Useful tips for increasing speed in Photoshop. Photoshop for beginners - five simple tips for using it
These tips do not open America, they are simple to the point of banality, but nevertheless, their effectiveness is quite high.
They were scattered around various sources, I tried to collect some of them in this article.
Let's look at the hidden and little-known capabilities of some tools:
1. Tool " Moving"(Move Tool).
You've probably encountered a situation where, during your work, a bunch of layers are formed and you often need to move objects on them in order to create a certain composition.
And it takes a few seconds to first find the desired layer with the object, then make it active, and then use the move tool.
This used to just infuriate me, especially if more than a dozen layers and groups are formed.
It turns out that if you check the box at the top, in the settings panel, in the parameter Auto Select Layer(Auto Select Layer)
then you just need to click on the object, and Photoshop itself will select the layer.
Then you can completely forget about the layers panel. You can temporarily disable this function during operation by holding down the key Ctrl. If you also check the box Show controls(Show Transform Controls)
it will turn on automatically free transformation mode.
2. When working with selection tools, for example, “ ” (Magic Wand), sometimes their icon gets in the way, especially if you need to click in a strictly defined place.
In such cases, it is worth switching to the crosshair cursor with the key Caps Lock . Pressing again cancels this mode.
3. Save time by using the last applied settings. For example, you applied the command to an image Levels(Levels), with certain settings.
To apply a command with the same settings to another image, just click Alt when selecting the appropriate command from the menu. For " Levels"this will be a combination Alt+Ctrl+L, For " Curves» Alt+Ctrl+M and so on.
4. In many dialog boxes key hold commands Alt turns the button Cancel» (Cancel) to the « button Restore"(Reset).
This allows reset settings without closing the window with the cancel button and opening it again.
5. To hide the flickering trail of the selected area, which often interferes with correctly assessing changes in the image, you need to click Ctrl+H. Pressing again will turn the flickering track back on.
6. For fast switching to the instrument " Moving» press and hold the key Ctrl. To return to the original mode, just release the key.
7. When working with the tool " Brush"(Brush), to quickly change the brush and access the brush selection palette, just click right click mouse in the image window, and the palette will appear directly below the cursor.
8. If you need to quickly delete the active layer, pressing the key is enough Alt Click on the trash can icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
9. Change instruments in a group without using a key Shift much faster!
To do this, you need to uncheck the corresponding option in the settings. Let's go to " Editing – Settings – Basic" () and uncheck the option "Change tool with key Shift».
Now the instruments in the group will switch when you press one key.
10. Fast on/off palette
Often there is a need to use the largest area of the screen for the image.
To hide or show palettes, press Tab.
I hope these tips will help you work in the program more quickly, comfortably and efficiently Photoshop.
I wish you all creative success!
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1. Press Tab to hide the toolbar and palettes, Shift+Tab will hide only the palettes.
2. Double clicking on the top blue bar in any palette window will collapse it.
3. Double click on gray background will open a dialog box to open the file, and Shift+double click will open Adobe browser Bridge.
4. Tired of the gray background around your image? Take Paint tool Bucket Tool (Bucket), hold Shift+click on the gray background, and it will change to whatever color you chose as the foreground color.
5. To select all layers, press Alt+Ctrl+A.
6. Caps Lock will change your cursor to a clearer cross.
7. Press the F key and you can choose one of three different modes screen, which will allow you to do work area more.
8. To draw a straight line using a brush or pencil, single-click at the start point, then hold Shift+click at the end point.
9. Holding the Ctrl key will turn any tool into a Move Tool as long as you hold it down.
10. Ctrl+Alt+click will create a copy of the image and move it as the mouse moves.
11. Pressing Space will turn any tool into a Hand Tool as long as you hold it down.
12. By pressing Ctrl and “+” or “-”, you will change the image scale in percentage.
13. Using the Eyedropper Tool with Alt pressed allows you to sample the background color.
14. Use combinations Ctrl+Alt+Z and Ctrl+Shift+Z to undo and redo a number of actions.
15. If you hold Alt and call free transformation using Ctrl+T, the transformation will be performed on a copy of the object. Ctrl+Shift+T will repeat any recent transformations.
