicks. Combine two images into one photo with a way that will really measure up.

Instructions

1. Open Photoshop, click "File" and click "Open." Browse to the photo to add the ruler onto and double click the image, which opens on the Photoshop screen.

2. Click "File" and "Open" again, then navigate to the image of the ruler to add onto the photo. Double click the file so the ruler image tiles onto the Photoshop workspace.

3. Click the "Crop" tool, which looks like two crossed elbow joints, on the "Tools" palette. Draw a rectangle around the ruler to crop out any unwanted background color. When the dotted lines surround the ruler and the rest of the ruler background goes dark, press the "Enter" key on the keyboard, and the ruler is cropped.

4. Press and hold down the "Ctrl" key on the keyboard and drag and drop the ruler to paste it onto the photo.

5. Pull down the "Edit" menu, click "Transform" and click "Scale." A line surrounds the ruler with boxes on the edges.

6. Press and hold down the "Shift" key, then shrink the ruler into your preferred size on the photo. Press the "Enter" key when satisfied. Drag the ruler into place.

7. Pull down the "Enter" menu, click "Transform" and click "Rotate." Lines and boxes will surround the ruler. Twirl one of the ruler's corners to rotate the ruler on an angle. Drag into place and press the "Enter" key.

8. Click the "File" menu and click "Save As." Give the photo a new name; this way you'll be able to access the non-ruler version again in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• Photoshop supports multiple selections, so if your photo and the ruler image are in the same folder or location on your computer, click once on each image and click the "Open" button to open them at the same time in the Photoshop workspace, saving yourself from doing the "File" and "Open" process twice.

References

• University of Washington: Working with Images