Tip of the Day | Page 54

Let Photoshop Do The Math When Copying/Pasting

If you’ve selected something within your Photoshop document and you want to copy-and-paste that item into its own separate document, don’t worry about typing the Width and Height into Photoshop’s New document dialog. Photoshop automatically figures that you’re going to paste that image into a new document, so when you open the New dialog, the exact size of your copied selection has already been entered for you, so just click OK, and then paste your image inside—it’ll be a perfect fit.

August 13th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Zoomed In? Don’t Use The Scroll Bars

If you’ve zoomed in on an image, using the scroll bars can be incredibly frustrating, because you move just a tiny bit. Here’s how to get around that—don’t use the scroll bars. (Okay, there’s more to it than that.) Instead, when you’re zoomed in, use the Hand tool, but to save time, access it by simply pressing the Spacebar. It temporarily switches you to the Hand, letting you easily navigate through your zoomed image.

August 10th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Boss Around Your Color Swatches

Here are a few tips for using the Swatches palette (found under the Window menu). I’m sure you know that if you click on a color in the Swatches palette, that color becomes your new Foreground color. Here’s one you may not have realized—if you Command-click (PC: Control-click) on a swatch, that color now becomes your Background color. Also, you can delete any swatch by holding the Option key (PC: Alt key) and clicking on the swatch you want to remove. You can also add a color to your swatches by setting your Foreground color to the color you want to save and clicking on any open space at the bottom of the Swatches palette.

August 9th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Super-Fast Inches To Pixels

Want to change the unit of measurement for your image? Don’t go digging through Photoshop’s menus for the Preferences dialog, just Control-click (PC: Right-click) on Photoshop’s rulers and a contextual menu will appear with a list of measurement units. (Note: If your rulers are not showing, press Command-R [PC: Control-R]). Choose the one you want, and your rulers will instantly reflect the change. If you feel you must access the Units & Rulers Preferences dialog, just double-click anywhere on one of Photoshop’s rulers and the dialog will appear.

August 8th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

The Undocumented Fill Shortcut

There are all sorts of keyboard shortcuts for filling selections, entire layers, and stuff like that, but if you look under the Edit menu, next to the Fill command, there’s a new little shortcut in CS2 for bringing up the Fill dialog itself (about time!). It’s Shift-F5 (PC: Shift-F5). However, there’s an undocumented keyboard shortcut that will do the same trick—it’s Shift-Delete (PC: Shift-Backspace). This is a good one to pull on your Photoshop buddies and co-workers as a Photoshop trivia question, because few people know it exists.

August 7th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Bring Order Back To Your World

In Photoshop, you’re constantly moving your palettes around, and before long, you’ve got one messy set of palettes littering your screen. If your palettes get messy, you’re only one simple menu command from having them back at their factory-fresh default locations. Just go under the Window menu, under Workspace, and choose Reset Palette Locations, and all will be right with your world once again (that is, until you mess ’em up again).

August 6th, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Fix Those Tool Settings Fast

There’s no doubt you’ll be “messing” with many, if not all, of the options for the tools you use every day in Photoshop. One day you’ll go to use a tool, and you’ll have messed with it to the extent that something’s just not right. To quickly get back to any tool’s default settings, choose the tool from the Toolbox, then Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the tool’s icon that appears in the Options Bar on the far left. A contextual menu will appear where you can choose Reset Tool to set it back to its factory-fresh defaults. By the way, while you’re there, you can also choose Reset All Tools and they will all revert to their defaults.

August 3rd, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Creating The Über Palette

You’ve been able to nest one or more palettes into another palette since back in Photoshop 3.0. No big deal, but now you can not only nest but you can also dock palettes one atop the other, creating a giant über palette. Here’s how: Drag the name tab of one palette to the bottom edge of a second palette and slowly drag upward. A thin, black double-line will appear at the bottom of the top palette, letting you know it’s “time to dock.” Release the mouse and your palettes will be docked, one on top of the other. Now, when you move the top palette, all docked palettes will move with it as a group. We use this feature to stack our Character and Paragraph palettes (both found under the Window menu) so we can access all our type settings in one place.

August 2nd, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Shrink Those Palettes Down To Size

Are your palettes in the way, but you don’t want to hide them all using the Tab key? You can double-click the palette’s name tab, and the palette (and any nested palettes) will minimize to just the tab itself, giving you back lots of screen real estate. Need the palette back, just double-click on its tab again.

August 1st, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Ask Photoshop To Remember More

Photoshop CS2 remembers the last 30 documents that you had open, but by default it only displays the last 10 under the File menu, under Open Recent. However, you’re not limited to just 10. Would you rather Photoshop displayed the last 15 instead? Then in Mac OS X, go under the Photoshop menu, under Preferences, and choose File Handling (in Windows, Preferences can be found under the Edit menu). When the dialog appears, under Recent File List Contains, enter the desired number of files (up to 30) that you want to have quick access to under the Open Recent menu.

July 31st, 2007 | Web Editor | Tip of the Day | Comments (0)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71

Photoshop Tutorials

2012 Text Effect

Recreate the text effect from the title to the new blockbuster movie.
More Fun with 3D

Continue exploring the possibilities with Photoshop’s new 3D tools.
Reverse Restoration

Corey shows you how to make a new photo look damaged by blending in some unusual textures.
3D Background Effects

Use Photoshop’s new 3D tools to create some dazzling background effects.

Premium Video Tutorials From NAPP

Photo Retouch
Scott Kelby shows you how to take an overexposed photo into a great photo using Photoshop. Want Great Photoshop & Photography Skills?

Extended Definition Processing
Scott Kelby shares a technique he's been working on, which gives your final image an HDR look using just one photo.
Join NAPP & Get a Free DVD.

Smart Object Masking Trick
Dave Cross shares a trick he discovered that will help you remove white from around your subject when using smart objects.
Want More?

Light Painting
Dave Cross takes a popular trend - light painting - and shows you how you can paint text recreating this cool trend.
You Don't Need to be a Pro to Join NAPP.

Viewing and Basking in your Image

When I’m done working with an image, I like to sit and admire it (hey, I spent six hours working on it, I should). To do that, I hit the Tab key, then hit the F key three times. This hides all of the panels and toolbars and lets you see the image by itself surrounded by black. To get back to regular mode, press the F key and the Tab key one more time.