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100 PHOTOSHOP TIPS and TRICKS
(1-20)
1) STEP-AND-REPEAT: Photoshop’s Edit>Free Transform command (Mac: Command-T [PC: Control-T]) offers some additional keyboard shortcuts for "step-and-repeat" fuctions that can be very useful:
a. To make the same transformation again, for an additive effect or with a different layer targeted, Transform Again by pressing MAC: Command-Shift-T (PC: Control-Shift-T).
b. To make a new copy and transform the copy, press MAC: Command-Option-Shift-T (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-T.
2) RESET CHARACTER: Photoshop CS remembers whatever settings you last used to format type. To quickly reset Photoshop’s type to it’s "default" standard settings, just go to the Character palette and choose Reset Character from the palette’s pop-down menu.
3) CYCLE THROUGH ALL OPEN EOCUMENTS: Press Control-Tab (both Mac and PC) multiple times to cycle through all the documents that are currently open
4) ALL-CHANGE MODE: Hold SHIFT when clicking the Full-Screen Mode icon at the bottom of the Toobox to change the mode of all the open documents.
5) ADD A LAYER BELOW THE ACTIVE LAYER: Mac: Command-Click (PC: Right-click) the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to add a layer below the active one.
6) ADD, TAKE AWAY, OR INTERSECT A SELECTION: You can Mac: Command-Click (PC: Control-Click) on a path, channel, or layer to load it as a selection. Hold Shift to add to an active selection, Mac: Option (PC: Alt) to take away, and Mac: Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) to intersect it.
7) WHERE’S THE IMAGE?: Sorry PC users, but there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent for this Mac shortcut. Command-click on the file name that appears at the top of your document to see where the image is stored on your hard drive. Release your mouse button when it’s on the folder name and then that folder will open in the Finder. OK. Here’s one that’s unique to Windows: Press F twice to enter Full Screen Mode and your menus will disappear. On the Mac you’re out of luck, but in Windows click the small triangle that now appears at the top of the Toolbox and you’ll get a pop-p with all menus.
8) WORKING WITH GUIDES: Hold Mac: Option (PC: Alt) to change the direction of the guide (horizontal/vertical), hold Shift to snap it to the tick marks of your ruler, and hold Mac: Command (PC: Control) to move a guide when using a tool other than the Move tool. Hold the Mac: Control key (PC: Right-click) after you start to drag something (guide, selection, layer, etc.) to prevent it from snapping to other objects.
9) OEN AN IMAGE, CLOSE THE FILE BROWSER: If you double-click on an image in the File Browser, the File Browser remains open. To close the File Browser as you open an image, hold down Mac: Option (PC: Alt) as you double-click on the image in the File Browser.
10) PICK COLOR FROM ANYWHERE: You can use the Eyedropper tool to pick colors from all areas of your screen (not just an active document). Just click within a document first, and then drag outside of the window onto the object you’d like to sample.
11) HIGHLIGHT YOUR MAGNIFICATION: To experiment with different magnification settings (either at the bottom left-hand corner of your image window or in the Navigator palette), type in a new magnification percentage, and then hold down the Shift key as your press Enter. Now the percentage stays highlighted so you can quickly enter a different percentage.
12) USE CUSTOM SHAPES TO MASK ADJUSTMENT LAYERS: To create an Adjustment Layer using a Shape Mask (as opposed to a pixel-based mask), try this: Add a Custom Shape layer to your document. Go under Layer>Change Layer Content to pick the adjustment your want. Now the Adjustment Layer will be masked by the custom vector shape. If you need to apply filters to the Shape Mask, you ‘ll have to convert it to a pixel-based mask by rasterizing the vector mask.
13) HANG THE PUNCTUATION: If you use quotation marks in your paragraph type, make typographers happy with this technique. From the Paragraph palette’s pop-up menu, choose Roman Hanging Punctuation. This will cause punctuation marks to appear just outside the boundaries of the paragraph text box.
14) SLIDE SHOW: To create a "slide show" that you control manually in CS, follow these steps. With all the documents open, hold down the Shift key and click on the Full Screen Mode button at the bottom of the toolbox. (You may have to press Mac: Command-+ or – (PC: Control-+ or -) to zoom in or out to get the ideal magnification).
15) CREATE CUSTOM SHAPES: You can create and save custom paths for use with the Custom Shape tool – for example, company logos, even copyright info, anything that you can define with a path. Create a path from the artwork or type (or copy and paste from a vector program) and then use the command Edit>Define Custom Shape.
16) SAVE SETS: Remember that simply creating a Custom Shape (or Style) doesn’t save it. From the Custom Shape Picker’s pop-up menu, choose Save Shapes. Alternatively, use the Presets Manager (opened through the Edit menu) to create a saved set.
17) CLONE ON AN EMPTY LAYER: Always do your cloning on an empty layer and leave your Background layer intact. Remember to check the "Use All Layers" box in the Options bar.
18) SAVE DEFAULTS IN SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT: The default settings in the Shadow/Highlight command may be to your liking – or you may find yourself changing them all the time. To make the defaults your own, click on the Show More Options button, then adjust the settings to your choice for defaults, then click the Save as Defaults button.
19) LOWER THE NUMBER OF HISTORY STATES: If you routinely work on very large images, you may find the PS slows down considerably. This may be due to the number of History States you have PS remembering. In the General Preferences window, lower the number of History States from the default of 20.
20) FIND THE CENTER: To find the center of the contents of the Layer, choose View>Show Rulers and then call up Free Transform by hitting Mac: Command-T (PC: Control-T). While the Free Transform Rectangle is visible, you can drag guides out of the Rulers and they will "snap to" the grabber handles and center point. Be sure to hit the ESC key to dismiss the Free Transform rectangle without making any changes.
