Photoshop CS Tips and Tricks

BN
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Brooklyn NYC USA
Jun 13, 2004
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Last month I posted this on several graphics ngs. I am in the process of adding 100 (more or less) more tips to the list so, I thought that I would repost the first list just in case anyone needed it. I am hoping to have the next set finished by the middle of the week.

Enjoy.
100+ PHOTOSHOP CS TIPS and TRICKS

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" functions that can be very useful:

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).

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 its "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 DOCUMENTS: Press Control-Tab (both Mac and PC) multiple times to cycle through all the documents that is currently open

4) ALL-CHANGE MODE: Hold SHIFT when clicking the Full-Screen Mode icon at the bottom of the Toolbox 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) OPEN 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, and 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.

21) WANNA LIGHTEN OR DARKEN AN AREA IN YOUR IMAGE? To lighten or darken an area of a photograph, make a selection around the problem area with a feathered edge. Press MAC: Command-J (PC: Control-J) to turn the selection into a layer. Change the Blend Mode to Screen or Multiply and adjust the Opacity in the Layers palette to correct the area. Multiply Mode will darken and Screen Mode will lighten the area while protecting the contrast of the affected area.

22a) GET RID OF FRINGE PIXELS, TAKE 1: Sometimes when your combine multiple images for a collage, you see a slight fringe around the edges of layers that are copied from other images. In many cases you can remove that fringe by going to Layers>Matting>Defringe. Try using the default setting of 1. That will often do the trick, but if not, choose Undo (from the Edit menu) and go back and try a Defringe setting of 2.

b) GET RID OF FRINGE PIXELS, TAKE 2: If defringe doesn’t work, or the edges end up looking a little jagged, here’s another alternative to Defringe. MAC: Command-Click (PC: Control-click) on the layer name in the Layers palette to load a selection of the contents of the layer. Then from the Select menu, choose Modify>Contract and contract by 1-3 pixels. Go back to the Select menu and choose inverse. Press MAC: Command-H (PC: Control-H) to hide your selection then add a very slight Gaussian Blur (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur) of 1 pixel or less.

c) GET RID OF THE FRINGE PIXELS, TAKE 3: Here’s another variation on the same theme. MAC: Command-click (PC: Control-click) on the layer name in the Layers palette to load a selection of the contents of the layer. Then from the Select menu, choose Modify>Border and enter 2 for the value. In the layers palette, switch to the Background layer, then press MAC: Command-J (PC: Control-J) to copy the selected area on to its own layer. Move the "border layer" above the fringed layer and change the mode to Lighten to hide a light colored fringe, Darken to hide a dark fringe.

23) REMEMBER MORE FILES: By default, PS remembers the last 10 files you’ve opened. Actually, that’s not quite true: it remembers 30 files but only shows the last 10 because that’s the default preference. To see a list of the last 30 files you worked on, press MAC: Command-K (PC: Control-K) to open Preferences, and then press the Next button to go to the File Handling dialogue. At the bottom you’ll see that the "Recent file list contains" box is set to 10. Change that to 30 and you’ll have a nice long list under File>Open Recent.

24) PAINT AWAY COLOR: When you’re working on a color image, you can use the Brush tool to selectively "paint away" color so that the image looks black and white. Whit the Brush tool active, go to the Options Bar and change the Blending mode from Normal to Color, use Black as your Foreground color, and start "painting away" the color.

25) NAVIGATION WHILE IN DIALOGS: Even when you’re working in dialogs such as Levels, or in most filters, you can still access most of the View menu features. This enables you to navigate within your document, change your views, and toggle rulers on and off, etc. while the dialog is open. You can also press MAC: Command-+ or – (PC: Control-+ or -) to zoom in and out, or use the Spacebar to activate the Hand tool to scroll your view.

26) ACCESSING GRAYED OUT FILTERS IN CMYK: If you’re working in CMYK mode, you’ll notice that many of the filters are "grayed" out in the Filter menu, so you cannot access them. Rather than converting to RGB, which could affect the colors, try this: go to the Channels palette and click on the CYAN channel. Now look in the Filter menu and you’ll see that all filters are available. All you have to do is apply the same filter to all four channels, one at a time. To do this quickly apply the filter to the CYAN channel, then press MAC: Command-2 (PC: Control-2) to activate the Magenta channel, and MAC: Command-F (PC: Control-F) to reapply the same filter. Press Command-3, Command-F for the Yellow channel then Command-4, Command-F to apply it to the Black channel. (One note: this doesn’t work as well with "random" filters such as Render Clouds).

27) IMAGE TOO LARGE TO SCAN?: Got an image that’s too large to scan in one piece? Simply scan each half, making sure that there is a significant overlap between the pieces (for example, include the same person or portion of the same building in each scan). Then open both halves and use File>Automat>Photomerge to automatically stitch the two halves together.

28) QUICKLY MAKE WHITE YOUR BACKGROUND COLOR: Just press the letters "d" and "x" and your Foreground color will instantly be white.