16. You can easily increase the size of the canvas using the Crop Tool - stretch it beyond the canvas and click OK.
17. Ctrl+J will create a copy of the current layer.
18. Ctrl+Shift+E will merge all visible layers into one, Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E will merge a copy of visible layers into one new layer.
19. Use the hotkeys Ctrl+D to remove selection, and Ctrl+Shift+D to return selection.
20. When you create a selection using the Marquee Tool, hold Space to move the selection and release to continue selecting.
21. Pressing Shift and “+” or “-” will change the layer’s blending mode to Normal, Dissolve, Multiply, Screen, Overlay
22. To hide all other layers except the current one, hold Alt and click on the eye icon next to the layer icon in the layers palette.
23. A color sample can be taken not only from an image in Photoshop, but also outside the program. Reduce the Photoshop window so that you can see the image on which you want to determine the color, take the Eyedropper Tool (Eyedropper), click inside Photoshop and, without releasing it, move it outside the window.
24. File > Automate > Contact Sheet II - this command will create small previews for each file opened in this moment in Photoshop, in separate document in a row and signs them.
25. Working with Grid, drag the top left corner where the Grid scales are located, and they will start at the point where you release the mouse button. Double click in top corner, will reset the reference point to its original position.
26. Creating a path using a tool Pen Tool, you can hide/show it again using the combination Ctrl+Shift+H.
27. While holding Ctrl, you can stretch the red rectangle in the Navigator palette, thereby scaling the image.
28. Hold Alt and click on any step in the history, and this step will be copied.
29. Press Alt and drag a step from one Action to another and you will get a copy of the action.
30. When holding Shift+Alt, the object will be transformed proportionally, that is, from the center.
31. If you have the Move Tool selected and you want to copy something, just hold down Alt and drag the image. By holding Shift+Alt, the object can easily be moved along the Grid guides.
32. If you create something in Illustrator, copy and paste it into Photoshop, it will ask you whether to paste it in pixel or shape.
33. To display the Rules panel, press Ctrl+R.
34. To make the image clearly centered, hold down Ctrl+A, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V.
35. If the Brush Tool is selected, you can control the diameter of the brush using the [ and ] buttons.
36. Ctrl+Alt+T will create a copy of the object you want to transform.
37. Also Ctrl+Alt+right, left, up or down arrow will copy the current layer and move it by 1px.
38. To hide the Grid guides, press Ctrl+.
39. Ctrl+[plus key] will zoom in on the image, Ctrl+[minus key] will zoom out.
40. Press X to swap the Foreground and Background colors.
41. Press D to reset the foreground and background colors to the default colors of black and white.
42. Ctrl+click on the layer icon in the layers palette to create a selection of the layer’s contents.
43. When using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, hold Shift to create angled lines in 45 degree increments.
44. For better organization Group the selected layers by pressing Ctrl+G.
45. The [ and ] keys will decrease or increase the diameter of the brush, and Shift+[ or ] will change the hardness of the brush.
46. Ctrl+click on the layer icon to create a selection of an object on this layer. If you need to select more than 1 object on several layers, additionally hold down Shift.
47. When creating text, pressing Enter will create new line. To finish writing, press Ctrl+Enter or Enter on the numeric keypad.
48. Create new document V Photoshop size 500x500px, create a new layer, take the Brush Tool with a standard round brush of any diameter and place a point at the top center (position as at 12 o'clock). Press Ctrl+Alt+T, this will create a copy of the point and allow you to transform it. Pull the point in the center of the transformed object Pivot Point and set it clearly in the center of the image, and at the top enter a rotation angle of 30 degrees and click OK. And now the trick... Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+T 10 times and you will see what happens!
49. You can copy a layer mask by dragging it with Alt pressed onto another layer.
50. You can easily get a horizontal one from the vertical Grid guide by selecting the Move Tool, holding Alt and clicking on the guide itself. And vice versa.
