10 Photoshop Tips

July 14, 2008 – 2:57 am

by David Peters

1. To auto-select a layer. Hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key while clicking on a layer in Photoshop’s main image window

2. If you want to remove all the colour from an image, and don’t want to go into grayscale mode, press Shift Cmd/Ctrl U (called ‘Desaturate’) and make your image grayscale while still in RGB mode. Note: using the channel mixer will produce a better result. Click on the Grayscale option.

3. If you want to move a selection to its own layer. Press Cmd/Ctrl J to copy the selection. To cut and move a selection, press Shift Cmd/Ctrl J

4. To hide the ‘marching ants’ (selection marquee). Press Ctrl/Cmd H

5) Feathering ” When setting a feather using the Lasso Tools, press the Return/Enter key. This will highlight the Feather field in the Options palette and you can enter or change the value.

6) Color Fill - Press Alt/Option Delete to fill a layer or area with the color in the forefront. To fill a layer or selection with the background color, press Cmd/Ctrl Delete.

7) Changing Brush Size - Press the [ ] keys. By holding the shift key down and pressing the [and ] keys, the brush gets softer and harder, correspondingly. You are allowed to change the level up to five times).

8. If your version of Photoshop is without the Spot Healing Brush, double click on the Blur Tool and in the Options palette, decrease the opacity to 15% and change the mode to Lighten to remove the undesired scratches and blemishes. When you paint over these marks, they will disappear before you eyes.

9. To draw a straight line with any of the brush tools, just click, hold the Shift key, and click again where you want the line to end. Photoshop will draw a straight line between the two points! This trick also works with most tools, including erasers and even the highlight tool in the Extract filter.

10. Create a brand new picture from an existing layer by choosing Duplicate Layer in the Layers palette and changing the document setting to New.

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Tags: Arts and Entertainment