29) CHANGE OPACITY FROM YOUR KEYBOARD: For any tool that has a slider for Opacity (or Strength, Exposure, or Tolerance), don’t bother going to the Options Bar to change the setting. Just press the first number of the percentage you want: for example, 1 for 10%, 8 for 80%, etc. Use 0 for 100%. If the Move tool is selected, the same key strokes will change the opacity of your active layer (as long as the Layers palette is floating – it will not work if the palette is docked).

30) BETTER GRAYSCALE CONVERSIONS: Using the Channel Mixer is a great way to convert a color image to grayscale, but it does take some experimentation. Another way to do this (with less control but excellent results) is to convert your file to Lab mode. In the Channels palette, just click on the Lightness channel and then change the mode to Grayscale.

31) TURN LAYERS INTO SEPARATE DOCUMENTS: If you have created a multi-layered document and you need to create separate documents from those layers, there’ s an automated way to do this. From the File menu choose Scripts>Export Layers to Files. A dialog will offer lots of choices as to what formant you want, file naming, etc.

32) CHANGE CHANNELS IN ADJUSTMENT DIALOGUE BOXES: When you’re using Levels, Curves or other Adjustment commands, use the keyboard to switch between channels:

MAC: Command-1 (PC: Control-1): Red (Cyan in CMYK Mode)

Command-2 (Control-2): Green (Magenta in CMYK Mode)

Command-3 (Control-3): Blue (Yellow in CMYK Mode)

Command-4 (Control-4): Black (only in CMYK Mode)

Command-~ (Control-~): Master/overall (RGB or CMYK, depending on the mode)

33) RESET THE PREFERENCES AS YOU LAUNCH: You’ve probably heard that the best way to fix many common problems in PS is to delete the Preferences. Rather than struggling to find the preference file and delete it, instead, quit Photoshop and then re-launch it, holding down MAC: Command-Option-Shift (PC: Control-Alt-Shift). You’ll be asked if you want to delete the preferences. Click OK and all your settings will revert back to the original "out-of-the-box" defaults.

34) ZOOM TRICK: To keep your document window the same size while zooming up and down, hold MAC: Option (PC: Alt) while pressing MAC: Command-+ or – (PC: Control – + or -).

35) OPEN MULTIPLE FILES: In the Open command, you can open several images at once from the same folder by using Shift or Command (PC: Control). In the Open dialog, Shift-click to open documents "in a row", or use MAC: Command (PC: Control) and click on "discontinuous" names. Then click Open.

36) CHANGE RULER MEASUREMENT: To change the unit of measurement for your rulers, don’t bother going to the Preferences, just MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the rulers and a pop-up box will let you choose the new unit of measurement.

37) SEE YOUR TYPE COLOR: When you’ve highlighted type and are trying to change the color you can’t actually see the color since the text is highlighted. To see the color you want to apply, press MAC: Command-H (PC: Control-H) to hide the highlighting. Now you’ll be able to see the colors as you choose them for your text.

38) MAXIMIZE FILE BROWSER: Give yourself the maximum viewing area for the File Browser by viewing it in Full Screen Mode, with all palettes hidden. To do this, hold the MAC: Command key (PC: Control) and then click on the File Browser button in the Options bar and you’ll get the maximum view File Browser. Closing the Browser won’t get your palettes back – you have to MAC: Command-click (PC: Control-click) the File Browser button again. To get back to the regular setup (the standard size File Browser and all your palettes back) just click the Browser’s Zoom button, then press the Tab key on your keyboard twice.

39) CYCLE THROUGH LAYER BLEND MODES: With the Move tool selected, press Shift-+ or – to cycle through the Layer Blending Modes.

40) UNDO ON A SLIDER: After you’ve applied a filter, used a tool such as the Brush, Blur or Dodge tools (any tool that uses a brush shape) or used an adjustment command like Levels, you can use the Fade command to gradually reduce the effects. After using any of these techniques, look under the Edit menu for the Fade command – it will be labeled "Fade Gaussian Blur", "Fade Brush Tool", "Fade Levels", etc. Drag the slider to gradually fade out the effects of the last step you did – undo using the slider!

41) USE THE EXTRACT COMMAND TO CREATE BORDER EFFECTS: To create an unusual border effect, open the Extract command (Filter>Extract) and use the Edge Highlighter tool to paint some edges. To get straight lines, click once, hold down the Shift key and then click a second time. Try using different brush sizes for the highlight and/or overlap several lines. Fill the middle with the Fill tool, and then click OK. (Keep in mind that the Extract command creates a transparent layer, so you may want to work on a duplicate of your Background layer).

42) GET BETTER RESULTS FROM THE EXTRACT TOOL: Trying to deal with find details like hair, and you’re not happy with the results of the Extract tool? Before starting over, try this: press MAC: Command-J (PC: Control-J) to duplicate the layer (the result of using Extract). Often simply duplicating two or three times will make a dramatic improvement to the resulting edges. Then merge these layers to get your final result.

