What am I doing wrong with the ellipsis tool?

Based on your screen shot, the main issue is that there’s currently no relationship between the ellipse shape layer and the image layer, they’re separate objects. So edits to the ellipse don’t affect any other layers.

There are several different ways to get where you want to go, but because you’re using the Ellipse tool, you can make the following adjustments and get there:

1. After you select the Ellipse tool, make sure Path (not Shape) is selected in the options bar for the Ellipse tool. The reason is that Shape creates a separate layer, and that’s not what you want; you want the ellipse to be part of the image layer.

2. With the Ellipse tool in Path mode, draw the ellipse.

3. Choose Edit > Cut to move the path to the clipboard.

4. Click the lock icon on the background layer to convert it to a normal layer that supports transparency.

5. Choose Edit > Paste. A pasted path becomes a vector mask for the selected layer, so the image layer is now clipped by its vector mask.

6. If you want to resize or move just the mask, in the Layers panel select the layer mask thumbnail before choosing Edit > Free Transform.

7. If you want to resize or move the image layer and mask together, in the Layers panel select the layer thumbnail before choosing Edit > Free Transform.

As I said, there are multiple ways to do this, so don’t be surprised if others suggest doing this with a pixel layer mask, or using an ellipse shape layers as a clipping mask, etc. But I like this method.

Hi there, thanks for reaching out about the issue with the Ellipse tool. Could you please share a screenshot of your workspace, ensuring the layers you're working on are visible in the Layers panel? A visual will help us better understand the issue. 🙂