PARTS AND FUNCTIONS OF PHOTOSHOP TOOLS
Menu Bar – This area holds all the drop down menus. For example, if you want to see a list of filters, click on the “Filters” tab to see a complete list of filters that are installed. Many of the options you’ll use are in these menus. For working with photographs, the Image menu will be used extensively.
Option Bar (below the Menu Bar)- this area changes depending upon which tool is being used. In this example, the Zoom tool is active, so you will see various options related to zoom, shown.
Toolbar (in this case, on the left side of the image and lists all of the tools)- the toolbar contains the most common tools and is usually kept on the screen at all times. For most work in Photoshop, you will be using these extensively. This introduction to Photoshop will show you these tools in detail as the course goes on.
Workspace (the space in which your image is located)- This is where the action takes place. It contains the design or photo that you are working on. You can vary the size of the workspace window, zoom in or out, add guides for placement, etc. You’ll also hear this referred to as the Image Window.
Filename (Located across the top of the Work Space window)– This bar shows the file you are either working on, or if you have multiple files open, each file will have a title bar tab so that you don’t get confused.
Ruler (located on the top and left side of the Workspace Window)– you have the option of turning the rulers on or off (Ctrl R), but if they are on you can choose different units such as pixels or inches by “Right Clicking” in the ruler bar. These are handy when creating designs that require specific sizes or spacing. You can also “Click & Drag” a guideline from the ruler bar and place it anywhere on the page or change the measurement starting point by “Clicking & Dragging” from the upper left corner of the ruler. The visibility of these can be turned on and off by navigating to “View> Show> Guides” from the “Menu Bar“. You can lock them into place from the same drop down menu.
Windows – Windows contain tools that give you control over the image. Some examples of Windows are Layers, Colors, Character and History. These aren’t really tools like you see in the toolbar, but offer you complete control over the image and settings. These will be covered in more depth as they pertain to the later tutorials. These Windows can be docked (fixed in place) or floating (moved to any area of the screen).
Tools in the View group Expert mode toolbox
Zoom tool (Z): Zooms in or zooms out your image. The related tools shown in the Tool Options bar are Zoom In and Zoom Out.
Moves your photo in the Photoshop Elements workspace. You can drag your image using this tool.
Tools in the Select group of the Expert mode toolbox
Move tool (V): Moves selections or layers. For more information, see Move a selection.
Rectangular Marquee tool (M): Selects an area in your image in a rectangular box. Hold the Shift key to make the selection a square.
Elliptical Marquee tool (M): Selects an area in your image in an elliptical shape. Hold the Shift key to make the selection a circle.
Lasso tool (L): Selects an area in your image in a free-form shape.
Magnetic Lasso tool (L): Selects part of an image by selecting the high-contrast edges around a shape.
Polygonal Lasso tool (L): Draws straight-edged segments of a selection border.
Quick Selection tool (A): Makes a selection based on color and texture similarity when you click or click-drag the area you want to select.
Selection Brush tool (A): Selects the area where you paint with the brush.
Magic Wand tool (A): Selects the pixels with similar colors in a single click.
Refine Selection Brush tool (A): Adds or removes areas to and from a selection by automatically detecting the edges.
Auto Selection tool (A): Automatically makes a selection when you draw a shape around the object you want to select.
Tools in the Enhance group of the Expert mode toolbox
Eye tool (Y): Removes the red eye effect, pet eye effect, and corrects closed eyes in your photos.
Spot Healing Brush tool (J): Removes spots from your photos.
Healing Brush tool (J): Removes spots from your photo by selecting a part of your photo as the reference point.
Smart Brush tool (F): Applies tonal and color adjustments to specific areas of a photo.
Detail Smart Brush tool (F): Paints the adjustment to specific areas of a photo just like a painting tool.
Clone Stamp tool (S): Paints with an image sample, which you can use to duplicate objects, remove image imperfections, or paint over objects in your photo. You can also clone part of an image to another image. For more information, see Clone images or areas in an image.
Pattern Stamp tool (S): Paints with a pattern defined from your image, another image, or a preset pattern.
Blur tool (R): Softens hard edges or areas in an image by reducing details.