43) QUICK ON AND OFF OF THE AIRBRUSH OPTION: As of Photoshop 7, the Airbrush tool disappeared to become a great option for a number of painting-type tools. You click on the Airbrush icon in the Options Bar to turn this feature on and off. However, if you’re painting away and want to turn this setting on or off "on the fly" press MAC: Shift-Option-P (PC: Shift-Alt-P).

44) CHANGE THE FONT OF MULTIPLE LAYERS: If you have a bunch of type layers and you want to change the typeface of all of them at once, try this. Link all the type layers, and then activate the Type (don’t highlight any type). Hold down the Shift key and then go to the Options Bar and choose a different font. All linked layers will automatically change. (This also works for other Options Bar settings such as Size, Alignment and Anti-aliasing).

45) LOCK AND UNLOCK: To quickly turn the Lock command on and off for a layer, just press / (forward slash). This is an "on/off" toggle that works in this way: if no lock button is clicked, the shortcut will turn on and off the lock transparent pixel command (the first of the lock boxes). If you already clicked on any locking box, the shortcut will turn that lock off and on.

46) FIND THE TRANSFORM HANDLES: If you have dragged a large image onto a smaller layer the outer edge of the new, larger layer is of course, hidden. This becomes a problem when you use the Free Transform command, since you cannot see the handles to transform the layer. To solve this, after pressing MAC: Command-T (PC: Control-T) for Free Transform, press MAC: Command-0 (PC: Control-0) to change the view to Fit on Screen. PS will zoom out the image so that the transform handles are visible and you can go ahead with dragging those handles to transform the image.

47) GET BACK TO THAT PREFERENCE: Pressing MAC: Command-K (PC: Control-K) opens the Preferences dialog. If you want to jump directly to the last preference you used, add MAC: Option (PC: Alt) into the mix, making the shortcut MAC: Command-Option-K (PC: Control-Alt-K).

48) A BETTER NAVIGATOR: The Navigator is a great way to change the view of your document, since you always get a thumbnail view of your image. To zoo m into a specific area of an image using the Navigator, hold down MAC: Command (PC: Control) and you’ll get a magnifying glass that you can click and drag to zoom in on an area.

49) BETTER SCRUBBERS: In most dialogs you can use the scrubber hand to change measurements. To change the performance of the scrubber, try using these keys: Shift will make the scrubber jump very quickly to large and smaller numbers; MAC: Option (PC: Alt) will slow down the scrubber to move one number at a time.

50) DRAG TO A SPECIFIC LOCATION: Here’s how to drag and drop a layer from one document to another. First, make a small selection in your "destination" document that indicates the center of where you want the layer to be dropped. Then, go back to the "source" document, hold down Shift and drag and drop the layer to the destination window. The new layer will automatically be centered over the selected area.

51) FILL COMMANDS: These commands fill the entire layer: to fill with Foreground color, use MAC: Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace). To fill with Background color, press MAC: Command-Delete (PC: Control-Backspace). These commands only fill areas in the layer where there are pixels (preserving transparency). To fill with Foreground color, use MAC: Option-Shift-Delete (PC: Alt-Shift-Backspace). Press MAC: Command-Shift-Delete (PC: Control-Shift-Backspace) to fill with Background color.

52) OPEN THE FILL DIALOG: It’s an odd one, but to open the Fill dialog, press MAC: Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace)

53) MAXIMUM VALUE IN DIALOGS?: If you’re in a dialog that is prompting you to enter a value but you’re not sure what the range of numbers really is, enter an abnormally high number like 9999 and press Return (Enter) – PS will change the number to its highest possible value. Similarly, you could use the same trick to fine the lowest value by entering 0 and then pressing Return (Enter).

54) SCROLL WHILE LASSOING: If you’ve zoomed in to use the Lasso tool and you ‘re nearing the edge of the window, you’ll need to scroll over to continue using the Lasso. To do this, don’t let go of the Lasso and press the Spacebar. This will temporarily activate the Hand tool so you can scroll to the side. Let go of the Spacebar to continue using the Lasso.

55) PREVIEW FEATHERING: Rather than guessing what amount of feathering to use, try this. Make a selection with no feathering, press Q for Quick Mask mode, then use Gaussian Blue filter. Using the colored overlay you’ll be able to preview the equivalent of feathering – the amount you choose for the Gaussian Blur is equivalent to feathering.

56) TRIM YOUR PHOTOHSOP FILE SIZE: If you have elements that extend beyond the image window, although you can’t see them, they’re still there and are adding to your file size, If you’ve determined that you don’t need those "unseen" parts, press MAC: Command-A (PC: Control-A) to Select All, then go to the image menu and choose Crop to cut off the hidden areas and trim your file size.

57) SWAP MEASUREMENTS: If you’ve entered a width and height for the Crop tool (or the Marquee tool with Fixed Size chosen) you can easily swap the measurements by clicking the small button between the width and height fields.

58) TEMPORARILY FLATTEN A FILE: To open a flattened version of a layered document, hold down MAC: Shift-Option (PC: Shift-Alt) as you open the file. You’ll be asked if you want to "Read the composite data instead." This only works if "Always Maximize Compatibility for Photoshop Files" is checked in the File Handling Preferences. (Don’t worry about over-writing the layered original with the Save command – you can’t. Only Save As is available when you open the composite version of a layered file).

