What is Photoshop?

Photoshop is an exceptional raster-based photo editing software used for graphical work. It is primarily
used to create, edit, and manipulate several graphical as well as digital artworks.
Photoshop is developed by Adobe Systems and provides support for Windows and Mac
OS operating systems.
We can create images with layers and save them in a different image format such as jpg, png, gif, tiff,
etc. The default file format for Photoshop files is PSD. The PSD stands for Photoshop Document, which
is a native file format for Photoshop. It saves the works in actual position as it is in the Photoshop
workspace. When we open a PSD file, it will open the files with layers.
Photoshop is a premium adobe tool that comes with a 7 days trial period. It is a very popular tool
among photographers and graphic designers. It is such popular that the term photo editing is known as
Photoshop. It provides numerous editing tools and plugins that make it user-friendly and easy to use for
editing.
Features of Photoshop
Over the years, Photoshop has become the leading photo editing software from a small editing tool.
The beauty of the Photoshop tool is its unmatched features. It offers several editing features, which are
Photoshop exclusive features. None other photo editing software is much capable than Photoshop.

Some key features of the Photoshop tool are as follows:

Layers
Layers are one of the best features of Photoshop.
Layers allow you to work like a separate piece of paper that you can edit independently and later add
to your work. The main advantage of using layers is we can edit a specific component of our image or
work without affecting the other components.
Photoshop provides an easy-to-manage Layer Palette with some extensive features to manage them,
such as opacity (Transparency), layer mask, blending modes, lock, etc. We can also manage our layer
stack, such as keep a particular layer up and down by just dragging.
Selection Tools
Photoshop selection tools are very handy to use that designers are additive to work with. Photoshop
selection tools are improved over the years; nowadays, it provides several advanced selection tools
such as marquee tool, magic wand tool, lasso tools, etc., to deal with objects.
The Magic Wand tool is very advanced. It automatically selects similar color pixels and controls the
range of colors through tolerance.
Lasso tools let us manually select the required objects. It provides a hands-free selection process to
select the required region of the image.
Marquee tool allows us to draw different types of selections easily.
Pen Tool
The Pen Tool is a very dominating tool of Photoshop. Nowadays, we cannot assume Photoshop without
a pen tool. Before the pen tool, the software was nothing but a just editing tool. But, the pen tools
make it an advanced designing software. However, the pen tool is not so easy as other tools. It takes
time to set the hand on the pen tool, but you can draw anything that you assume once you are familiar
with it. It takes the design to the next level.
The pen tool's basic task is to draw a path along with anchor points, but the creative stack of this tool is
limitless. It provides three types of anchor points to draw and reshape the shapes.
Shapes
It is an essential task for graphic designers to keep the original quality of the object. Photoshop's shape
layer feature allows us to keep the original quality of the object while manipulating it.
However, the shape layer's outlook is limited, but the capabilities of this layer are extremely good.
A Shape layer can be easily edited using the pen tool or a selection tool and will retain its original
quality.
Slice Tool
The Slice tool is also a fascinating tool of Photoshop. It is a useful tool for web designers. We can easily
slice any images into different sections to provide an image a web look.
Retouching Tools
Photoshop provides several retouching tools to provide a new look to the images. It contains few
retouching tools such as the Stamp tool, Pattern Stamp tool, Spot Healing tool, Healing tool, Patch tool,
and many more. Every tool has its unique functionality. Adobe has developed its retouching tools over
the years.
Photoshop Versions: Photoshop was originally developed in 1998 by Thomas and John knoll. Since then,
Photoshop has been updating itself not only in raster-based graphics editing but also in digital arts. It
releases almost every year a new version with some enhancement and improvements.
Its naming scheme is based on the version numbers from 0.07 through version 0.87, which was the first
commercial version of Photoshop. In February 1990, all the way to version 7.0.1. It made several minor
and major releases before version 8.0 in October 2003.
Version 8.0 came with several notable features, including filters, color separation, virtual memory,
paths, CMYK colors, png support, adjustment, layers, tabbed palettes, and more.
Some popular releases of the Photoshop are as following:
o Photoshop CS (Version 8)- 2003
o Photoshop CS2 (Version 9)- 2005
o Photoshop CS3 (Version 10)- 2007
o Photoshop CS4 (Version 11)- 2008
o Photoshop CS5 (Version 12)- 2010
o Photoshop CS6 (Version 13)- 2012
o Photoshop CC (Version 14)- 2013
o Photoshop CC 2014 (Version 15)- 2014
o Photoshop CC 2015 (Version 16 and Version 17)- 2015
o Photoshop CC 2017 (Version 18)- 2016
o Photoshop CC 2018 (Version 19)- 2017
o Photoshop CC 2019 (Version 20)- 2018
o Photoshop 2020 (Version 21)- 2019
o Photoshop 2021 (Version 22)- 2020
The latest version of Photoshop is 22.1.1.
Photoshop Workspace
The Photoshop workspace is its default user interface, also known as essentials. It contains several
different palettes. At the top of Photoshop's UI, we can see a menu bar, which holds several menu
options such as:
o File
o Edit
o Image
o Layer
o Select
o Filter
o Analysis
o 3D
o View
o Window
o Help
These menus contain several options for creating and editing documents. In this tutorial, we are using
the Photoshop CS5 version. The functionality and features will be almost the same for other versions as
well.
Most Frequently Used Photoshop Shortcut Keys
The following are some most frequently used shortcut keys in Photoshop:

