One can go on and on about Photoshop. Yes! It is the finest and most versatile tool for creating beautiful definitions on images, videos, photographs, illustrations etc. Earlier, when our knowledge about this express software was limited, we did not know the platform it would build for us today. Photoshop seamlessly compose in-congruent features into beautiful photo-montage. It also proves to be an effective podium for producing high quality graphics for print and web projects.
However, the realm of this magnum software his vast and one cannot learn it in few tries. There are elements of it which are still unexplored by web and graphic designers. This article will throw a light on how thoroughly you can utilize Photoshop software in your projects. Adobe, with each revision, updates so many features that you might overlook few good to great tweaks. Here are 20+ Clever Photoshop Tricks You Should Know while using this tool. These tricks are powerful and handy and can be applied in digital painting, graphic designing, photo editing, animations etc.
Most of these tricks would conjoin perfectly with all Photoshop versions. But for better performance it is recommended to use the newest build and version.
How to Make Merged Vector Shapes Editable
In Photoshop CS6, we can merge two or more vector shape layers together and keep the result as an editable vector. From the layers panel, select both vector layers and hit Cmd/Ctrl + E to merge them quickly.
Early Photoshop versions would result in a rasterized layer, but Adobe updated this functionality for CS6.
How to Resize/Rename/Convert a Bunch of Photos
You probably didn’t notice that Photoshop CS2 (and newer versions) have a great tool to convert and process multiple files. Unlike the Batch command, the Image Processor lets you process files without first creating an action.
As a demo, say you want to generate a bunch of low resolution images from your local hard drive to share on social media later.
Go to File > Scripts > Image Processor. Choose the folder with the images you want to resize, specify the output dimensions and click on Run. Photoshop will process your images quickly and save them as a JPEG, PSD, or TIFF.
You also have the option to control the compression or compatibility settings.
How to Cross Two images For A Color Effect
Want to create your own "instagram-like" filter? You can do it by combining photos inside Photoshop.
Open a photo with an interesting color palette, then open up your photo you wish to edit. Go to Image > Adjustments > Match Color menu. Select the photo with the interesting color palette as the source, then play around with Luminance and Color Intensity until you are satisfied with the result. Hit OK and we’re done.
How to Remove Unwanted Objects Automatically
Want to remove people and other distracting objects from one of your photos? You can in mere seconds but only you have done this beforehand. With your camera on a tripod, take 15 shots of the same view, spaced 10 seconds from each other.
Inside Photoshop, go to File > Scripts > Statistics. Choose "Median" and then select all the image files you have taken. Photoshop will look at what is different in the photos and remove it.
How to Draw Straight Dotted Lines Quickly
Using the Brush tool, click to mark the first starting point then hold down SHIFT to create a stright lines. If you need dotted lines, change the brush spacing value to be bigger than 100% in the Brush panel.
How to Quickly Select and Activate a Layer
Hold CTRL while using the Move tool or check the auto-select option. This way, you can select a layer just by clicking it in the canvas.
How to Fill Layer with Fore/Background Color (Hotkeys)
Press Ctrl + Del to fill layer with background color. Press Alt + Del to fill layer with foreground color.
How to Backup and Restore your Work on the Fly
If you need to do a lot of manipulation on a particular image but you’re not sure what the final result will look like, you can use this trick. The History palette has limits when it comes to how far back it can go. In its place, use the History Snapshot tool.
From the History panel, click ont he Camera icon everytime you feel like it’s time to "save" your progress. This creates a history snapshot that you can return to at any point. You can even name it by double-clicking on it.
It will all disappear if the document is closed. Oh, and remember that these Snapshots can also be used as the source for the history art brush!
How to Expand Canvas with the Crop Tool
Until now, you’re probably using the Crop tool only to crop image. It can also be used to expand a canvas: just pull the crop handles outside of the frame and press Enter to apply the changes.
How to Copy and Apply Layer Style Fast
Need a layer style applied to another layer? Just hold the Alt key and drag on the "fx" which indicates the layer styles. The same technique also works if you just want to copy specific layer styles. If you want to apply a layer style onto multiple layers, right click then select Copy Layer Style. Select the multiple layers, then right click again and select Paste Layer Style.
How to Select Consecutive or Non-Consecutive Layers
It is possible to select multiple layers in Photoshop CS2 and above. Select a layer and then click another one whilst holding down the Shift Key, this selects all the layers between the two clicked layers.