59) COPY A LAYER IN THE EXACT SAME LOCATION: To make a copy of your current layer and have it appear in the exact same place in a different open Photoshop document, use the Duplicate layer command. MAC: Control-Click (PC: Right-Click) on the layer and choose Duplicate layer. In the Duplicate layer dialog, choose the other document from the Destination pop-up menu, click OK and the layer will appear in the same position.

60) FAVORITE FOLDER IN THE FILE BROWSER: If you have one or more folders you find yourself visiting in the File Browser on a regular basis, you can make them part of the pop-up "location" menu. From the File menu in the File Brower, choose Add folder to favorites. From then on, your folder will be readily available in the pop-up menu, under Favorite Folders.

61) CONTROLLING THE HISTOGRAM: By default the Histogram palette displays the Histogram for the entire image. To display the Histogram for only one layer, use the pop0up menu to change to Expanded View, than change the Source from Entire image to Selected layer.

62) MASK THE MASKS: Can you mask a Layer Mask? You can if it’s in a layer set. If you have several layers with Layer Masks and you want to hide portions of all those layers with another layer mask, put the layers into a layer set, and then add a Layer Mask to the set.

63) INSTANT BACKGROUND 1: Want an instant background for a project when nothing inspires you? Take an image – just about any will do – and apply a Motion blur at the maximum setting of 999 (or some other high number). You’ ll blur all the detail but will often end up with some pretty interesting looks. Experiment with duplicating the blurred image by pressing MAC: Command-J (PC: Control-J), running the motion blur filter in a different direction and/or different amount, and then play with the blending mode of the duplicated layer.

64) INSTANT BACKGROUND 2: To create an instant background with a feeling of depth, first apply the Render>Clouds filter then use Blur>Radial Blur with an Amount of 100 and Zoom as the Blur Method. Then use the Distort>Pinch filter using 100 as the amount. You can press MAC: Command-F (PC: Control-F) to run the Pinch filter several times to make the effect more pronounced. (If you didn’t use colors when you applied the Clouds filter, use the Hue/Saturation command to add color to the effect).

65) CHANGE THE ORDER OF BRUSHES: If you don’t like the order in which the Brushes, Gradients, or Swatches appear in their respective palettes, use the Preset Manager to change their displays. Just choose the Preset Type in the Preset manager, and then simply drag items to change the order. To move several items at once hold down Shift to select several items before you drag them.

66) CMYK SAFE COLORS: Unfortunately, there is not checkbox in the Color Picker for "Only CMYK Colors" as there is for "Only Web Colors." To ensure that you’re picking colors in the Color Picker that are safe to use in CMYK, press MAC: Command-Shift-Y (PC: Control-Shift-Y) to display the Gamut Warning. Now all colors that are not appropriate to use in CMYK will have a gray overlay. Stick with the colors where no gray appears and you’ll be all set. (NOTE: Once you’ve turned on Gamut Warning it will stay on in the Color Picker until you use the same shortcut to turn it off).

67) JUMP TO A FILE IN THE FILE BROWSER: Once you’ve navigated to a folder in the File Browser, you can jump to a specific image by pressing the first letter (or the first two or three letters) of the file you want to select. This also means that you cannot switch tools by using their letter shortcuts when the File Browser is active.

68) CHANGE THE CURVES GRID: By default the dialog in Curves displays a 25% grid. To create a finer grid, MAC: Option-click (PC: Alt-click) once on the grid and it will then display a 10% grid.

69) BRING THE BACKGROUND IN: When you use the Extract command to separate a person from their background, don’t drag the extracted person onto a different document. Instead, drag the "new" background into the document with the person. That way you can still use the History brush to fix any minor problems with the edges of the extracted person. (Think about it – if you drag the person over to a new document, the person is not in the History palette and cannot be adjusted).

70) PARAGRAPH TEXT BOXES OF A SPECIFIC SIZE: If you click and drag with the Type tool you’ll create a text box that will cause your text to automatically wrap to the next line. To create a text box of a specific size, hold down MAC: Option (PC: Alt) and click once with the Type tool and a dialog will prompt you to enter the exact size of the Paragraph text box.

71) BIGGER FILTER PREVIEW: You can create a bigger preview window for any filter in the Filter Gallery. Just click on the arrow button (insert filter preview) to expand the preview. Click the button again to collapse the preview window and see the filter list.

72) CHANGE OPACITY WITH AIRBRUSH TURNED ON: If you have the Airbrush capabilities turned on in the Options Bar, the standard shortcut will no longer work to change the Opacity (normally you can press 1 for 10, 3 for 30, etc.). Once you’ve turned the Airbrush option on, that number shortcut will change the Flow rather than the Opacity. To change the Opacity with the Airbrush option on, use MAC: Shift (PC: Alt) and the number, for example, press MAC: Shift-4 ({PC: Alt-4) to change the Opacity to 40%.

