MODULE 5:

THE PHOTOSHOP
TOOLS
 OVERVIEW

The Photoshop toolbox is the most important user interface in Photoshop it

includes the primary tools to work with graphics. These include the tools that
let you use type, and select, paint, draw, sample, edit, move, annotate, and
view images.
 AFTER SUCCESSFUL
COMPLETION OF THIS
MODULE, YOU SHOULD BE
MODULE ABLE TO:

OBJECTIVES ❖ Know functionality of each

Photoshop Tools
❖ Can properly use Photoshop tools
 PHOTOSHOP TOOL BAR

Arguably the most frequently used Photoshop element is its

toolbox-the long rectangular Tools bar that displays icons
for choosing functions, colors, and views. When you launch
Photoshop, the Tools bar automatically appears on the left
side of the window. If you wish, you can click the bar at the
top of the toolbox and drag the Tools bar to a more
convenient place. If the Tool Bar is not visible, click
Window on the Menu bar at the top of the screen.
 PHOTOSHOP TOOL BAR

A drop-down menu will appear. Then click Tools and the

Tool Bar will be displayed. The Tool Bar is illustrated
below. Note that the actual tools displayed will depend on
the settings left by the last user. In most instances, clicking
and holding on one of the buttons can access several tools.
This illustration shows many of the typical tools.
PHOTOSHOP TOOL BAR
 SELECTION TOOLS

• The selection tools are located in

the Tools panel, which is located,
by default, on the left side of your
screen.
 ELLIPTICAL MARQUEE
TOOL

Draws round or elliptical

selection borders.

RECTANGULAR MARQUEE
TOOL

Draws square or rectangular

selection borders.
 POLYGONAL LASSO TOOL

Draws multiple straight-edged

segments of a selection border.

LASSO TOOL

Draws freehand selection borders,

best for precision.
 MAGIC WAND TOOL

Selects pixels of similar color with

one click.

MAGNETIC LASSO TOOL

Draws a selection border that

automatically snaps to edges when
you drag over in the photo.
 SELECTION BRUSH TOOL

Automatically selects or
deselects the area you paint,
depending on whether
you are in Selection or Mask mode.
 CROP AND SLICE TOOLS

• The Crop and Slice tools are

used to separate and
eventually extract or use part
of the image that is most
important. Cropping takes out
everything outside your
cropping area. Slicing an
image into multiple areas
makes smaller image tiles
from the main image.
 CROP AND SLICE TOOLS
Crop (C)
Click and drag with this tool to create an
adjustable crop area of your image. Press
Enter to crop the canvas to your
rectangular area. Press Esc to cancel the
crop. After you crop your image, part of
the image is gone; make sure that if you
save over the original image, you won’t
need the content you have cropped out.
Slice (K)
Used for creating web images, the slice
tool creates rectangular slices from which
you can export individual graphics. Build
web button interfacesb in one canvas and
save to sliced areas for your web page.
 CROP AND SLICE TOOLS

Slice Select (K) Perspective Crop

Select your image slices and adjust the Let you transform the perspective in an
size of the slices by moving image while cropping. Use
the handles. Hold down the Shift key to the Perspective Crop tool when working
select multiple slices at once. with images that contain keystone
distortion. Keystone distortion occurs
when an object is photographed from an
angle rather than from a straight‐on view.
 ❖ Eyedropper Tool.
We can use this tool for matching a color and
MEASURING we also match a color from a web page or

TOOLS something else while working in Photoshop.

Just click with the eyedropper tool somewhere
THE FOLLOWING ARE in your Photoshop file, and drag the cursor off
THE MEASURING TOOLS to sample colors from anything visible on
YOU CAN USE IN
PHOTOSHOP: your screen. Your color will be selected.
 ❖ Color Sample Tool.
The Color Sampler Tool can used to match
MEASURING colors in an image,

TOOLS
like the Eyedropper tool, but its values can be
stored in the Info palette for future reference.
The keyboard shortcut key for this tool is “I”.
THE FOLLOWING ARE
THE MEASURING TOOLS It is quite helpful when adjusting an image's
YOU CAN USE IN colors. The Color Sampler tool is bundled
PHOTOSHOP:
with the Eyedropper tool in the Toolbox.
 ❖ Color Sample Tool.
It works differently from the Eyedropper tool
MEASURING in that you use it to click and place sample

TOOLS
points in an image. The color values at a
sample point are stored in the Info palette for
as long as the sample point remains in the
THE FOLLOWING ARE
THE MEASURING TOOLS image. You can place up to four sample points
YOU CAN USE IN per image.
PHOTOSHOP:
 ❖ Ruler Tool.

MEASURING The Ruler tool calculates the distance between

any two points in the workspace. When you
TOOLS measure from one point to another, a
nonprinting line is drawn, and the options bar
THE FOLLOWING ARE and Info panel show the following
THE MEASURING TOOLS
YOU CAN USE IN information. The shortcut key of the Ruler
PHOTOSHOP: Tool is "Ctrl+R".
MEASURING ❖ Note Tool.
The Note Tool is a Toolbox. Through the Note
TOOLS Tool we can attach little notes to your .psd
files. There are two versions of Photoshop
THE FOLLOWING ARE
THE MEASURING TOOLS Notes: text and audio.
YOU CAN USE IN
PHOTOSHOP:
 To create a text note:
• Click on the Note Tool when it is shaped as
a sheet of notepaper.