Shortcut Key Task

Ctrl + T To perform free transform

Hold down ` (grave To toggle between painting and erasing with the same brush.
accent)
 [ To decrease the brush size.

] To increase the brush size.

{ To decrease the brush hardness.

} To increase the brush hardness.

Left Arrow (anti- To rotate the brush tip by 1 degree

clockwise),
Right Arrow (clockwise)

Shift + Left Arrow (anti-clockwise),

Shift + Right Arrow To rotate the brush tip by 15 degrees

(clockwise)

D To activate the default foreground/background colors.

X To switch the Foreground/Background colors.

Alt-click layer To fit layer(s) to screen

Ctrl + J To create a new layer via copy

Shift + Ctrl + J To create a new layer via cut

Any selection tool + Add to a selection

Shift-drag

Alt-click brush or To delete brush or swatch

swatch

Control-click To toggle auto-select with the move tool

Ctrl + Alt + P To close all open documents (other than the current document)

Esc To cancel any modal dialog window.

Enter To select the first edit field of the toolbar

Tab To navigate between fields

Tab + Shift To navigate between fields in the opposite direction

Alt To change the cancel to reset option

Search Key
Ctrl+F: This key combination is used to search across a Photoshop document. Further, it is also used to
search help and learn content and adobe stock assets.
Function Keys

Shortcut Key Task

F1 To start help

F2 To cut a selection

F3 To copy a selection

F4 To paste a cut/copied content

 F5 To show/hide brush panel

F6 To show/hide the color panel

F7 To show/hide layers panel

F8 To show/hide Info panel

F9 To show/hide actions panel

F12 To apply Revert operation

Shift + F5 Fill

Shift + F6 To activate feather selection

Shift + F7 To activate an inverse selection

Selection Tools

Shortcut Key Task

V To activate the Move tool

M To activate the Marquee tool

L To activate the Lasso tool

W To activate the Magic Wand tool

C To activate the Crop tool/Slice tool

I To activate the Eyedropper tool

J To activate Healing Brush tool/ Patch tool/ Red Eye tool.