1. You can delete the current layer by holding Alt and pressing L 3 times.
2. Working with the Move Tool, you can select any layer by clicking on part of the object with Ctrl pressed.
3. Double clicking on the top blue bar in any palette window will collapse it.
4. Double click on the gray background will open a dialog box to open the file, Shift double click will open the Adobe Bridge browser.
5. Tired of the gray background around your image? Take the Paint Bucket Tool, Shift-click on the gray background - and it will change to whatever color you chose as the foreground color.
6. To select all layers, press Alt Ctrl A.
7. Caps Lock will change your cursor to a clearer cross.
8. Press the F key and you can choose from 3 different screen modes, which will allow you to make the work area larger.
9. To draw a straight line using a brush or pencil, single-click at the starting point, then Shift-click at the end point.
10. Pressing Ctrl will turn any tool into a Move Tool as long as you hold it.
11. Ctrl Alt clicking will create a copy of the image and move it as the mouse moves.
12. Pressing Space will turn any tool into a Hand Tool as long as you hold it.
13. Ctrl Space click will zoom in on the image, Alt Space click will zoom out.
14. Pressing Ctrl and » » or »-« will change the image scale in percentage.
15. If you use the Eyedropper Tool (Eyedropper) with Alt pressed - this will allow you to take a color sample for the background color.
16. Measure Tool (Ruler) - make a line, and then hold down Alt and create another line from the end of the first - this will help you determine the angle between them.
17. Use Ctrl Alt Z and Ctrl Shift Z to undo and redo a series of actions.
18. Alt Backspace and Ctrl Backspace will fill the image with the foreground and background colors respectively. Shift Backspace will bring up a dialog box to fill the image. Alt Shift Backspace and Ctrl Shift Backspace will fill the image with the foreground and background colors respectively, but still leave the transparent areas transparent.
19. If you hold down Alt and call free transformation using Ctrl T, it will be performed on a copy of the object. Ctrl Shift T will repeat any recent transformations.
20. You can easily increase the size of the canvas using the Crop Tool, stretch it beyond the canvas and click OK.
21. Ctrl J will create a copy of the current layer.
22. Ctrl Shift E will merge all visible layers into one, Ctrl Shift Alt E will merge a copy of the visible layers into one new layer.
23. When using the Marquee Tool (Selection), hold down Alt to make the starting point the center of the selected area.
24. Ctrl D to remove selection, Ctrl Shift D to return selection.
25. When you create a selection using the Marquee Tool, hold Space to move the selection, release to continue selecting.
26. Pressing Shift and “ ” or “-” will change the layer’s blending mode to: Normal, Dissolve, Multiply, Screen, Overlay.
27. If the Brush tool or any other tool is selected, the transparency of the layer can be changed by pressing the corresponding number on the keyboard:
- when you press one number;
- to set a more precise % of transparency [press 7 and then 2, which will result in 72%].
28. Hold Alt and click on the eye icon next to the layer icon in the Layers palette to hide all other layers except the current one.
29. A color sample can be taken not only from an image in Photoshop, but also outside the program. Reduce the Photoshop window so that you can see the image on which you want to determine the color, take the Eyedropper Tool (Eyedropper), click inside Photoshop and, without releasing it, move it outside the window.
30. Select the layer, hold down Alt and click on the border between the top and current layer to create a Cliping Mask, i.e. the top layer will be visible within the bottom one, and the bottom one will replace the mask.
31. While holding Alt, click the “Create a new layer” button on the Layers palette to display a dialog box with settings for the new layer.
32. Select the layer and, while holding down Alt, click on the trash can in the layers palette, i.e. The layer will be removed without any questions asked. Make selections for transparency where you want, go to the Channels tab and press Ctrl click on the “Create new channel” button, i.e. An alpha channel will only be created for the selected areas.
33. File > Automate > Contact Sheet II - will create small previews for each file currently open in Photoshop in a separate document in a row and sign them.
34. The Move Tool has an “Auto Select Layer” option in its settings, depending on where you click.
35. Working with the Move Tool, press Alt Shift right-click on various objects images located on different layers will allow you to select all these layers.
