Again, I’m using the commands for Photoshop CS3 running on
Windows, but most of these should also work with Photoshop CS2 and some
versions lower. So to start things off, I’m admitting defeat. S, here are some
useful shortcut in Photoshop.
SPACEBAR (Temporary Hand Tool) — Hold down the spacebar
to temporarily bring up the hand tool so you can move around while doing those
zoomed-in edits. Also, use the Ctrl modifier to zoom in, and
the Alt modifier to zoom out.
Essential Photoshop Shortcut Commands
F (Cycle Screen Modes) — Switch between normal screen,
full screen with task bar without title bar, and full screen with black
background. Works great when used in conjunction with Tab to hide toolbars
— maximum working space, no distractions.
X (Switch Colors) — Swap your foreground and background
colors. Very handy when working with masks.
D (Default Colors) — Reset your foreground and
background colors to black and white, respectively.
Ctrl + ‘+’/'-’ (Zoom In/Out) — Quickly zoom in or out
without changing your current tool.
Alt + Mouse Scroll (Zoom In/Out) — Fastest way to zoom —
scroll up to zoom in, and scroll down to zoom out.
Ctrl + Alt + Z (Step Back) — Ctrl + Z is OK if
you catch a mistake immediately after it happens, but this command will
continue to march its way up the history tree.
Ctrl + S (Save) — You should get in the habit of just
hitting this combo on impulse about every 5 to 10 minutes. Also use Ctrl +
Alt + Shift + S to bring up the save for web dialog.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (New Layer No Dialog) — Quickly
insert a new empty layer on top of the active layer. Get rid of the Alt key
to bring up the new layer dialog for more options.
Useful Photoshop Shortcut Commands
Shift + Click Mask (Enable/Disable Layer Mask) — When
working with masks it’s typically done in small increments. Disabling the mask
allows you to check the results of your masking against the original.
Alt + Click Mask (Toggle Mask Visibility) — Doing this
will bring up the mask as a grayscale image so you can see what you’re working
with. Useful if you have areas that need to be filled in or smoothed out.
Ctrl + Click Mask (Load Mask As Selection) — Selects the
white part of the mask (grays are partially selected). Useful if you want to
duplicate a mask or it’s inverse. Using Ctrl + Click on a layer
without a mask will select the non-transparent pixels in that layer.
Ctrl + J (New Layer Via Copy) — Can be used to duplicate
the active layer into a new layer. If a selection is made, this command will
only copy the selected area into the new layer.
Caps Lock (Toggle Cross Hairs) — Switch between the
standard tool icon and a set of precision cross hairs. Useful for spot-on
selections.
Shift + Backspace (Fill Dialog) — Good time saver when
working with masks. Also, use the Ctrl + Backspace to fill with
background color and Alt + Backspace to fill with foreground color.
Ctrl + H (Hide Selection Lines) — When working with
selections, use this command to hide the “marching ants” while keeping the
selection.
Ctrl + I (Invert Selection) — Select the opposite of
what is already selected. Also a good tool when working with mask creation.
Ctrl + D (Deselect) — After working with your selection,
use this combo to discard it.
Side Note: When working with selections, they can be
applied to a layer as a mask simply by adding a new layer mask using the little
box-with-a-circle-inside icon at the bottom of the layer palette. This also
works with adjustment layers by automatically applying the selection to the
mask.
Handy Photoshop Shortcut Commands
Ctrl + G (Group Layers) — This command groups selected
layers in the layer tree. Adding Shift to this combo will ungroup
layers when the grouped layer is selected.
Ctrl + A (Select All) — Creates a selection around the
entire canvas.
Ctrl + T (Free Transform) — Brings up the free transform
tool for resizing, rotating, and skewing the image using a dragable outline.
Ctrl + E (Merge Layers) — Merges selected layer with the
layer directly below it. If multiple layers are selected, only those will be
merged.
Crtl + Shift + E (Merge Visible) — Merges all visible
layers into one. Not recommended practice in typical photo editing because
you’ll lose layer information.
Ctrl + Alt + E (Stamp Down) — Merges all selected layers
into one new layer. Add the Shift modifier to this combo and you’ll
get a new layer containing a merged representation of all visible layers (handy
for sharpening adjustments)
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R (Rotate Arbitrary Dialog) — bring
up the rotate dialog to straighten out your horizon… but it’s not typically
used since we all take perfect photos, right?
Side Note: Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) has the ability to
straighten photos before they ever make it into Photoshop. When straightening,
you draw a line you’d like as your horizontal and ACR will take care of the
rotation and crop for you.
CTRL + ALT + DEL (Kill Photoshop) — Quite useful when Photoshop
takes your computer hostage. Must have used the Ctrl + S command
prior to the hostile takeover in order to prevent mental breakdown.
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