Shortcut Keys (Shift/Alt/Ctrl)

These three keys effect most of the tools in our toolbar in some way or another. It pays to get aquainnted with their functions and before long they will become second nature and speed up your work considerably.

Cloning with the Aligned setting

Select the clone stamp tool from the tool bar and from the options bar tick the Aligned box. This will ensure that our sample point always stays the same distance from our destination point. If we do not tick the aligned box our sample point will be in the place we first selected whenever we use the clone.

Clone from all layers

If we are manipulating a multi layered image, we can clone from anywhere by ticking the Use All Layers box from the options bar. Without this ticked we can only clone from the layer we have previously selected. This option will again speed up our work.

Creative erasing

We generally think of the eraser a little like the dustbin in that it is a way to get rid of pixels. Well, it is, but the eraser can be set as a Brush, Pencil or a block, so we should select the appropriate setting before we start erasing pixels. We can create complex montaged images using a large soft edged brush. We can even use it in place of a selection to make a transparency.

The Crop tool

We can check our image without the crop shield quickly and easily by hitting the forward slash (/) to toggle the shield on and off. The crop shield is the dark area Photoshop creates around the crop box.

Paint in from previous stages

We can use our History palette and our History Brush to paint back in parts of our image from a previous state. Sounds complicated, but see the tutorial in my tutorials online that covers this subject.

Erase with Layer Masks

Instead of using the Eraser tool we can use a Layer Mask to to do the same thing. The benefit of using layer masks is that they can be saved and reversed even after saving and retrieving your image. By switching our foreground colour from black to white (Ctrl+X) we have enormous possibilities for creative control. Check out layer masks in my on line tutorials.

Nudge with the cursor control keys

We can fine tune any selection we have made on an image by using the cursor control keys, those 4 arrows to the bottom right of our keyboards. These keys will move our selection one pixel at a time. If we use these keys with the Move tool selected, we can move the entire layer one pixel at a time. If we then hold down the Shift key when using these cursor keys, our selection or layer will move 10 pixels at a time.

See the size of your Brush

If we can see the size of the brush we are using our work is much easier and quicker. We can see the size by adjusting the preferences. Go to Edit > Preferences and set your painting cursors to brush size and other cursors to precise. The only tool that may be an exception to that is when we use the pen tool to create a path. The answer is to switch the preferences back when we use the pen tool.

Precise Cursor

If we need to be very accurate with our on screen cursor we can hit the caps lock and the precise cursor will appear instead of our brush size. Take off the caps lock and we can revert back to our usual settings. Beware, sometimes we hit the caps lock by mistake and wonder where our brushes have gone.

Straighten horizons with the measure tool

Select the Measure tool found on the tool bar grouped with the Eyedropper tool. Draw a line along the edge you want straightend. Go to Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary, and Photoshop will have automatically entered the degree of rotation to level up the image, just hit the OK button.

Quick Mask

Instead of drawing selections around subjects try painting the selection in with a brush in quickmode. Select Quickmask from the toolbar or use the shortcut key of Q. Paint in your mask and if you make a mistake, hit X to swap foreground and background colours, and paint back the mistake. We can use any of our painting tools and/or our gradient tool in Quick Mask mode. Click back out of quickmask and your selection will appear.

Keep your sense of proportion

When changing the size of the bounding box around the outside of a crop or a transformation, hold down the shift key and our height and width will be resized in proportion. The shift key option also works when drawing selections with the marquee tools. For a perfect square or circle, hold that shift key.

Keep on the straight path

Holding down the shift key will allow us to draw a straight line between two points with the Brush or Pencil. We can clone in straight lines using the shift key too, maybe to straighten a curved horizon as a result of wide angle lens distortion. Use this shift key option along with eraser to cut out complex subjects, but carry out the task with your image highly magnified.

Moving Marquees

When drawing a marquee selection with the rectangular or elliptical marquee tool we can hold down the space bar and drag the selection into the position we want. This helps us to line up circles correctly.

Foreground flood

To fill the image or a layer with the foreground colour quickly and easily, hit Alt+Backspace. Flood the background colour in the similar way using Ctrl+Backspace.

Changing brush size with ease

Use the square bracket keys to the right of the letter P on our keyboard to quickly increase or decrease our brush size. Used in combination with that precise setting in our preferences this is a very important shortcut.

Moving around a zoomed image

Hold the space bar and whatever tool you have selected will be temporarily changed to a hand. Click and drag and we can move about with ease. When we release the space bar Photoshop will automatically revert to our previously selected tool.

Draw Marquees from the centre

Holding down the Alt key allows us to draw a marquee from the centre outwards. This works with the Rectangular and the Elliptical marquee tools.

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