B To activate the Brush tool

S To activate the Clone Stamp tool

Y To activate the History Brush tool

E To activate the Eraser tool

G To activate the Gradient tool

O To activate Dodge tool/Burn tool

P To activate the Pen tool

T To activate the Type tool

A To activate the Path Selection tool

U To activate Rectangle tools

H To activate the Hand tool

R To activate Rotate View tool

Z To activate the Zoom tool

 D To apply default Foreground/Background colors

X To switch Foreground/Background colors

Q To toggle between Standard/Quick Mask modes

J To activate the content-aware Move tool

C To activate the Perspective Crop tool

V To activate the Artboard tool

R To activate Rotate View tool

/ To Toggle Preserve Transparency

{ To decrease the hardness of the brush.

} To increase the hardness of the brush.

, To select the previous brush.

. To select the next brush.

< To select the first brush.

> To select the last brush.

View Images Keys
In this list, we are discussing the shortcuts that do not appear in menu commands:

Shortcut Key Task

Shift + Ctrl + Tab Switch to the previous document

Q To Toggle between Standard and Quick Mask mode

Spacebar + F To Toggle forward (canvas color)

Spacebar + Shift + F To Toggle backward (canvas color)

Double-click Hand tool To fit an image into the window

Ctrl + 1 or double-click zoom tool To magnify 100%

Control + spacebar Switch to zoom in tool.

Alt + spacebar Switch to zoom out tool

Spacebar-drag To scroll Image Canvas while dragging

Esc To cancel completely

Ctrl + Z To undo the last adjustment

Ctrl + A To Select All

Ctrl + D To Deselect All

Shift-Click To Select Multiple

 Shift-drag To Move Multiples

H To Temporary Hide
Selection and Mask
Ctrl+Alt+R: This key combination is used to open the select and mask workspace.
X: It is used to toggle between the original image and selection preview.
P: It is used to toggle between original selection and refined version.
Filter Gallery Keys
These keys will be very helpful while working with Photoshop:

Shortcut Key Task

Alt-click ( a filter) To apply a filter

Ctrl + Alt + F To reapply previously used filter

Ctrl + Z To undo/redo (single step)

Ctrl + Shift + Z To step forward (redo multiple steps)

Ctrl + Alt + Z To step backward (undo multiple steps)

Vanishing Point Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Ctrl + '+' To zoom in

Ctrl + '-' To zoom out

Ctrl + 0 To fit in the window

Ctrl + D To deselect all

Arrow keys To move a selection 1 px ( accordingly)

Shift + Arrow To move a selection 10 px

Ctrl + Drag To fill a selection

Camera Raw Dialog Box Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Z To activate the Zoom tool

H To activate the Hand tool

I To activate the White Balance tool

S To activate the color sampler tool

C To activate crop tool

A To activate the straighten tool

B To activate spot removal tool

E To activate the red-eye removal tool

 Ctrl + Alt + 1 To open basic panel

Ctrl + Alt + 2 To open tone curve panel

Ctrl + Alt + 3 To open the detail panel

Ctrl + Alt + 4 To open the Greyscale panel

Ctrl + Alt + 5 To open split toning panel

Ctrl + Alt + 6 To open lens correction panel

Ctrl + Alt + 7 To open the camera calibration panel

Ctrl + Alt + 9 To open Presets Panel

P For toggle preview

F For full-screen mode

O To highlight clipping warning

Curves Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Ctrl + M To open the curves dialog box

+ To select the next point on the curve.

- To select the previous point on the curve

Ctrl + D To deselect a point

Shift + click a point To select multiple points on the curve

Select a point + del To delete a point on the curve

Arrow keys To move a curve by 1 unit

Shift + Arrow To move a curve by 10 unit

Ctrl + click on the image To set a point to composite a curve

Alt + click a field To toggle grid

Select and Move Objects Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Marquee Tool + spacebar-drag (Except single column and To reposition the marquee tool while
single row) selecting

Selection Tool + Shift-drag For adding to a selection

Selection Tool + Alt-drag For subtracting from a selection

Selection Tool + Shift-Alt-drag (Except quick selection For intersecting a selection

tool)

