Creating Your First Work Path in Photoshop

Making a work path is the easiest of the three options, and you’ll use it frequently when you’ve gotten the hang of using the Pen tool. The following steps show you how to create a simple, straight path:

Rarely (if ever) will you create a work path that’s a single, straight line.

1. Open an image you want to practice on.
I suggest choosing an image that has an element with both straight edges and curves, if you want to also practice creating curved paths later.

2. Select the Pen tool from the Toolbox (more formally known as the Tools palette).
Or you can just press the P key.

3. In the Options bar, click the Paths button.

4. To create a straight line, click and release your mouse button at the points where you want the line to begin and to end, leaving anchor points at those positions.

You don’t need to do any dragging to create straight segments.

As you click and add your anchor points, Photoshop creates straight segments that connect the anchor points.

5. To draw a constrained line — horizontal, vertical, or 45° angle — hold down the Shift key as you click.

6. To end the path, click the Pen tool to deselect it.
Or use this very handy shortcut: Hold down the Ctrl key (Ô on the Mac), which gives you the Direct Selection tool (the white arrow), and then click away from the line. Release the Ctrl key (Ô on the Mac), and the Pen tool reappears.

When you’ve deselected the path, you’re free to start another, unconnected path if you need to.
Continue on to the following sections if you want to add other kinds of segments to the path. Otherwise, skip to “Closing a path”.