Photoshop Toolbar

Photoshop Rectangular Marquee Tool

Used to select a rectangular area.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Elliptical Marquee Tool

Used to select an elliptical (round) area.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Single Column Marquee Tool

Selects a single pixel column.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Single Row Marquee Tool

Selects a single pixel row.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Move Tool

Used to move a layer.
Use the mouse or the arrow keys to move it.

Photoshop Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice. Click and hold the left mouse button to select.
When the left mouse button is released the area will be closed with a straight line from the ending point to the starting point.
Hold ALT while selecting to create a straight line. You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Magnetic Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice.
Click to start selecting, move the tool over the image to create the selection.
This tool will guess were you want to select by selecting were the colors differ the most in the area were you move your mouse.
If you think you should help it a bit just click were you want it to go next.
This tool is very nice if you want to select something on a background with a completely diffrent color.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Polygonal Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice. Click to start selecting, then make the selection click by click.
The selection will go from point to point (were you clicked) with straight lines. Hold SHIFT while selecting to make horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines. You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Magic Wand Tool

Selects a colored area.
Click in the area you want to select.
This tool will select an area that has one color.
For example if you click in a bright red area it will select the whole bright red area, but not the green area next to it.
By setting the tolerance higher it will also select the slightly darker and lighter red next to it.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Crop Tool

This tool enables you to make a selection, and it will delete everything that is not in the selection.
Usefull is you only need a small part of a big image.

Photoshop Slice Tool

The slice tool is very usefull when building websites.
You can use it to tear an image down in to seperate images, put into a html table.
When you want to save the stuff go to File>Save for Web... or hit ALT+SHIFT+CRTL+S and save it.
Photoshop will automatically create a html file with the table for you.

Photoshop Slice Select Tool

The slice select tool is very usefull when building websites.
Use this tool to set the slices options.
Double click on a slice and an option menu will pop up with various html options like creating a link out of the image.

Photoshop Spot Healing Brush Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
When an image has a very small scratch or something like that, click on it with this tool and Photoshop will use a nearby color to fix the image.

Photoshop Healing Brush Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
When holding ALT you can select the source from were you want to copy.
After selecting the source, brushing over the image will copy from the source to the spot were you are brushing and repair the image.
This can be used to repair little scratches in the image.

Photoshop Patch Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
With this tool, select the part you want to repair.
Then move the selection to another place, and Photoshop will use the second position to repair the first position.

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Photoshop Toolbar

Photoshop Rectangular Marquee Tool

Used to select a rectangular area.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Elliptical Marquee Tool

Used to select an elliptical (round) area.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Single Column Marquee Tool

Selects a single pixel column.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Single Row Marquee Tool

Selects a single pixel row.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Move Tool

Used to move a layer.
Use the mouse or the arrow keys to move it.

Photoshop Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice. Click and hold the left mouse button to select.
When the left mouse button is released the area will be closed with a straight line from the ending point to the starting point.
Hold ALT while selecting to create a straight line. You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Magnetic Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice.
Click to start selecting, move the tool over the image to create the selection.
This tool will guess were you want to select by selecting were the colors differ the most in the area were you move your mouse.
If you think you should help it a bit just click were you want it to go next.
This tool is very nice if you want to select something on a background with a completely diffrent color.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Polygonal Lasso Tool

Selects an area of your choice. Click to start selecting, then make the selection click by click.
The selection will go from point to point (were you clicked) with straight lines. Hold SHIFT while selecting to make horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines. You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Magic Wand Tool

Selects a colored area.
Click in the area you want to select.
This tool will select an area that has one color.
For example if you click in a bright red area it will select the whole bright red area, but not the green area next to it.
By setting the tolerance higher it will also select the slightly darker and lighter red next to it.
You can expand your selection by holding SHIFT and selecting the area you want added to the current selection.
You can make your selection smaller by holding ALT and selecting the area you don't want in the selection.

Photoshop Crop Tool

This tool enables you to make a selection, and it will delete everything that is not in the selection.
Usefull is you only need a small part of a big image.

Photoshop Slice Tool

The slice tool is very usefull when building websites.
You can use it to tear an image down in to seperate images, put into a html table.
When you want to save the stuff go to File>Save for Web... or hit ALT+SHIFT+CRTL+S and save it.
Photoshop will automatically create a html file with the table for you.

Photoshop Slice Select Tool

The slice select tool is very usefull when building websites.
Use this tool to set the slices options.
Double click on a slice and an option menu will pop up with various html options like creating a link out of the image.

Photoshop Spot Healing Brush Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
When an image has a very small scratch or something like that, click on it with this tool and Photoshop will use a nearby color to fix the image.