Alt-Drag To switch from magnetic lasso to lasso tool

 Alt-click To switch from magnetic lasso to polygon
lasso tool

Move tool + Alt-drag a selection To move and copy a selection

Selection Tool + Arrow To move selected area by 1 pixel

Crop Tool + Enter To accept a selection to crop

Crop Tool + Esc To cancel a selection to crop

Alt + Drag Guide To convert b/w guides (horizontal and

vertical)
Transform, Selection, and Selection Borders Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Alt To transform from the center and rotate the object

Shift Force Constrain

Ctrl Distort

Enter To apply an action

Ctrl + .(Dot) or Esc To cancel

Ctrl + Alt + T To free transform with duplicate data

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + T To retransform with duplicate data

Editing Path Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Direct Selection Tool + Shift-click To select multiple anchor points from a path

Direct Selection Tool + Alt-click To select the entire path

Pen or Path or Direct Selection Tool + Ctrl To duplicate a path

+ Alt-drag

Ctrl For switching from a selection tool (pen, path, add anchor
or delete anchor) to a Direct selection

Magnetic pen tool- double click To close a path

Magnetic pen tool + Alt-double click To close a path with a straight line segment.
Painting Shortcut Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Painting tool + Shift + Alt + Right-Click & To select a foreground color from the color picker
drag

Eyedropper tool + Alt-click To select a background color

Painting tool + Alt Select a foreground color from an image using the
eyedropper tool.
 Eyedropper + Shift For the color sampler tool

Color sampler + Alt-click To deactivate the color sampler tool

Alt + Shift + Number To change mix setting in mixer brush

Number keys To change the wet setting in the mixer brush

Shift + + or - To cycle through blending modes

Ctrl + Alt + Backspace To fill from history

Blending Modes Keys

Shortcut Key Task

Shift + + or - To cycle through blending modes

Shift + Alt + N To activate normal mode

Shift + Alt + I To activate dissolve

Shift + Alt + K To darken an image

Shift + Alt + M To multiply an image

Shift + Alt + B To apply color burn

Shift + Alt + A To apply linear burn

Shift + Alt + G To lighten an image

Shift + Alt + D To activate color dodge

Shift + Alt + W To activate linear dodge

Shift + Alt + O To display overlay

Shift + Alt + F To apply soft light

Shift + Alt + H To apply hard light

Shift + Alt + L To hard mix

Shift + Alt + U To activate Hue

Shortcut Key Task

Ctrl + Drag ( When a type layer is selected) To move type in the layer

Shift + Arrow To select one character in the specific direction

Shift + Click To select from an insertion point to mouse click point

Shift + Click To select a new text layer when text tool is selected

Ctrl + H To hide a selection on selected type

Space-drag To move a text box while creating a text box

Text Manipulation Keys
This list contains the shortcuts that are not available in menu options or tooltip:
Format Type Keys
This list contains the shortcuts that are not available in menu options or tooltip:

Shortcut Key Task

Horizontal Type tool + Ctrl + Shift + L, C, or R To align item left, center or right

Vertical Type tool + Control + Shift + L, C, or To align item top, center, or bottom
R

Ctrl + Shift + X To select scale 100% (Horizontal)

Ctrl + Shift + Alt + X To select scale 100% (Vertical)

Ctrl + Shift + J To justify paragraph, left aligns last line

Ctrl To toggle between the Slice tool and slice selection

tool.

Shift-drag To draw a square circle

Alt-drag To draw from the center outward

Spacebar-drag To reposition a slice while creating

Right-click slice To open a context-sensitive menu

Panel Keys
This list contains options that are not available in the menu option or tooltip:
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Shortcut Key Task

Tab To display and hide all the panels

Shift + Tab To display and hide all the panels except the toolbox

Select a Tool + Enter To highlight the options bar

Shift + Up Arrow/Down Arrow To increase or decrease selected values by 10.

Ctrl + Double click an action To play an entire action

Alt + click on an action Play entire action

Control-click the Play button To play a command

Shift-click the action/command To select contiguous items of the same kind

Double-click recorded command To display an options dialog box for the recorded command.