Beginning Photoshop tricks

Zoom in/Zoom out fast

Zoom in

On a Mac, press Command-+.

On a PC, press Control-+.

Zoom out
On a Mac, press Command- (minus symbol).
On a PC, press Control- (minus).
Layer opacity shortcut
To change the opacity of your active layer, switch to the Move tool (by pressing the letter
"v") then simply type in the desired amount of opacity (i.e., 82 percent, 65 percent, 25
percent). If you want a round number (like 20 percent, 30 percent, 40 percent) just input
the first number (i.e., 2 for 20 percent, 3 for 30 percent, and so on).
Repeating filters
Once you've run one of Photoshop's filters, Photoshop assumes you might want to run
that same filter again, so it conveniently puts that filter at the top of your filter's menu (to
keep you from digging through the submenus just to run the same filter).
Even better yet, it creates a keyboard shortcut. To reapply the last filter you used, using
the exact same settings, on a Mac press Command-F and on a PC press Control-F.
Resetting your default colors
To quickly reset Photoshop's foreground and background colors to their default settings
(black foreground, white background) just press the letter "d."
Handy views
To view your Photoshop document at its full 100 percent size, double-click on the
Magnifying Glass tool in the toolbar.
To have your Photoshop document "Fit in Window" (displaying the entire document as
large as possible in your monitor window) double-click on the Grabber Hand tool in the
toolbar.
Scott Kelby is editor of Photshop User magazine.

Intermediate Photoshop Tips

Changing your unit of measurement on the fly

In Photoshop 6.0, you can quickly change your unit of measurement (inches, pixels, and
so on).
1. Make your rulers visible by pressing Command-R (Mac) or Control-R (PC).
2. Mac
o Hold down the Control key.
o Click anywhere within your ruler.
o A pop-up menu will appear where you can choose your measurement unit.
3. PC
o Right-click on the ruler to bring up this pop-up menu.
In Photoshop 5.0/5.5, users can change units of measure by double-clicking on the
ruler, and it will bring up the Units and Measurement dialog box, where you can change
the desired unit from the pop-up menu.
Change values even faster
In Photoshop's Options Bar, you don't have to click and drag to highlight the options
fields when changing values; just click directly on the field's name. It will highlight the
field for you -- then just type in your new values. This works in Photoshop 6.0.
Visually choosing fonts
Don't know which font you want? Try this:
1. Once you've entered some time, highlight it.
2. Click once in the Font field in the Options Bar.
3. Use the up/down arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll through your different
typefaces.
4. You'll see them change live on screen, making it easy to choose the right face.
Moving the background layer in Photoshop 6.0
The background layer is locked by default and cannot be moved. Not only that, you
can't unlock it (the lock icon at the top of the Layers palette is grayed out). You're not out
of luck.
To move the background layer, go to in the layers palette, and double-click on the
Background layer and the New Layer dialog box will appear. It will rename your
background layer as Layer 0 and now it will be unlocked and movable.
Tight cropping Web graphics
Want to crop your Web graphics as tightly as possible? Photoshop 6.0 can do it for you
automatically. Just choose Trim from the Image menu, and it will crop your Web graphic
as tightly as possible for the smallest possible file size.

Advanced Photoshop Tips

Web color trick

If you ever wanted to know the HTML Web color of a color within a Photoshop image,
follow these steps.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Hold the Control key.

Click the Eyedropper tool on any color in the image.
A pop-up menu will appear where you can choose "Copy color as HTML."
Then you can insert that color as HTML text in your Web app's HTML editor.
It will appear like this: COLOR="#FBDDA1."

Get better color info

If you're correcting images in Photoshop, chances are you're using the Eyedropper tool
to get readings from within your image. You can get better results when using the
Eyedropper tool by switching how it samples info.
1. Click on the Eyedropper tool.
2. In the Options Bar change the Sample Size from Point Sample (the default) to
3x3 average.
o 5.0/5.5 users: double-click on the Eyedropper tool to bring up its Options
palette.
By making this change, the Eyedropper tool will give you a more accurate reading
because you're getting an average of the area where you're clicking, rather than reading
just one individual pixel (Point Sample), which may give you a misleading reading.
Seeing your type change colors
In Photoshop 6, if you highlight some type so you can change its color, the highlight
color covers the color change, and you can't see what your type looks like until you
remove the highlight.
Here's the tip: after you highlight the type, press Command-H to temporarily hide the
Highlighting, so you can see the type color as you change colors.
Creating temporary brushes
Need a bigger brush? Make a temporary one in seconds in Photoshop 6. Here's how.
1. If you're working with a brush just click on the brush thumbnail icon in the Options
Bar and a new brush dialog will appear.
2. Move the slider to the size you want and start painting.
When you switch brushes later, the temporary brush you created is gone, and best of
all, you didn't affect the original brush, it's still intact.

Tips From the Show

Here are the tips we demonstrated on the show. If you want an in-depth tutorial, watch
the video.

Fix overexposed image

If you have an image that's way too light, then try this trick:
1. In the Layers palette, make a copy of the Background layer by dragging it to the
New Layer icon at the bottom of the palette.
2. At the top of the palette, change the layer's blend mode to Multiply.
3. Continue making copies of this "multiply" layer.
4. Each copy gets progressively darker and darker until the image looks just right.
Fix underexposed image
If your image is too dark try this:
Make a copy of your background layer (see above), but this time change the
blend mode to Screen.
This will lighten the overall image, and again you can keep making copies of this
"screened" layer to lighten the image to taste.
Fix red eye
If you have a digital camera, then you're probably pretty familiar with the "red eye"
effect. Here's a quick way to get rid of red eye:
1. Choose the Paintbrush tool.
2. Choose a soft-edged brush that is about the same size as the eye you want to
fix.
3. In Photoshop's Options bar, change the blend mode to Color.
4. Paint a few strokes over the eye.
5. The red eye disappears as you paint.
Add reflective glints
This is a quick technique for adding little reflective "glints" to your image:
1. Choose the Airbrush tool.
2. Make white your foreground color. (Press the letter "d" and then the letter "x.")
3. In the brushes menu's drop-down palette, choose Assorted Brushes to load an
additional set of special-effect brushes.
4. Choose the 48-pixel brush that looks like an "X."
5. Paint a few "glints" on your image.
6. After you've added a few glints, go back and choose a standard round soft-edged
brush.
7. Click and hold for a moment in the center of each glint to add a nice little glow to
complete the effect.
Digital plastic surgery
It's easy to perform a facial retouch to reduce the size of a subject's nose:
1. Use the Lasso tool to draw a very loose selection around the person's nose.
2. Go under the Select menu and choose Feather. (By adding a feather, we'll be
able to soften the edges of our selection and make the retouch more believable.)
3. When the Feather dialog box appears, enter 10 pixels and click OK.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Press Control-J (or on Mac press Command-J) to put the selected nose area on
its own layer.
Press Control-T (Command-T on a Mac) to enter Photoshop's Free Transform
function.
Hold Shift-Alt-Control (on Mac press Shift-Option-Command) and drag the top
left handle inward to add a perspective effect and shrink the nose.
Release those keys.
Grab the top center handle and drag downward so the nose doesn't look
distorted.

See a "before and after" by hiding the nose layer from view -- just click on
the Eyeball icon in the first column to the left of the Background layer.