Photoshop Healing Brush Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
When holding ALT you can select the source from were you want to copy.
After selecting the source, brushing over the image will copy from the source to the spot were you are brushing and repair the image.
This can be used to repair little scratches in the image.

Photoshop Patch Tool

This tool can be used to repair an image.
With this tool, select the part you want to repair.
Then move the selection to another place, and Photoshop will use the second position to repair the first position.

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Photoshop CS3


Unless you have been hiding in a cupboard somewhere high in the Andes you have probably heard by now that Adobe has released a public beta of Photoshop CS3. As a beta tester (prior to this pubic release) I have been working with this software for some time now and would strongly recommend that you download this beta before Photoshop CS3 goes on sale. For G4 Mac laptop owners, and for those Mac users who have invested in the new Mac hardware sporting the new Intel chips, this public beta is your Christmas present from Adobe. Even if we stop talking about the new features that this public beta offers, the software delivers the speed you have probably been yearning for now.

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Photoshop CS3


Unless you have been hiding in a cupboard somewhere high in the Andes you have probably heard by now that Adobe has released a public beta of Photoshop CS3. As a beta tester (prior to this pubic release) I have been working with this software for some time now and would strongly recommend that you download this beta before Photoshop CS3 goes on sale. For G4 Mac laptop owners, and for those Mac users who have invested in the new Mac hardware sporting the new Intel chips, this public beta is your Christmas present from Adobe. Even if we stop talking about the new features that this public beta offers, the software delivers the speed you have probably been yearning for now.

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How to add a border around a photo

Let's add a border around a photo in a very simple way by using the "canvas size" menu in Photoshop.

1. Open the "canvas size" menu by image > canvas size



2. Opening the "canvas size " menu gives the following screen

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How to add a border around a photo

Let's add a border around a photo in a very simple way by using the "canvas size" menu in Photoshop.

1. Open the "canvas size" menu by image > canvas size



2. Opening the "canvas size " menu gives the following screen

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Creating Custom Shapes

Vector Shapes:
Vector shapes are incredibly handy, because they can be resized to suit any purpose without losing quality.

First, let’s draw our shape. I’m going to use the pen tool to do this and, using grid lines as my guide, I’m going to create a shape that is a sort of circle and square juxtaposed on top of one another (a.k.a. a squircle), like so:

I’m going to complete the shape, then use the path selection tool and drag over the entire shape to select all of the endpoints.

Then go to Edit - Define Custom Shape and give the new shape a name and click “OK.” Once again, save your shapes by selecting the “Save Shapes” option in the Shapes palette menu.

Now you can use your custom shape to create vector squircles whenever you like!

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Creating Custom Shapes

Vector Shapes:
Vector shapes are incredibly handy, because they can be resized to suit any purpose without losing quality.

First, let’s draw our shape. I’m going to use the pen tool to do this and, using grid lines as my guide, I’m going to create a shape that is a sort of circle and square juxtaposed on top of one another (a.k.a. a squircle), like so:

I’m going to complete the shape, then use the path selection tool and drag over the entire shape to select all of the endpoints.

Then go to Edit - Define Custom Shape and give the new shape a name and click “OK.” Once again, save your shapes by selecting the “Save Shapes” option in the Shapes palette menu.

Now you can use your custom shape to create vector squircles whenever you like!

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Creating custom patterns

Patterns:
One of the cool things about patterns is that, like brushes, they can have semi-transparent and transparent pixels, so let’s make a fading checkerboard pattern.

Start with a new image that’s 20×20px in size (I’m zooming in 10x to demonstrate). Create a new layer and hit D to reset the colors to their default black on white. Now grab your pencil tool and start drawing a checkerboard pattern on your canvas, like so.

Continue until you’ve filled the canvas (you can just duplicate the first few rows a few times to make this go faster)

Now Ctrl+Click on the layer’s icon in the layers palette to load its selection. Then delete the layer.

Create another new layer and this time, select the gradient tool. Now select the “Foreground to Background” linear gradient.

Drag from the top of the canvas down to the bottom of the canvas to make the faded checkerboard pattern. Then click on the eye icon next to the background layer in the layers palette to hide it.

Next, with the checker layer still selected, go to Edit - Define Pattern and give your new pattern a name. Save your pattern the same way you saved your brush, by selecting “Save Pattern” from the Patterns palette menu.

Now you can start using your pattern in your art!

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Creating custom patterns

Patterns:
One of the cool things about patterns is that, like brushes, they can have semi-transparent and transparent pixels, so let’s make a fading checkerboard pattern.

Start with a new image that’s 20×20px in size (I’m zooming in 10x to demonstrate). Create a new layer and hit D to reset the colors to their default black on white. Now grab your pencil tool and start drawing a checkerboard pattern on your canvas, like so.

