Design Tutorials

Photoshop lets you create custom workspaces that display just the palettes you need for a specific project. For instance, if you're planning on working with text, you'll want to have the Paragraph and the Character palette open. But later you might be editing some Photos and want to close your text palettes to make room for photo editing palettes like color swatches and brushes. With custom workspaces you can switch quickly.Once you've arranged the palettes just the way you want them, choose Window> Workspace> Save Workspace. Name your workspace and then click Save. Here's another tip - plan ahead so your custom workspace names make sense. This will be another time-saver later on when you need to locate one from the Workspace submenu.

Display The Same Image In Two Windows

When doing detail work on an image you may need to zoom in to take a closer look at the pixels. But to make sure that any changes you're making in this magnified state will look realistic at a normal view you'll have to zoom out for a quick look. Here's a great tip - instead of zooming in and out you can have the same image open in two windows at the same time.With an open image selected choose Window> Arrange> New Window (the original file name will be listed). The same image will now appear in a new second window. Keep one window set at 100% to see your effects, and work in the second window - either zoomed in or zoomed out. Sweet.

Ever been frustrated by having to switch tools to move your image around the canvas? Here's the solution — Press the Spacebar to temporarily activate the Hand Tool. Click to move an image freely inside a canvas area that is smaller than the image. Release the Spacebar and the hand tool will revert back to the current tool you have selected.

For situations where you need to perform a multiple undo, go Edit> Step Backward or use Control-Alt-Z (MAC: Command-Option-Z. To go the other way (multiple redo) go Edit> Step Forward or use Control-Shift-Z (MAC: Command-Shift-Z). The number of steps available is the same as the number of History States, which can be changed in General Preferences.

Control Your Color Squares

Press D to reset your color squares to their default of black as the foreground color and white as the background color. Press X to switch your foreground color and your background color.To change the color of one of the color squares Click on a Color Square. This brings up the color picker, where you can select a new color.

Press I to activate the Eyedropper Tool and then click on any color in your image to turn that color into the foreground color. Press the ALT Key and click on any color in your image to turn that color into the background color.

Change Brush Tip Sizes Quickly

With a brush selected, simply Press the Right Bracket Key "]" to increase the size of your brush tip, or Press the Left Bracket Key "[" to decrease the size of your brush tip.

Get in the habit of calling up the Move Tool with the keyboard shortcut, which is the letter V. Also, once the Move Tool is active you can use your Keyboard Arrow Keys to nudge a layer or selection in 1 pixel increments. To speed things up, Press Shift along with an arrow key to nudge in 10 pixel increments.

Hide Your Palettes

Press Tab once to hide all your palettes. Press Tab again to bring them back. Press Shift+Tab to hide all your palettes.

Zooming In & Zooming Out

To zoom in Press Command and the plus sign "+" (PC: Control and the plus sign). To zoom out Press Command and the minus sign "-" (PC: Control and the minus sign).

If you've zoomed in on a large image and have lost your bearings you can jump quickly to specific views using these shortcuts:

• Press the Home Key to set the view to the top left hand corner of your image.
• Press the End Key to set the view to the bottom right hand corner of your image.
• Press the Page Down Key to move the view one full screen down.
• Press Command+Page Down (PC: Control+Page Down) to move the view one full screen to the right.
• Press Command+Page Up (PC: Control+Page Up) to move the view one full screen to the left.

An easy way to select an object that is on a transparent layer is to Press the Command Key (PC: Control key) and click on the layer with the object in the Layers Palette. This makes sure that only the opaque pixels (the pixels that are visible) will be selected with the marching ants, instead of the entire layer.

Getting Rid Of The Welcome Screen - And Bringing It Back

When first launching Photoshop CS you'll see a Welcome Screen that has links to some Tutorials, some Tips and Tricks, and a set of Color Management Help Files. After a while you might want to get rid of this screen. There's a check box at the bottom you can select to hide the screen at startup. If you change your mind later and decide you'd like to investigate the tutorials and other goodies, you can temporarily bring the screen back by going under the Help menu and choosing Welcome Screen.

Cycle Through All Of Your Open Documents

Sometimes you'll want to find one of your open documents that is hidden, but navigating using the Window menu won't help because you can't recall the name of the file. Instead press Control-Tab repeatedly (MAC and PC) to cycle through all of your open documents.