36. When working with the Grid, drag the top left corner where the Grid scales are located, and they will start at the point where you release the mouse button. Double clicking in the upper corner will reset the reference point to its original position.
37. By creating a path using Pen tool Tool, you can hide/show it again using the Ctrl Shift H combination.
38. Keyboard navigation can often be more effective than a mouse:
Home = scroll to top left corner
End = scroll to bottom right corner
PageUp = scroll up one page
PageDown = scroll down one page
Ctrl PageUp = scroll left one page
Ctrl PageDown = scroll right one page
Shift PageUp = scroll up 10 pixels
Shift PageDown = scroll down 10 pixels
Ctrl Shift PageUp = scroll left 10 pixels
Ctrl Shift PageDown = scroll right 10 pixels
39. Ctrl Tab will switch you between different image windows.
40. F12 will return the state of the image as it was when it was last saved.
41. Hotkeys for Channels: RGB, CMYK, Indexed color
Ctrl "~" = RGB
Ctrl 1 = red
Ctrl 2 = green
Ctrl 3 = blue
Ctrl 4 = other path
Ctrl 9 = other path
Ctrl "~" = CMYK
Ctrl 1 = light green
Ctrl 2 = pink red
Ctrl 3 = yellow
Ctrl 4 = black
Ctrl 5 = other path
Ctrl 9 = other path
Ctrl 1 = Indexed
Ctrl 2 = other path
Ctrl 9 = other path
42. By holding Ctrl on the Navigator palette, you can stretch the red rectangle, thereby scaling the image.
43. Hold Alt and click on any step in the history, i.e. the step will be copied.
44. Press Alt and drag a step from one Action to another, get a copy of the action.
45. In the Lens Flare filter (Filter > Render > Lens Flare) set exact coordinates You can hold down Alt and click on the preview window.
46. By holding Shift Alt, the object will be transformed proportionally - from the center.
47. If you have the Move Tool selected and you want to copy something, then simply hold down Alt and drag the image. By holding Shift Alt, the object can easily be moved along the Grid guides.
48. If you want to straighten the horizon or uneven edges after scanning, then take the Measure Tool (Ruler), draw a line along your curve, then go to Image> Rotate Canvas> Arbitrary, Photoshop will set the rotation angle values itself, just click OK and image rotated
49. If you create something in Illustrator, copy and paste it into Photoshop, it will ask you whether to paste it in pixel or shape.
50. To display the Rules panel, press Ctrl R.
51.To make the image clearly centered - Ctrl A, Ctrl X, Ctrl V.
52. Ctr E will merge the current layer with the underlying one.
53. If the Brush Tool is selected, you can control the diameter of the brush using the [ and ] buttons.
54. Double clicking on the Zoom Tool will return the image scale to 100%, and on the Hand Tool it will stretch the image to fit the screen area.
55. Working with text:
Ctrl H will hide the selection of the selected characters.
If you have characters selected, click on the font type selection line and you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the font type.
Alt left or right arrow will change the space between characters by 10.
Ctrl Alt left or right arrow will change the character spacing to 100.
56. Ctrl Alt T will create a copy of the object you want to transform.
57. Ctrl Alt arrow right, left, up or down will copy the current layer and move it 1px.
58. Change the active layer when help Alt[ or ].
59. Move the active layer up or down using Ctrl [ or ].
60. To hide the Grid guides, press Ctrl.
61. Ctrl [plus key] will zoom in on the image, Ctrl [minus key] will zoom out. Ctrl Alt [plus key] will increase the zoom and size of the window, the same for Ctrl Alt [minus key].
62. Using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, press Backspace to undo the last step.
63. Press X to switch the foreground and background colors.
64. Press D to reset the foreground and background colors to the default colors of black and white.
65. To display the Brushes settings palette, press F5.
66. To display the Layers palette, press F7.
67. Ctrl-clicking on the layer icon in the layers palette will create a selection of the layer’s contents.
68. If you want to see the contents of the layer mask, then hold down Alt and click on the layer mask.
69. Alt-clicking on the layer mask icon will create a black mask.
70. When using the Polygonal Lasso Tool, hold Shift to create angled lines in 45 degree increments.
71. To move around the visible part using the grab, use the spacebar while in selection mode (V).
72. Ctrl Shift N will create new file, with a dialog box displayed; Ctrl Shift Alt N will create a new layer in the working file.