73) DEFAULT SETTING FOR GLOBAL LIGHT: If you find yourself always changing Global Light in Layer Styles to some setting other than the default, change the default. Here’s how: with no document open, go to the Layer menu and choose Layer Style>Global Light. Change the settings and you’ve just created your own default for Global Light.

74) A BETTER PATCH TOOL?: Use "standard" selection techniques to select with the Patch tool: Shift to add to the area, MAC: Option (PC: Alt) to remove from the area. If you’re stating a new Patch selection, holding down the Option key (PC: Alt) and using single clicks turns the Patch tool into the Polygon Patch tool. You can also switch to a selection tool, add more feathering and then return to the Patch tool to complete the operation.

75) REFRESH THE FILE BROWSER: Don’t be fooled by the fact that F5 is the shortcut to show the Brushes palette. When the File Browser is active, F5 becomes the shortcut to refresh the browser.

76) TRANSFORMING TYPE: Although it is possible to apply some Free Transform commands to type, you cannot use either the Distort or Perspective commands. You could Rasterize the type, but you risk losing quality if you make the type larger. Instead, convert the text to a shape by using Layer>Type>Covert to Shape. All transformation commands will be available, and there will be no loss of quality.

77) LIMIT THE EFFECTS OF AN ADJUSTMENT LAYER: If you want an Adjustment layer to only affect certain layers, put those layers into a set and put the Adjustment layer in that set, at the top. Change the Blending mode from Pass Through to Normal and the Adjustment layer will only be applied to the layers within the set.

78) SCALE LAYER STYLES: If you’ve applied a Layer Style to a layer and then scale down the contents of the layer, the style probably needs to be scaled too. Rather than returning to the original settings and re-adjusting them, just MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) in the Layers palette on the work Effects and from the menu of choices, choose Scale Effects. Use the slider to scale all effects on the layer to a more appropriate size.

79) SCROLL MULTIPLE IMAGES: Open several images and from the Window menu, choose Arrange>Tile. They’ll be arranged so they are all visible, tiled against each other. If you want to scroll the view of all images at the same time, hold down the Shift key and the Spacebar. As you scroll the view of the active images, the other images will also scroll.

80) HEAL TO A BLANK LAYER: Take advantage of the ability of the Healing Brush to "use all layers." Add a blank layer above your image and in the Options Bar, check the Use All Layers box. Then use the Healing Brush as usual, but now the pixels appear on the new layer. Then you can use the layer’s opacity and/or blending modes to alter the affects of the Healing Brush.

81) SMUDGE WITH COLOR: To "finger paint" with the Smudge took. Adding in the Foreground color into the process of smudging, hold down the MAC: Option key (PC: Alt) as you use the Smudge tool Otherwise, you’d have to turn Finger Painting on and off in the Options bar.

82) SETTING STYLES FOR SHAPES: In the Options Bar you can choose a Style before drawing with a shape tool. To quickly change the style setting for a shape tool., try these shortcuts:

, (comma): previous style

. (period): next style

: last style

<: first style (by default is no style)

83) A QUICKER EXTRACTION: When you’re using the Extract command and have painted with the Highlight tool, you have to fill with the Fill tool, and then press Preview to see the results. For a quicker preview, hold down the Shift key as you click with the Fill tool and it will fill and preview in one step.

84) ADDING NEW TEXT CLOSE TO EXISTING TYPE: Did you ever try to add some new text a little too close to some existing text, only to have the Type tool assume you want to edit the existing text? To avoid this, hold down the Shift key as you click with the Type tool – this will ignore the existing text and create a new type layer, no matter how close you click to the original text.

85) FAST FLAGS: To quickly flag an image in the File Browser, select the image then press MAC: Command (PC: Control).

86) SMALLER JPEGS BY BLURRING: If you’re trying to get a smaller jpeg file size, this tip might help if there are areas in the photo that you can blur. Select the areas that are not as important as the rest of the image (backgrounds behind people for example) and apply a very slight Gaussian Blur. When you save your image you will typically end up with a smaller version than the unblurred image.

87) PUT LAYER STYLES ON THEIR OWN LAYERS: If you’ve applied a Layer Style such as a drop shadow to a layer, you can separate the effect onto its own layer. Go to the Layer menu, under Layer Style choose Create Layer (Or MAC: Control-click [PC: Right-click] on the word Effects in the Layers palette and choose Create Layer). Now you can edit the shadow layer (to create cast shadows for example).

88) CAN’T DECIDE ON A FONT?: Here’s a simple way to solve the "what font family to use" dilemma. With a type layer active, create a new action and use the arrow keys to scroll through all the fonts in your type menu in the Options Bar, then stop recording. Now any time you want to try different looks, run the action and it will scroll through each typeface – for best results use the Actions palette pop-up menu to change the Playback Options to Step by Step (with Accelerated playback the fonts will change too fast to see the different looks).

89) LAYER SET SPEED TIP: Tot a bunch of layers you want to put in a Set? Just link all of the layers you want in the Set, and then from the layers palette op-up menu, choose new Set from Linked. (Hold down MAC: Option [PC: Alt] to avoid naming the Set).