To select non-consecutive layers, say Layer 1 and Layer 3 and maybe just Layer 6, then just hold down the Ctrl key and click on the layer which you want to select in the Layer Palette. This way, only the alternative layers (i.e only the layers that you want) will be selected.
How to Show One Layer & Make Others Invisible
When working with tons of layers in a document, sometimes we need to inspect each layer to make sure the content is correct. In case you need to hide all the other layers, hold down the Alt Key and click on the eye icon on the layer palette. This will set all the other layers invisible.
Repeating Alt + click on the eye icon again will return you to the previous layer’s visibility state. Note that if you accidentally click on another layer’s eye icon you’ll lose the ability to revert to the previous state.
How to Change Text Color Without Highlighting It
New users will change text colors by highlighting the text and then picking a new hue by double-clicking the Foreground color. But if you did it this way, you can’t see the color change as the text is highlighted.
One simple solution for this is to not hightlight the text. Just grab the Type tool and make sure the text layer is selected, then click the color square in the Options Bar. As you change the color, you’ll see the type change accordingly.
How to Access the Hidden Panel Options
Did you know that at the top right hand corner of every panel in Photoshop there is a little icon that reveals a fly-out menu. You can find additional options hidden away here that you might not have seen before.
Click this menu, then select Panel Options. Inside this panel options, You can set thumbnails size to be larger, crop to artwork and much more – experiment with it!
How to Keep Layer Visibilty Unchanged
Sometimes we make mistakes, and we try to fix it by checking each layers’ visibility. While going through the changes, we might find ourselves having to Ctrl + Z to get back to a previous state. The problem is the layer visibility has not returned.
To avoid this, check the "Make Layer Visibility Changes Undoable" from the History Options dialog. Once checked, you can use Cmd/Ctrl + Alt + Z to step backwards through your history as you always have, and you’ll find changes to the visibility of layers is now included within the history.
How to Alter Values via Mouse Scrub
From CS4, you can scrub your mouse over input values. For instance, if you want to change the opacity of a layer, rather than click into the opacity field of the layers panel, click and drag on the value for opacity. A scrub to the left reduces the opacity, a scrub to the right increases it. This is definitely one of the best time-saving features in Photoshop.
How to Add New Colors Inside The Swatch Palette instantly
Photoshop allow us to add new colors to the Swatch Palette but instead of going to the color picker and clicking the "Add to swatches" button, there is shorter way. From the Swatches palette, right click to add a new color instantly. In case you add the wrong color, simply delete it by hold down the Alt key and notice how the cursor changes into a Scissor icon, allowing you to snip the color to delete.
How to Move and Transform Selection
After making a selection with the marquee or lasso tools, you might find that you need to move the seletion since it is not properly aligned or because the selection has to be applied on another canvas area.
To move the selection around, hold down the space bar and use the selection tool to move the selection. It works with any selection tool you choose. Alternatively, you can transform a selection by choosing Select > Transform Selection menu.
How to Scale Layer Style/Effects
If you want to apply a layer style to an object, you can easily adjust how much of a layer style you want applied by right clicking on Layer Style icon (fx) and choosing Scale Effect. In the corresponding dialogue box you can easily scale effects by moving the slider.
How to Open Layered File as a Flattened Image
If your file has lots of layers, it can be a time consuming task to wait for all the layers to load. For a quick way to open a flattened version of a file, go to File > Open and find the layered file you want. Before you click the Open button, hold down Shift + Alt. When the dialog to read composite data appears, click Yes. Photoshop will open a flattened version of that file.
How to Open a File Quickly
There are two commonly known ways to open a file in photoshop: File > Open and Ctrl + O keyboard shortcut. Alternatively, we could also double-click on the pasteboard inside Photoshop (the bit outside the main canvas) to automatically bring up the Open dialog box.
Note that in recent versions of Photoshop, because of the multi-tab document interface, this trick will only work if you don’t have another document open.
How to Sample Background Colors Quickly
I guess you already know that to change the foreground color, you can click a sample color using the Eyedropper tool. What you might not know is that by holding Alt while clicking a sample color this will change the background color.
How to Get a Selection Back
Ever accidentally lose a selection you have created? The Undo command is not applicable here but you can press Ctrl + Shift + D (Cmd + Shift + D on the Mac) to get the previous selection back.
How to Access All New Features in New Version
Upgraded to a newer version of Photoshop recently? You might want to catch up with all the new features. Just navigate to Window > Workspace > New in Photoshop CS6. Photoshop will close all the panels and replace them with a panel showing all the new features. In addition, if you now return to the Window menu, you will see various features highlighted.
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