73. Back to brushes, the [ and ] keys will decrease and increase the diameter of the brush, and Shift [ or ] will change the hardness of the brush.
74. Press Alt to make the Burning Tool act as the Dodge Tool, and vice versa.
75. Stamp Tool clones areas of the image (Alt click - to determine the area for copying). This also works if you have multiple images open in Photoshop, and you can also clone any areas from other images, you just need to position the images within view of the screen.
76. Ctrl-clicking on a layer icon creates a selection of an object on this layer. If you need to select more than 1 object on several layers, additionally hold down Shift.
77. To combine palettes in one, drag the tab of any tab on another palette to the other tabs - and it will move.
78. When creating text, pressing Enter will create a new line; to finish writing, press Ctrl Enter or Enter on the numeric keypad.
79. You can move a layer to any other open image in Photoshop, etc. a copy of the layer will be created. Hold Shift while dragging and the contents of the layer will be inserted clearly in the center.
80. Create a new document in Photoshop with a size of 500x500px, create a new layer, take the Brush Tool, select a standard round brush, of any diameter and put a dot in the top center (position as at 12 o’clock). Press Ctrl Alt T, this will create a copy of the point and allow you to transform it. Pull the point in the center of the transformed object Pivot Point and set it clearly in the center of the image, enter a rotation angle of 30 degrees at the top and click OK. Now the trick is to press Ctrl Shift Alt T 10 times and you will see what happens.
81. Shift click on the blue top bar of the toolbar or palettes will move them to the side border of the window.
82. How to select a group of layers without using the layers palette? We know how to select one layer from step 81, but you can add another layer to the group by holding Ctrl Shift and clicking on a part of the object located on another layer.
83. You can delete several layers at once simple drag and drop groups of layers to the trash can icon on the layers palette; we know how to select a group from step 82.
84. Press Tab to hide the toolbar and palettes, Shift Tab will hide only the palettes.
85. After applying a filter, its effect can be softened using the Fade function by pressing Shift Ctrl F.
86. You can copy a layer mask by dragging it with Alt pressed onto another layer.
87. You can easily get a horizontal one from the vertical Grid guide by selecting the Move Tool, holding Alt and clicking on the guide itself. And vice versa.
88. When saving a document using Save for Web, information about the document is lost; to save information, use Save As.
89. For better organization of layers, group the selected ones by pressing Ctrl G.
90. To display the Rules panel, press Ctrl R
In this Photoshop lesson, we will look at several useful life hacks that will be useful to every Photoshop master and will help save valuable time when working with the program.
Hiding layers with one click
This can often be used when you want to see a before and after photo. This technique allows us to hide all layers except the selected one. To do this, press on the keyboard Alt key and click on the eye icon next to the required layer.
Only this layer remains visible, and all others are hidden. If we click on the layer again while holding down the Alt key, then all layers will be shown again.
Here you need to remember that if you manually enable one of the hidden layers, then when you try to restore the visibility of the layers you will not succeed and you will have to enable the rest manually.
There is another way you can turn off layers - using a specially configured key. Go to “Editing -> Keyboard Shortcuts” (keyboard shortcut Alt+Shift+Ctrl+E).
In a new window, open the “Layers” tab and lower the list down to the separate “Hide Layers” item. Next, click to the right of the setting name and enter the key that will hide and show layers. Finally, click the “Accept” button.
On installed key F1 allows you to hide a layer or group of layers.
Separate window for skin retouching
Let's look at the example of eye retouching. Here we need to remove the blood vessels in the eyes, and also slightly increase the sharpness of the pupil.