90) FILTER DEFAULTS: You can change the default setting for any filter that opens in the Filter Gallery. Just hold down the MAC: Command key (PC: Control) and the Cancel button changes to Default. Click the Default button and from then on, that filter will use your settings as the default.

91) EDIT THE SHAPE OF LETTERS: If you need to alter the shape of some text, try this: from the Layer menu, go to Type>Create Work Path. This will put a path around your type as if you drew it with the Pen tool. Then either hide or delete the type layer and make a new layer. Use the Path editing tools (add anchor, delete anchor, and Direct Select tools) to edit the shape of the text, while keeping smooth vector edges. When you’re done editing the path, fill it with a color.

92) GET RID OF HOT SPOTS: To remove "hot spots" on someone’s face (skin glare or bright spots of sweat on skin, etc.), use the Clone tool and change the blending mode to Darken, lower the opacity to 50% and clone over the hot spot areas.

93) LAYER COMPS TO PDF: After you’ve created Layer Comps to show different layer combinations, you can easily create a PDF slide show form these comps by using a script: File>Scripts>Layer Comps to PDF.

94) NO MORE SLICE NUMBERS: If you find a small number appearing in the top left corner of your image, that’s Photoshop treating it as if your image is one big slice. You can hide this by pressing MAC: Command-H (PC: Control-H) but for a more permanent fix, go to the Guides, Grid & Slices Preference and turn off Show Slice Numbers.

95) CHANGE BRUSH SOFTNESS ON THE FLY: You can increase or decrease the softness of a round brush without changing the size of the brush by pressing Shift-left bracket (increase softness) or Shift-right bracket (decrease softness).

96) PROTECT YOUR ORIGINAL DOCUMENT: If you’re worried about doing irreparable damage to your image, create a quick duplicate of your original. Hold down MAC: Option (PC: Alt), go to the image menu and choose Duplicate. (If you don’t have Option/Alt held down, you’ll be asked to name the duplicate document).

97) MAKE YOUR OWN SWATCH: To add a color to the Swatches palette, just move your mouse to the gray area after the last swatch and click. To add a new swatch without naming it, hold down MAC: Option (PC: Alt) as you click in the Swatches palette.

98) BROWSER WORKSPACES: You may find yourself working with more than one configuration of the File Browser. For example, one with large custom thumbnails and no preview, another in details view. Rather than switching back and fort, set up the File Browser the way you want them go to Window>Workspace>Save Workspace. Create a workspace for each File Browser configuration to easily switch between views. (Hint: Create a workspace for the File Browser that hides all floating palettes).

99) TEXT TRACKING: To quickly change the tracking (space between letters) for selected text, press MAC: Command-T (PC: Control-T) to get the Character palette, then click on the Tracking field. Press the up arrow key to increase the tracking by 20, or Shift and the Up arrow to increase the tracking by 200.

100) IMPROVED SHEARING: There are a couple of things that can improve results with the Shear filter (Filter>Distort>Shear). Firs, since the Shear filter only works in one direction, you’ll often have to rotate the image 90 degrees (Clockwise or Counterclockwise depending on the direction you want to Shear) before using Shear. Also, if you have a small object on a layer by itself, it will usually help if you make a loose selection around the object before using Shear. (After you’ve used the Shear filter, rotate the image back to its original position).

These tips and tricks were originally from: 100 Hot Photoshop Tips for CS by The NAPP

*7) WHERE’S THE IMAGE?: On Windows just hold the mouse over the title bar of the open document and it tells you the location of the file after a few moments in a tool tip. You don’t need to click anything. There’s no file shortcut. Right click the title bar of an open document to access shortcuts to "duplicate", "resize" and "file information".

101) RESIZING ON THE TOOLS PALETTES: On all tool palettes where you have a size you can input (such as text size), note the little icon to the left of the point where you can enter a size. Left click this icon and drag up and down… the number in the input box will automatically increase or decrease, meaning you don’t have to type in the number

Thanks to SpaceGirl for providing these last 2 tips!!!

102) TURN OFF BRUSH DYNAMIC SETTINGS: Photoshop’s Brush Engine is wonderful, enabling you to use Brushes, such as the Grass Brush, that paint onto the Canvas with a mind of their own, using variants of your active color. What if you don’t want PS’s Brushes to "think" for themselves? You can easily make an "active" Brush stay where you want it and paint in the specified color by un-checking all of the small boxes on the left of the Brushes palette. By doing so, you’re turning off the dynamic settings that make the brush move.

103) PREVIEW YOUR TEXTURES AND PATTERNS: Have you ever created a pattern or texture that you really like and then wondered why it looked so insignificant when you printed it? Your monitor shows you the image at between 72 and 96 ppi, whereas print resolution is typically 300 ppi. Anything you see on your monitor, therefore, is much smaller in print. Here’ s a way to preview the pattern: Change your view of the image to 25%. If you can see your pattern, texture, or design element clearly at that small screen size, you’ll be able to view it in print.