MEASURING • If it is shaped like a loudspeaker then right-

click and toggle it to the notepaper.
TOOLS Your mouse pointer will now become a note
icon. Now click anywhere on your
THE FOLLOWING ARE document. A note window will pop up.
THE MEASURING TOOLS
YOU CAN USE IN • If you look just below the top menu of
PHOTOSHOP: Photoshop, you will see how you can
adjust the author, font, font size, and color of
the note.
MEASURING ❖ Note Tool.
TOOLS You can drag and drop your note around like
any other object, and double-clicking will
THE FOLLOWING ARE allow you to edit and view it.
THE MEASURING TOOLS
YOU CAN USE IN
PHOTOSHOP:
 ❖ Count Tool.
When we click on an image after selecting the
Count tool, a click number is displayed on the
item. Count numbers are saved when you save a
MEASURING file. Photoshop can also automatically count

TOOLS multiple selected areas in an image, and records

are stored in the Measurement
THE FOLLOWING ARE Log panel.
THE MEASURING TOOLS
YOU CAN USE IN
PHOTOSHOP:
 RETOUCHING TOOLS
One of the most important benefits of Photoshop is your ability
t o r e t o u c h i m a g e s t o i m p r o v e o r p e r f e c t t h e m . F r a n k l y, t h e
trickery and deception are quite fun. These tools help you
patch and heal tears, scratches, and even red eyes from erratic
camera flashbulbs:
❖ SPOT HEALING BRUSH (J).
Click on a blemish in a photograph and this tool samples pixels in the area around the
blemish to blend it out. This is like the Healing Brush tool, but with the Spot Healing
Brush you do not need to select a source area.
 RETOUCHING TOOLS
❖ C L O N E S TA M P ( S ) .
Clone areas of an image into another part of an image with this tool. Press and hold
the Alt key (in Windows) and click a source area. Then paint within another area of the
image and watch the tool blend the source area into the destination area.

❖ ERASER (E).
This tool erases the content on the layer you are working.
❖ BLUR (R).
This tool enables you to brush areas blur only those areas. It averages the
pixel color and contrast of surrounding pixels to create a "softer" transition
 RETOUCHING TOOLS
between the pixels and, consequently, the blur effect.

❖ DODGE (O).
This tool erases the content on the layer you are working.
 PAINTING TOOLS
The following are the painting tools you can use in Photoshop:

❖ BRUSH TOOL (B).

This tool is used to paint any image, first of all a selected color and
size. There are various options of the Brush Tools sizes and shapes
that can be found in the options bar. It is also used on layer masks
for showing or hiding parts of the image.
 PAINTING TOOLS
❖ H I S T O RY B R U S H T O O L ( Y ) .
This tool works in a similar way as the Brush Tool, except the
information that it paints with is from the original state of your
image. If you go to "Window" > "History" then you will see the
History Palette. The History Brush Tool paints with the information
from whatever History State is selected.
❖ GRADIENT TOOL (G).
You can use this tool to make gradient colors. It creates a blending
of your foreground color and background color when you click and
drag it.
 DRAWING AND TYPE TOOLS
The following are the drawing and type tools you can use in Photoshop:
PEN TOOL (P)
This tool is for creating paths, in this we
use the Path Selection Tool to select the
path and we can use Paths in a few ways,
mostly to create clipping paths or to create
selections. We use the tool by clicking to
add a point. If we will click and drag, it
will change the shape of your path,
allowing bend and shape the path for
accurate selections and such.
 DRAWING AND TYPE TOOLS

H O R I Z O N TA L T Y P E T O O L ( T ) PAT H S E L E C T I O N T O O L ( A )

Through this tool we can write text in The path selection tools make shape or
Photoshop when you click a single segment selections showing anchor
point, it is put in a separate layer and a points, direction lines, and direction
bounding box. You can drag the points.
bounding box to increase the text size
and click on the move tool to move the
text around.
 DRAWING AND TYPE TOOLS

R E C TA N G L E T O O L ( U )

When you click the Rectangle Tool

and drag in a new document then by
default a new layer is created and the
color is whatever foreground color
you have selected.
 The following are the navigation tools you
can use in Photoshop:

❖ HAND TOOL (H).

The hand tool allows you to click and drag
NAVIGATION around the Photoshop canvas. If the entire

TOOLS canvas currently fits on the screen, this tool

won't do anything. This tool is for easily
navigating around when you're zoomed in, or
a picture is simple too big to fit on the screen
at 100%.
 ❖ ZOOM TOOL (Z).
The zoom tool lets you zoom in and out of

NAVIGATION the Photoshop canvas by clicking on a given

area. By default, the zoom tool only zooms
TOOLS in. To zoom out, hold down the area. By
default, the zoom tool only zooms option key
and use the zoom tool as you normally
would.
 LEARNING MATERIALS

Read:
http://anson-bowles.com/resources/tutorials/photoshop_cs2_in
troduction.pdf

Watch: https://youtu.be/3LNi0WdJuJE