To make this as convenient as possible, we go to “Window -> Arrange -> New window for...”. Instead of three dots, you will have the name of the open image.
will appear new inset with image. Now it can be made into a separate window and reduced in size. To do this, hold down the tab with your mouse and drag it down a little, and to make it smaller, drag one of the corners of the window.
After that, we place the window so that it is convenient for you to work. The image can also be adjusted to the required size.
Whatever you do on the main image will be reflected on the new one.
This is very convenient when you work in detail on one image, and on the second you can see how it will look from afar.
How to quickly unlock a layer
To quickly remove the lock from the background layer, hold down the Alt key and click on the lock icon.
Returning to the original orientation
This method allows us to quickly return the image orientation to the initial state. For example, we have an image that is rotated on its side.
We have many tools that allow us to rotate an image, such as the Rotate View tool.
So, after you have rotated the image, you may need to return it to its original orientation. To get the image back into position, call the crop tool using the "C" key.
In this case, we don't need to spend a lot of time rotating the image in the opposite direction.
Video tutorial:
Hello dear readers. I haven’t written anything for a long time, all because I went on vacation, and then for several days I couldn’t get into my usual pace. A little about relaxation, and then I’ll continue about interesting features.
It was like this: as soon as we arrived at the Iron Port, a bunch of women came at us, they all offered housing. Unfortunately, the choice fell on the one who constantly said: “Topol, the store and me”. It turned out that we were on the very edge of the residential complex, one thing is good - the price was only $3 per day. As always, it was not without the fact that on the very first day I burned from head to toe.
There was also such a case, it means we took off a catamaran (a floating thing with pedals), swam God knows where, and while we were drinking beer and catching jellyfish, we were carried very far to the side. No matter how hard we tried to pedal, we only sailed further, we had to moor to the nearest shore and pay some extra money. Then I went on a roller coaster ride and hurt my back a little :)
And on top of that, I was sick... Okay, whatever it was, it was fun! Before I start talking about useful gadgets in Photoshop, subscribe to the page so as not to miss the next interesting posts.
- Very often, when we work with an image at multiple magnification, we need to drag it from time to time, and to do this, take the tool - hand, or just pull the sliders. But to make things easier, just press " Space", after which a hand will appear with which you can quickly move the picture.
- The ruler in Photoshop is an integral part of it. If it is not enabled, just press the key combination “ Ctrl+R" The line will appear instantly.
- If you have already turned on the ruler, then you should know about this trick: if you pull the ruler, a straight, in my case turquoise, line will appear. You can make as many such lines as you like. And they are useful because with their help you can accurately align any object.
- You definitely use filters like blur or sharpen. Sometimes you have to apply the same filter several times in a row. And in my opinion, Photoshop has such a wonderful feature as a key combination Ctrl+F. When you press this combination, the last filter is repeated, this is very convenient.
- When working with Photoshop, from time to time you need to make copies of some layers, but in order not to bother yourself with unnecessary movements, just select the desired layer and press the combination Ctrl+J. This way you can make copies ad infinitum 😉
- You always and constantly have to change all sorts of values, whether it’s the level of transparency or the diameter of the brush... It doesn’t matter. Just select the desired cell and roll the mouse wheel, the value will change. In general, this is a very convenient feature, and it also helps to set the parameters quite accurately.
- I think everyone knows that a layer in Photoshop can be made visible and invisible by simply clicking on the eye next to it. But there are situations when there are a lot of layers. Sometimes I have as many as 150 pieces or more when I’m working! What I mean is that sometimes you need to make many layers invisible at once; to do this, just hold down LMB (left button mouse) on the eye and pull it down or up - the layers will be hidden or vice versa.
- Not really yet interesting feature, but still :) In Photoshop there is a standard cursor and a cross. So these modes are switched using the key CapsLock, look at the picture below how it works:
- Well, the last one is very useful feature! In some cases, you have to drag objects straight up or along. So, to do it smoothly and not stray a single pixel to the side, just hold the key Shift and everything will be clear.
Well, that's all 😉 The chips are out. Follow the news via E-mail newsletter, great healthy treats and other goodies await you in the future!
I wish you success!