104) SHARPENING AN IMAGE: When you reduce an image’s size or import it from a digital camera, it usually needs some sharpening – the amount depends on the output method for the image. Several books recommend changing the image into Lab mode and only sharpening the Luminosity channel, but here’s an easier way to do the same thing: Choose Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask, apply the settings that you want, then choose Edit>Fade Unsharp Mask, and alter the Blend Mode to Luminosity. As an added benefit, you can also reduce the amount of the sharpening at the same time if you feel that you’ve applied too much.

105) REPOSITIONING MARQUEES: If you start to make a Rectangular Marquee tool (M) selection and discover that you don’t have the selection positioned where you want it, don’t start over. Before you finish creating the Marquee, press and hold the Spacebar, reposition the selection, and then finish making the selection. This trick also works with the Crop and Shape tools.

106) LAYER PALETTE SHORTCUTS: Here are a few quick ways to move layers around in the Layers palette:

a) To move the top layer down "behind" the layer below – Send Backward MAC: Command-[(PC: Control-[).

b) To move the second-from-the-top layer to the top of the layer stack – Bring forward: MAC: Command-] (PC: Control-]).

c) To move the top layer to the bottom of the stack (above the Background layer) – Send to Back MAC: Shift-Command-[(PC: Shift-Control-[).

d) To move the layer above the Background layer to the top of the stack – Bring to Front MAC: Shift-Command-] (PC: Shift-Control-]).

e) To make the higher layer active: MAC: Option-] (PC: Alt-]).

f) To make the lower layer active: MAC: Option-[(PC: Alt-[).

g) To make the top layer active: MAC: Shift-Option-] (PC: Shift-Alt-]).

h) To make the Background or lowest layer active: MAC: Shift-Option-[ (PC: Shift-Alt-[)

Tips 102-106 from: Photoshop User Magazine Jan/Feb 2004.

107) MANAGING LARGER FILES: If you’ve started working in 16-bit mode, you might have noticed that your file sizes are incredibly large. Even with a lot of RAM, large file sizes slow down the machine. You can regain some of that speed by installing a second hard drive to be used only for Photoshop’s swap files and temporary files. Keep the disk drive defragmented and make sure that you don’t also transfer the Windows swap file (or the MAC virtual memory file) to that hard drive.

108) CUSTOMIZE YOUR PREFERENCES: You can choose Edit>Preferences in the File Browser menu to alter the display of the File Browser. One change that you can make, for instance, is to choose a custom thumbnail size. As a side benefit, from the Preferences panel in the File Browser, you can edit any of the Photoshop’s Preferences – not just the File Browser preference – by clicking on the pop-down menu.

109) SMART PIXEL REDUCTION: To reduce the number of pixels but at the same time keep some of the sharpness in an image, there’s a new method in CS designed to do just that. Here’s how: Select Image>Image Size and in the dialog, click on Resample Image, then choose Bicubic Sharper from the pop-down menu.

110) PRINTING SHORTCUTS: Here are a few quick shortcuts to make your printing easier and faster:

a) MAC: Command-P (PC: Control-P) brings up your standard Print dialog. Use this when you’ve already set up your paper size and image orientation and are ready to print.

b) MAC: Shift-Command-P (PC: Shift-Control-P) accesses the Page Setup dialog. This lets you choose the paper size and orientation and set your margins. You can also select your printer here.

c) MAC: Option-Command-P (PC: Alt-Control-P) – Print with Preview – gives you access to both the Page Setup and the Print dialogs and allows you to see a small thumbnail of the printed page. You can get to all of the print control dialogs with this command. If you uncheck the Center Image checkbox, you can position the image on the page.

d) MAC: Shift-Option-Command-P (PC: Shift-Alt-Control-P) – Print One Copy – gives you one-step printing when everything is set up and ready to go. You don’t have any options on this command; it simply uses all of the previously chosen setting to print a single copy of the image.

Tips 107-110 from Photoshop User Magazine Mar 2004

111) DIRECT RAW CONVERSION: If you shoot RAW format on your digital camera, you can easily convert your image to black-and-white directly from the RAW import dialog. Start by dragging the Saturation to -100 (or as far to the left as your settings allow). At that point, you can easily set the contrast that you want by adjusting Exposure, Shadows, Brightness, and Contrast. You can even get interesting results using the White Balance settings if your camera has them.

112) REMOVING IN-CAMERA SHARPENING: You can remove all in-camera sharpening using the RAW import dialog by clicking on the Details tab. By removing the in-camera sharpening, you can get the exact degree of sharpening that you want in Photoshop without having to deal with a pre-sharpened image.

113) GREATER SHARPENING CONTROL: For a different type of sharpening, use Filter>Other>High Pass on a duplicate of the layer that you want to sharpen. Change the layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light. Smaller High Pass settings emphasize tiny details in the image while larger settings add contrast to the image where you need to keep the tiny details (such as wrinkles) unsharpened. You can reduce the opacity of the sharpening layer and mask areas to keep them from sharpening. It give you total flexibility.

