101 Photoshop tips in 5 minutes
polycounter lvl 18
I thought the Photoshop users on the board might get a kick out of this...
http://www.deke.com/content/101-photoshop-tips-5-minutes
http://www.deke.com/content/101-photoshop-tips-5-minutes
Replies
annoying video
Yes I must apologise for the cheese factor. :P
Time: 00:00.00
#1: Wanna copy a layer? I say jump it: Ctrl+J.
You a Mac user? Awesome.
#2: When I say Ctrl, press Cmd, the one with an apple on it.
#3: For a new layer, press Ctrl+Shift+N (Cmd-Shift-N on the Mac).
#4: To delete a layer, get the move tool and press Delete (or Control-Delete).
#5: Every letter selects a tool.
#6: Except F for full-screen,
#7: Q for quick mask,
#8: and D
#9: and X for default and switch colors.
Who knew X stood for “switch”?
#10: Press a number to change the opacity.
#11: Or two numbers for better control.
#12: Press Shift+plus to advance a blend mode;
#13: Shift+minus to back up.
#14: Press Shift and Alt with a letter for a specific mode.
#15: Mac folks, Alt means Option.
#16: Ctrl+plus zooms in.
#17: Ctrl+minus zooms out.
#18: Spacebar gets the hand so you can drag the image around.
#19: There’s also Ctrl+spacebar in
#20: and Alt+spacebar out.
#21: Ctrl+spacebar-drag to zoom way the hell in.
#22: Ctrl+Z undoes.
#23: Ctrl+Alt+Z backsteps.
#24: Ctrl+Shift+Z steps forward.
#25: Ctrl+Shift+F fades an edit.
#26: F12 reverts,
#27: Itself an undoable operation.
You hear that? You can undo a revert? That’s a hell of a tip!
All that pasteboard stuff works too:
#28: Ctrl+X cuts.
#29: Ctrl+C copies.
#30: Ctrl+V pastes.
Dan Gookin of DOS For Dummies fame joked that V stood for “vomit,” as in vomiting up the Clipboard. His publisher refused to print that. They actually refused to print that!
Time: 01:15.43
#31: Photoshop’s most essential command? Image Size: Ctrl+Alt+I.
#32: It’s partner, Canvas Size, Ctrl+Alt+C.
#33: Ctrl+F repeats the last filter.
#34: Ctrl+Alt+F for different settings.
#35: Using a selection tool? Drag to start a new selection
#36: Or move a selection outline.
#37: Shift adds to the selection.
#38: Alt deletes.
#39: Shift and Alt finds the intersection.
#40: Press the spacebar to move the selection on-the-fly.
#41: Ctrl+A selects everything;
#42: Ctrl+D selects nothing.
#43: Ctrl+Shift+I selects what’s not selected and deselects everything else.
#44: Ctrl+Alt+R brings up Refine Edge.
#45: Alt-click with the lasso tool to draw straight-sided selections.
#46: Shift-click with a brush to paint straight lines.
#47: Press Alt with a brush to get the color-lifting eyedropper.
#48: Press Ctrl to get the move tool.
#49: Ctrl+H hides selections and other “extras.”
What’s an extra? Press Ctrl+H and find out?
I gotta quicken the pace. Shit!
#50: Ctrl+1,
#51: 2,
#52: 3 to switch channels.
Hell yeah, I’m counting those as three!
Here’s another one:
#53: Ctrl+tilde for full-color composite.
#54: Ctrl+L for Levels,
#55: Ctrl+M for Curves,
#56: Ctrl+B for Color Balance,
#57: Ctrl+U for Hue/Saturation.
#58: Add Alt to bring up the last settings.
#59: Mash your fist on Ctrl, Shift, and Alt and press B for Black & White.
#60: In Levels and Curves, Alt-drag that white slider triangle to preview the clipped highlights
#61: Or that black one for clipped shadows.
Want to duplicate an image? Don’t choose this [Duplicate];
#62: Just click here [Create new document from History state].
#63: Press Ctrl+W to close an image.
#64: Y to save changes,
#65: N to abandon them.
#66: On the Mac, that’s S and D.
#67: Either way, it’s Esc for Cancel.
You know, Esc. C’mon, Esc!
Time 02:48.36
#68: Press Ctrl+T to invoke Free Transform.
#69: Press Enter to apply or Esc to skip it.
#70: Ctrl+Alt+T transforms a copy.
#71: Ctrl+Shift+T repeats the last transformation.
#72: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T plays a transformation sequence.
#73: Press a bracket key to change the size of a brush.
#74: Press Shift+bracket to change its hardness.
#75: Caps Lock for precise cursors.
#76: Alt switches dodge to burn and burn to dodge.
#77: The comma and period keys cycle through gradients.
See this tool [sharpen]? Worthless. Look at this. You want this? Worthless!
Yes, that’s a tip: Don’t use the tool!
#78: Bang, there’s another one!
#79: Ctrl-click a thumbnail in the Layers, Channels, or Paths palette to load a selection.