(1-20)
1) STEP-AND-REPEAT: Photoshop’s Edit>Free Transform command (Mac: Command-T [PC: Control-T]) offers some additional keyboard shortcuts for "step-and-repeat" fuctions that can be very useful:
a. To make the same transformation again, for an additive effect or with a different layer targeted, Transform Again by pressing MAC: Command-Shift-T (PC: Control-Shift-T).
b. To make a new copy and transform the copy, press MAC: Command-Option-Shift-T (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-T.
2) RESET CHARACTER: Photoshop CS remembers whatever settings you last used to format type. To quickly reset Photoshop’s type to it’s "default" standard settings, just go to the Character palette and choose Reset Character from the palette’s pop-down menu.
3) CYCLE THROUGH ALL OPEN EOCUMENTS: Press Control-Tab (both Mac and PC) multiple times to cycle through all the documents that are currently open
4) ALL-CHANGE MODE: Hold SHIFT when clicking the Full-Screen Mode icon at the bottom of the Toobox to change the mode of all the open documents.
5) ADD A LAYER BELOW THE ACTIVE LAYER: Mac: Command-Click (PC: Right-click) the New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Palette to add a layer below the active one.
6) ADD, TAKE AWAY, OR INTERSECT A SELECTION: You can Mac: Command-Click (PC: Control-Click) on a path, channel, or layer to load it as a selection. Hold Shift to add to an active selection, Mac: Option (PC: Alt) to take away, and Mac: Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) to intersect it.
7) WHERE’S THE IMAGE?: Sorry PC users, but there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent for this Mac shortcut. Command-click on the file name that appears at the top of your document to see where the image is stored on your hard drive. Release your mouse button when it’s on the folder name and then that folder will open in the Finder. OK. Here’s one that’s unique to Windows: Press F twice to enter Full Screen Mode and your menus will disappear. On the Mac you’re out of luck, but in Windows click the small triangle that now appears at the top of the Toolbox and you’ll get a pop-p with all menus.
8) WORKING WITH GUIDES: Hold Mac: Option (PC: Alt) to change the direction of the guide (horizontal/vertical), hold Shift to snap it to the tick marks of your ruler, and hold Mac: Command (PC: Control) to move a guide when using a tool other than the Move tool. Hold the Mac: Control key (PC: Right-click) after you start to drag something (guide, selection, layer, etc.) to prevent it from snapping to other objects.
9) OEN AN IMAGE, CLOSE THE FILE BROWSER: If you double-click on an image in the File Browser, the File Browser remains open. To close the File Browser as you open an image, hold down Mac: Option (PC: Alt) as you double-click on the image in the File Browser.
10) PICK COLOR FROM ANYWHERE: You can use the Eyedropper tool to pick colors from all areas of your screen (not just an active document). Just click within a document first, and then drag outside of the window onto the object you’d like to sample.
11) HIGHLIGHT YOUR MAGNIFICATION: To experiment with different magnification settings (either at the bottom left-hand corner of your image window or in the Navigator palette), type in a new magnification percentage, and then hold down the Shift key as your press Enter. Now the percentage stays highlighted so you can quickly enter a different percentage.
12) USE CUSTOM SHAPES TO MASK ADJUSTMENT LAYERS: To create an Adjustment Layer using a Shape Mask (as opposed to a pixel-based mask), try this: Add a Custom Shape layer to your document. Go under Layer>Change Layer Content to pick the adjustment your want. Now the Adjustment Layer will be masked by the custom vector shape. If you need to apply filters to the Shape Mask, you ‘ll have to convert it to a pixel-based mask by rasterizing the vector mask.
13) HANG THE PUNCTUATION: If you use quotation marks in your paragraph type, make typographers happy with this technique. From the Paragraph palette’s pop-up menu, choose Roman Hanging Punctuation. This will cause punctuation marks to appear just outside the boundaries of the paragraph text box.
14) SLIDE SHOW: To create a "slide show" that you control manually in CS, follow these steps. With all the documents open, hold down the Shift key and click on the Full Screen Mode button at the bottom of the toolbox. (You may have to press Mac: Command-+ or – (PC: Control-+ or -) to zoom in or out to get the ideal magnification).
15) CREATE CUSTOM SHAPES: You can create and save custom paths for use with the Custom Shape tool – for example, company logos, even copyright info, anything that you can define with a path. Create a path from the artwork or type (or copy and paste from a vector program) and then use the command Edit>Define Custom Shape.
16) SAVE SETS: Remember that simply creating a Custom Shape (or Style) doesn’t save it. From the Custom Shape Picker’s pop-up menu, choose Save Shapes. Alternatively, use the Presets Manager (opened through the Edit menu) to create a saved set.
17) CLONE ON AN EMPTY LAYER: Always do your cloning on an empty layer and leave your Background layer intact. Remember to check the "Use All Layers" box in the Options bar.
18) SAVE DEFAULTS IN SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT: The default settings in the Shadow/Highlight command may be to your liking – or you may find yourself changing them all the time. To make the defaults your own, click on the Show More Options button, then adjust the settings to your choice for defaults, then click the Save as Defaults button.
19) LOWER THE NUMBER OF HISTORY STATES: If you routinely work on very large images, you may find the PS slows down considerably. This may be due to the number of History States you have PS remembering. In the General Preferences window, lower the number of History States from the default of 20.
20) FIND THE CENTER: To find the center of the contents of the Layer, choose View>Show Rulers and then call up Free Transform by hitting Mac: Command-T (PC: Control-T). While the Free Transform Rectangle is visible, you can drag guides out of the Rulers and they will "snap to" the grabber handles and center point. Be sure to hit the ESC key to dismiss the Free Transform rectangle without making any changes.
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