Continue until you’ve filled the canvas (you can just duplicate the first few rows a few times to make this go faster)

Now Ctrl+Click on the layer’s icon in the layers palette to load its selection. Then delete the layer.

Create another new layer and this time, select the gradient tool. Now select the “Foreground to Background” linear gradient.

Drag from the top of the canvas down to the bottom of the canvas to make the faded checkerboard pattern. Then click on the eye icon next to the background layer in the layers palette to hide it.

Next, with the checker layer still selected, go to Edit - Define Pattern and give your new pattern a name. Save your pattern the same way you saved your brush, by selecting “Save Pattern” from the Patterns palette menu.

Now you can start using your pattern in your art!

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Creating Custom Brushes

Start building your own libraries of custom brushes, patterns and shapes. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create re-usable presets from your artwork.

Brushes:
The basic steps for creating a custom brush in Photoshop are fairly simple. To begin, you want a new canvas upon which to create your artwork. I’m going to make a simple swirl brush.

Create a new layer and make a black square on that layer. Then go to Filter - Distort - Twirl and enter a value of 550.

Next, create another new layer and make a white square, slightly smaller than the black one was. Hit Ctrl+F to repeat the Twirl filter effect.

Now go to Layer - Flatten Image.

Next, go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur Enter a value of 1.

Now hit Ctrl+L to bring up the levels dialog and slide both end points toward the center until your shape is nice and smooth and crisp.

Great! Now let’s make the actual brush. This is the easy part.

Use your rectangular marquee tool to make a selection around the shape we just made. Then go to Edit - Define Brush Preset. Give your brush a name and click OK.

Now you can go to the Brush palette and adjust the brush options.

Don’t forget to save your brushes when you’re done by bringing up the Brush palette options menu and selecting Save Brushes

You can now use your brush any time you like!

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Creating Custom Brushes

Start building your own libraries of custom brushes, patterns and shapes. This tutorial will guide you through the steps to create re-usable presets from your artwork.

Brushes:
The basic steps for creating a custom brush in Photoshop are fairly simple. To begin, you want a new canvas upon which to create your artwork. I’m going to make a simple swirl brush.

Create a new layer and make a black square on that layer. Then go to Filter - Distort - Twirl and enter a value of 550.

Next, create another new layer and make a white square, slightly smaller than the black one was. Hit Ctrl+F to repeat the Twirl filter effect.

Now go to Layer - Flatten Image.

Next, go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur Enter a value of 1.

Now hit Ctrl+L to bring up the levels dialog and slide both end points toward the center until your shape is nice and smooth and crisp.

Great! Now let’s make the actual brush. This is the easy part.

Use your rectangular marquee tool to make a selection around the shape we just made. Then go to Edit - Define Brush Preset. Give your brush a name and click OK.

Now you can go to the Brush palette and adjust the brush options.

Don’t forget to save your brushes when you’re done by bringing up the Brush palette options menu and selecting Save Brushes

You can now use your brush any time you like!

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Glossy effect

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Glossy effect

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Photoshop History

Adobe Photoshop 1.0 - released in February 1990 for Macintosh.

Adobe Photoshop 2.0 - released in June 1991 for Macintosh. Main feature - support for Paths was introduced. In January 1992 version 2.0.1. appeared and later in November 1992 with release of version 2.5 it became compatible with Windows, and in November 1993 with IRIX and Solaris.

Adobe Photoshop 3.0 - released in September 1994, for Macintosh. In November versions for Windows, IRIX, Solaris were released as well. Introduction of Layers and Tabbed Pallets were among its special features.

Adobe Photoshop 4.0 - released in November 1996 for Macintosh and Windows. Special features included - Adjustment Layers and Actions. In August 1997 version 4.0.1 was released.

Adobe Photoshop 5.0 - released in May 1998 for Macintosh and Windows. In this version the History Pallete, which allowed canceling multiple actions, and the Magnetic Lasso tool were added as well as improved editing Type tool. In February 1999 version 5.5 was released, this time with the integrated ImageReady. Extract tool was also added.

Adobe Photoshop 6.0 - released in September 2000 for Macintosh and Windows. In this version the user interface was significantly improved. Also the Liquify filter and the Vector Shapes were added. Later in March 2001 Photoshop was updated to version 6.0.1.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 - released in March 2002 for Mac OS and Windows. This version comes with further improvements to the Type tool and now it is completely vector. Another added tool is introduced - Healing Brush. In August 2002 version 7.0.1 was released, here for $99, the Camera RAW 1.x. plug-in was the most important introduction. It was developed by Thomas Knoll and allowed the user to read the RAW-formats of different digital cameras and to import them directly into Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop CS (8.0) - released in October 2003 for Mac OS X and Windows. The plug-in Camera RAW was updated to version 2.x. The Slice tool also underwent major improvements. Shadow\Highlight and Match Color commands were added. Lens Blur filter and Smart Guides were included as well. Histogram now works in real-time.