Sharpen tool (R): Sharpens a photo by focusing soft edges in the photo to increase clarity or focus.
Smudge tool (R): Simulates the actions of dragging a finger through wet paint. The tool picks up color where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag. For more information on the tool, see Use the Smudge tool.
Sponge tool (O): Changes the color saturation of an area. For more information on how to use the tool, see Adjust saturation in isolated areas.
Dodge tool (O): Lightens areas of an image. You can use the tool to bring out details in shadows. For more information on the Dodge tool, see Quickly lighten or darken isolated areas.
Burn tool (O): Darkens areas of the image. You can use the tool to bring out details in highlights.
Tools in the Draw group of the Expert mode toolbox
Brush tool (B): Creates soft or hard strokes of color. You can use it to simulate airbrush techniques.
Impressionist Brush tool (B): Changes the existing colors and details in your image so your photo looks like it was painted using stylized brush strokes.
Color Replacement tool (B): Simplifies replacing specific colors in your image.
Eraser tool (E): Erases the pixels in the image as you drag through them. For more information about the tool, see Use the Eraser Tool.
Background Eraser tool (E): Turns color pixels to transparent pixels so that you can easily remove an object from its background. For more information about the tool, see Use the Background Eraser tool.
Magic Eraser tool (E): Changes all similar pixels when you drag within a photo. For more information, see Use the Magic Eraser tool.
Paint Bucket tool (K): Fills an area that is similar in color value to the pixels you click. For more information about the tool, see Use the Paint Bucket tool.
Pattern tool (K): Applies a fill or a pattern to your image, instead of using one of the brush tools. For more information, see Fill a layer with a color or pattern.
Color Picker tool (I): Copies or samples the color of an area in your photo to set a new foreground or background color.
Provides different shape options for you to draw. When you select the Custom Shape tool, you can access these shapes in the Tool Options bar.
The other shape-related tools available in the Tool Options bar are:
Rectangle
Rounded Rectangle
Ellipse
Polygon
Star
Line
Selection
Type tool (T)
Creates and edits text on your image.
The other type-related tools available in the Tool Options bar are:
Vertical Type
Horizontal Type Mask
Vertical Type Mask
Text on Selection
Text on Shape
Text on Custom Path
Pencil tool (N)
Creates hard-edged freehand lines. For more information, see Use the Pencil tool.
Tools in the Modify group of the Expert mode toolbox
Crop tool (C): Trims the part of an image according to the selection. For more information about the tool, see Crop an image.
Cookie Cutter tool (C): Crops a photo into a shape that you choose. For more information about the tool, see Use the Cookie Cutter tool.
Perspective Crop tool (C): Transforms the perspective of a picture while cropping it. For more information about the tool, see Perspective Crop tool.
Recompose tool (W): Intelligently resizes photos without changing important visual content, such as people, building, animals, and more. For more information, see Recompose a photo in Expert mode. For a step-by-step, guided method to recompose, see Recompose a photo in Guided mode.
Content-Aware Move tool (Q): Selects an object in your photo and moves the selection to a different location, or extends it.
Straighten tool (P): Realigns an image vertically or horizontally.
To use a tool in the Quick or Expert mode, first select the tool from the toolbox. Next, use the various options in the Tool Options bar to accomplish your task.
Do one of the following:
Click a tool in the toolbox.
Press the keyboard shortcut for the tool. For example, press B to select the Brush tool. The keyboard shortcut for a tool is displayed in the tool tip. You can also find a list of helpful keyboard shortcuts in Keys for selecting tools.
Note:
You cannot deselect a tool—once you select a tool, it remains selected until you select a different tool. For example, if you’ve selected the Lasso tool, and you want to click your image without selecting anything, select the Hand tool.
Select options from the Tool Options bar
The Tool Options bar appears at the bottom in the Photoshop Elements window. It displays the options for a selected tool. For example, if you select the Crop tool from the toolbox, you find related tools (Cookie Cutter tool and Perspective Crop tool), and other options in the Tool Options bar.
CLICK LEVEL TWO TUTORIALS TO GO TO THE NEXT LESSON