#80: Press slash to lock a layer’s transparency.
#81: Press tilde to hide the image while viewing a mask.
#82: Press backslash to view the layer mask.
#83: Ctrl+Backspace fills the background color;
#84: Alt+Backspace: foreground color.
#85: Add Shift to fill just the opaque pixels.
#86: Press Shift+Backspace to get the Fill dialog box.
Hey, look at that!
#87: That’s trans lock’s opposite [Behind mode]. It locks opacity.
What the hell is it doing here?
#88: Ctrl+bracket moves layers forward and back.
#89: Add Shift to go all the way.
#90: Alt+bracket selects layers.
#91: Press Shift to select multiple layers.
Press Ctrl+Shift+A to select all layers.
#92: That’s wrong. It’s Ctrl+Alt+A!
I don’t even know what Ctrl+Shift+A does.
It doesn’t, Adobe, it doesn’t do anything! I don’t think it does anything.
#93: But Ctrl+G, that groups layers in a folder.
#94: Ctrl+E merges selected layers.
#95: Ctrl+Shift+E merges visible layers.
#96: Ctrl+Alt+E stamps a layer onto the one below.
#97: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E merges everything on a new layer.
#98: Ctrl+Shift+C copies a merged version of the layers.
#99: Ctrl+Shift+V pastes an image in a selection.
#100: Alt-click here [Add layer mask]
#101: Or here [Cancel to Reset]
#102: Or here [trash without warning]
#103: Or here [color ramp to switch background color]
#104: Or here [eyeball to hide all others]
Yeah!
#105: Or here [horizontal line to make clipping mask]
#106: Or here [color swatch to delete].
Time: 05:08.16
Holy crap, I just went over! 106 tips! No! No, no, no.
[to off-screen director]
You should’ve stopped me, you should’ve let me know. That’s your fault.
[to viewer]
That’s his fault. I do not fail. Remember, I do not fail!
Alt-clicks out. I want them all out. Gimme that time back!
Time: 05: 27.92
[clock rewinds]
Time: 04:56.73
Okay. Nicely done, me. For those wondering why I left out your favorite tips,
#100: Like Tab to hide all palettes
#101: Or Shift+Tab to hide just the right-side palettes.
Time: 05:00.00
I didn’t! Ha ha! I just mentioned ’em. Works for me!
Surprising to me I know all of these. I actually wish there were more hotkeys for some things in PS. I guess I could figure out how to bind them. Like flip horizontally and vertically for the canvas and image. And why no default hotkey for Brightness/Contrast?
i watched the whole thing and still no magic hotkey to open up the color picker menu
can i script that in somehow?
tried to find a way in the Ctrl+alt+Shift+K menu but no dice
Amazing.
It's on the blog but needs a login. Budgmenot has one :P Thank you Lifehacker!
Alex
I leave that open all the time. And it's got that super cool bar that mixes between the foreground and background colors. I love that thing.
Nice video anyways, there were a few useful ones I didn't know, but nothing so new.
anyone: Know if there are hotkeys for moving up and down the layer list? I can't find any. It seems like up and down arrow keys with a modifier key would be best, but they don't work. Is it scriptable?
And no fly soup, that's not the same thing at all. Yes it ends up in the same place (You made a colour), but the work flow for using it is very different (I find the palette irritatingly small to work with). Personally I think both colour selectors/mixers could do with being redesigned for better useability.
for frucking real...
I guess theres always levels, but I hate the levels because it over complicates.
Check the drop down menu when editing the keyboard shortcuts, it has 3 options: Application Menus, Palettes, Tools. @ the bottom of tools they have the [ ] hotkeys for increasing and decreasing brush size. The "move up/down" etc hotkeys (ctrl / alt []) are in Application Menus, Layers. Not sure if that is in CS2, but im fairly certain it is. If not, I am using CS3, and its there
binding brush pallete to control - b ftw.
the [ ] for brush size is also incremented by shift as well, shift [] goes up by 10. Will also work for the line tool, and shape tools that use settings.
I go in and edit/remove a ton of keybindings, saves a lot of hassle. Use that color palette as well, though its hard to be accurate. I also have F1-12 bound via either straight hits or modified with shift/alt for actions.
honestly - does anyone remember all of these? or all just the specifics to their job details?
most of what i use though are the custom actions and misc new hotkeys for:
duplicate layer
delete layer (why do 2 clicks when you can have 1!)
flip H
flip V
rotate 90 C
rotate 90 CW
Filter > Offset
Filter > Blur
open layer blending options (not action, hotkey)
various multi-stepped things (normal map rotations, mirrors, setting up layers for NVfilter)
rasterize text
align layers > left, right, top, bottom, H center, V center
etc, etc etc
generally, if its annoying and takes some menu digging, i try to figure a way to make it bettah
I have to go eat some crow now
(That said I'm almost 100% certain you can't open the Adobe color picker except by an icon click - If anyone can prove me wrong on that score I'll be a very, very happy man indeed)