Beginning from version 8 the product changed its name to Adobe CS. The CS abbreviation means that several applications are now integrated into one software package - Adobe Creative Suite. The following products are included into Adobe Photoshop package: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe GoLive, Adobe Acrobat Professional, Version Cue, Adobe Bridge , Adobe Stock Photos and Dreamweaver 8 (after Macromedia was sold to Adobe). The logo was changed as well. Now it has feathers instead of an eye.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 (9.0) - released in April 2005 for Mac OS X and Windows. Here the Camera RAW plug-in was updated to version 3.x. Smart Objects and other features were added, including: Image Warp, Lens Correction, Smart Sharpen, Vanishing Point. New Spot healing brush and Red-Eye tools were introduced. Layer editing was also improved.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 (10.0) - planned to be released in spring 2007 for Mac OS X and Windows. You can download and try the beta-version of Photoshop CS3. The user interface underwent considerable reconstruction. Some new features were added: Smart Filters, Refine Edge, Auto bend Layers, Auto Align Layers, Black and White Conversion. 

Hope my tutorial helped you to remember the whole history of Photoshop creation and now you'll be able to use it more effectively.

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Photoshop History

Adobe Photoshop 1.0 - released in February 1990 for Macintosh.

Adobe Photoshop 2.0 - released in June 1991 for Macintosh. Main feature - support for Paths was introduced. In January 1992 version 2.0.1. appeared and later in November 1992 with release of version 2.5 it became compatible with Windows, and in November 1993 with IRIX and Solaris.

Adobe Photoshop 3.0 - released in September 1994, for Macintosh. In November versions for Windows, IRIX, Solaris were released as well. Introduction of Layers and Tabbed Pallets were among its special features.

Adobe Photoshop 4.0 - released in November 1996 for Macintosh and Windows. Special features included - Adjustment Layers and Actions. In August 1997 version 4.0.1 was released.

Adobe Photoshop 5.0 - released in May 1998 for Macintosh and Windows. In this version the History Pallete, which allowed canceling multiple actions, and the Magnetic Lasso tool were added as well as improved editing Type tool. In February 1999 version 5.5 was released, this time with the integrated ImageReady. Extract tool was also added.

Adobe Photoshop 6.0 - released in September 2000 for Macintosh and Windows. In this version the user interface was significantly improved. Also the Liquify filter and the Vector Shapes were added. Later in March 2001 Photoshop was updated to version 6.0.1.

Adobe Photoshop 7.0 - released in March 2002 for Mac OS and Windows. This version comes with further improvements to the Type tool and now it is completely vector. Another added tool is introduced - Healing Brush. In August 2002 version 7.0.1 was released, here for $99, the Camera RAW 1.x. plug-in was the most important introduction. It was developed by Thomas Knoll and allowed the user to read the RAW-formats of different digital cameras and to import them directly into Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop CS (8.0) - released in October 2003 for Mac OS X and Windows. The plug-in Camera RAW was updated to version 2.x. The Slice tool also underwent major improvements. Shadow\Highlight and Match Color commands were added. Lens Blur filter and Smart Guides were included as well. Histogram now works in real-time.

Beginning from version 8 the product changed its name to Adobe CS. The CS abbreviation means that several applications are now integrated into one software package - Adobe Creative Suite. The following products are included into Adobe Photoshop package: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe GoLive, Adobe Acrobat Professional, Version Cue, Adobe Bridge , Adobe Stock Photos and Dreamweaver 8 (after Macromedia was sold to Adobe). The logo was changed as well. Now it has feathers instead of an eye.

Adobe Photoshop CS2 (9.0) - released in April 2005 for Mac OS X and Windows. Here the Camera RAW plug-in was updated to version 3.x. Smart Objects and other features were added, including: Image Warp, Lens Correction, Smart Sharpen, Vanishing Point. New Spot healing brush and Red-Eye tools were introduced. Layer editing was also improved.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 (10.0) - planned to be released in spring 2007 for Mac OS X and Windows. You can download and try the beta-version of Photoshop CS3. The user interface underwent considerable reconstruction. Some new features were added: Smart Filters, Refine Edge, Auto bend Layers, Auto Align Layers, Black and White Conversion. 

Hope my tutorial helped you to remember the whole history of Photoshop creation and now you'll be able to use it more effectively.

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