Most Important Tools
Marquee Tools: creates selections
Lasso Tools: creates selections in any shape you want
Brush/Pencil: used for drawing; the brush makes smoother and less pixelated lines than the pencil
Gradient: a soft blend of 2 or more colors
Paint Bucket: fills a space with a color or pattern
Dodge: whitens
Burn: blackens
Sponge: makes colors look more dull
Move: moves objects
Shape Tools: creates shapes and lines
Eyedropper: chooses a color on an image and automatically sets it as the foreground color
Zoom: zooms in
Pen: can be used to create shapes, make selections, and render images
Type Tools: input text
Blur: makes something less clear
Sharpen: makes something more clear, but can sometimes pixelate
Smudge: distorts
Eraser: deletes
Crop: changes canvas size
Lasso Tools: creates selections in any shape you want
Brush/Pencil: used for drawing; the brush makes smoother and less pixelated lines than the pencil
Gradient: a soft blend of 2 or more colors
Paint Bucket: fills a space with a color or pattern
Dodge: whitens
Burn: blackens
Sponge: makes colors look more dull
Move: moves objects
Shape Tools: creates shapes and lines
Eyedropper: chooses a color on an image and automatically sets it as the foreground color
Zoom: zooms in
Pen: can be used to create shapes, make selections, and render images
Type Tools: input text
Blur: makes something less clear
Sharpen: makes something more clear, but can sometimes pixelate
Smudge: distorts
Eraser: deletes
Crop: changes canvas size
Other Tools
Magic Wand: selects a certain part of an image
Slice Tools: divides image in pieces without cutting them up (mainly used for web pages)
Healing Brush: fix blemishes
Stamp: duplicates part of an image
History Brush: reverts parts of an image back to how it previously was
Path Selections: selects a path you made with the pen tool
Notes: creates notes, but you can only see them if the image is saved as a PSD file. They're mainly used like regular post-its.
Hand: moves an image when the image is zoomed in more than 100%
Slice Tools: divides image in pieces without cutting them up (mainly used for web pages)
Healing Brush: fix blemishes
Stamp: duplicates part of an image
History Brush: reverts parts of an image back to how it previously was
Path Selections: selects a path you made with the pen tool
Notes: creates notes, but you can only see them if the image is saved as a PSD file. They're mainly used like regular post-its.
Hand: moves an image when the image is zoomed in more than 100%
Layers Box
A row in the "Layers" box is called a layer. Instead of putting everything on one layer, turn anything into layers so you can add effects to certain layers and move them forwards or backwards. You can also resize specific things instead of having to resize the whole image.
In the image, the box that says "Normal" will give you a variety of modes when clicked on. These modes change the settings of any layer you choose to make them blend with your graphic/image in any way you want.
Additionally, there are several different options at the bottom of the Layers box.
In the image, the box that says "Normal" will give you a variety of modes when clicked on. These modes change the settings of any layer you choose to make them blend with your graphic/image in any way you want.
Additionally, there are several different options at the bottom of the Layers box.
If you click on the "fx" button at the bottom left corner of the box, you'll receive a list of effects you can use on layers. For example, you can use the Stroke or Outer Glow effect to add a border or the Bevel and Emboss to give depth. You can use more than one effect.
To control colour, you can use the adjustments given in the black-and-white button. Use options such as Brightness/Contrast and Selective Color to enhance certain colors, and use the Gradient map to make your colour only have 2 or a few more colors. You can also add patterns using the "Pattern" option. The same goes for "Gradient".
NOTE: The difference between a regular gradient and a gradient map is that the gradient is a soft blend of 2 or more colors, but they don't completely mix to create a new color. Gradient maps change the colors of an image to the colors you select. |
Filters
Filters are basically just effects that can be used for anything. Photoshop usually has a humongous variety of filters already installed into whatever version you have.