114) CUSTOM SETTINGS "SIDE-CAR": Did you know that you could update the display of a file in the File Browser without having to open the actual image? After you make the adjustments that you want, MAC: Option-click (PC: Alt-click) on the OK button at the top of the RAW dialog. Your settings are saved in a "side-car" file that travels along with the image, and the File Browser updates the dialog of the image. It does not, however, open the image. You can then apply the altered settings to other files in that folder if you wish.

115) EASY FILE RENAMING: You can rename all or selected files in a folder by choosing the Automate>Batch Rename command from the File Browser menu. This dialog allows you to choose from a variety of naming conventions. If you took a series of photos at Halloween, for example, you could rename them all "Halloween2003" and have Photoshop add up to a four-digit number after that to uniquely identify the image.

116) USING THE SHIFT KEY AS A MODIFIER:

a) With the Brush tool selected (Airbrush off), hold the Shift key and type up to a two-digit number to alter the flow of the Brush. (NOTE: This works now on Windows; it didn’t work in PS 7).

b) If you have the Brush tool selected and click on the Airbrush icon, you can alter the Brush Opacity by holding the Shift key as you type up to two-digits.

c) You can move a layer or selection 10 pixels in any direction (rather than the default 1 pixel) if you select the Move tool and hold the Shift key as you click on an arrow key.

d) Hold the Shift key as you type and any tool shortcut key will cycle to the next tool in that Toolbox slot. For example, if you press M to choose the Marquee tool, you see the currently selected Marquee tool. If that tool was the Rectangular Marquee tool and you pressed Shift-M, you would then see the Elliptical Marquee tool.

e) If you use the keyboard shortcut for the Edit>Fill command (MAC: Option-Delete [PC: Alt-Backspace]) while you’re working on a layer, and you hold the Shift key down as you press the shortcut keys, you can fill the layer while preserving the layer transparency.

Tips 111-116 from Photoshop User Magazine Apr/May 2004

117) NO MORE BAGGY HAND-ME-DOWNS!: One giveaway that you’re new to Photoshop is the "ill-fitting" style. When a layer style is created, its resolution dependent, which means that the style is created to fit a certain size image? If you try to apply that same style to a different size, it no longer looks quite right. The good news is that it’s easy to fix: MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the little "f" next to your layer in the Layers palette. When the pop-up menu appears, choose Scale Effects. Now, you can adjust the size of the style for a perfect fit.

118) SAVE ME!: Whenever you created a new effect, don’t throw away all that hard work: save it so you can use it again. On the right side of the Styles dialog, there’s a New Style button that’s just waiting to be pressed. Click this button and your effects will be added to the Styles library as a new style that can be applied with a single click anytime you like.

119) GO AHEAD – BE A COPYCAT: Have you ever worked on multiple layers and found that you needed to add the same effect to all of the layers (or changed your mind and had to update the effect on each layer)? Here’s how to apply effects to (or update) multiple layers all at once:

1) Create your style on one of the layers

2) Click the box to the left of the thumbnail of the other layers that you want to have this style (the chain icon will appear) to link all of the layers.

3) Now, MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the (style) layer name and from the pop-up menu, choose Copy Layer Style.

4) MAC: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the layer name again and choose Paste Layer Style to Linked. The layer style will now be applied to all of the linked layers.

120) BACK ‘EM UP OR LOSE ‘EM: Whenever you get into big trouble with Photoshop, the first solution that’s suggested is to "trash your prefs." When you delete the preferences file, Photoshop will build a clean new one on the next launch (hopefully) without the glitch. The only problem with this is that you’ll lose all of your custom libraries, including custom layer styles, so it’s a good idea to create a backup of these.

Choose Edit>Preset Manager and the Preset manager dialog appears. Click on the drop-down menu to see all of your libraries, including Styles. Click on the items you want to save, choose Save, and save. and save. and be safe.

121) THE GLASSY LOOK: It’s really easy to create a transparent glassy look using layer styles. Just create your layer style and then reduce the opacity of everything on that layer except for the effect. At the top of the Layers palette there are two Opacity sliders: Opacity and Fill. The Opacity slider affects the transparency of the entire layer, while the Fill slider only affects the transparency of the layer’s fill pixels – without changing the layer styles.

By reducing the Opacity of the Fill slider, the style remains on its own – instant glass!

Tips 117-121 from Photoshop User Magazine Jun 2004

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E
edjh
Jun 13, 2004
Brooklyn NYC wrote:
Last month I posted this on several graphics ngs. I am in the process of adding 100 (more or less) more tips to the list so, I thought that I would repost the first list just in case anyone needed it. I am hoping to have the next set finished by the middle of the week.

Enjoy.
100+ PHOTOSHOP CS TIPS and TRICKS

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" functions that can be very useful:
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).

To make a new copy and transform the copy, press MAC: Command-Option-Shift-T (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-T.

Here’s an additional tip: If you do the above with the object selected (marching ants) the repeats will all occur on the same layer. With the object not selected it makes a new layer for each iteration.
/snip/


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