I read another one yesterday, its new to me but nobody else I suspect.
When using levels adjustment, if you hold down the ALT key when you click on the shadow or highlight sliders, the preview will only show the pixels on the left of the slider if using the shadow, and on the right if using the highlight, enabling you to trim more accurately...PSCS
re this thread re shortcuts
could you all put a book together with all this stuff in it, it is all good. But I am out of paper from copying it. Will get more paper, just kidding, but this stuff is so good. I will say that my keyboard does not always work, other than that I am trying to learn these things. My mind can only take so much at a time.
g
Ginger, Is this the one you're looking for
I remember doing the same thing you mention. I think it may have been the tutorial by Andy called "Layer masks explained" or the "selective color in b&w". I've tried both of these, but still have trouble because the "brush" doesn't work and I don't know why. It only works on the "background" layer, not the Mask.
Snapapple
Read another one last night that I find really usefull....
in filebrowser CRTL ' flags and unflags your selection, coupled with arrow keys its so much quicker tahn the mouse
I remember doing the same thing you mention. I think it may have been the tutorial by Andy called "Layer masks explained" or the "selective color in b&w". I've tried both of these, but still have trouble because the "brush" doesn't work and I don't know why. It only works on the "background" layer, not the Mask.
Snapapple
Your color boxes are set to black and white, and you've tried both colors? When I do it, black reveals the background layer, white restores the top layer. I only ever have two layers for a mask. Dunno if that's what is not working for you. If you document every step you take, I'm sure someone here will figure out why you're having difficulty.
Yeah thanks to this thread I have actually started looking for more shortcuts. Here are a few new to me I found.
M Marquee tool
L Lasso tool
C Crop tool
W Magic Wand tool
V Move tool
T Text tool
O Dodge/Burn/Sponge tool
R Blur tool
The tool that comes up is the last one selected. (ie if you hit O and last used Dodge, dodge will come up, but if you want sponge you need to go click on dodge then select sponge tool)
This are just a few of the ones for the tool bar. Every tool has one, just put your cursor over each tool on the bar and the letter that comes up is the shortcut.
Browsing through this old thread, figured I add some 'wisdom'
Any of teh single keyed shortcuts, like M for Marquee, O for dodge, I for eyedropper, L for Lasso, etc will cycle through their options by pressing them a second time. i.e. first time you hit them, they pop up with the last used, secnd time, they will cycle.
I know CTRL-L has been mentioned for levels, but what about CTRL-M for Curves.
Oh and while CTRL-Z toggles the last history state (UNDO/REDO) CTRL-ALT-Z walks back in History states (as many as you have saved)
There are tons more, the ones I always forget are when to use the alt key or the ctrl key or shift when making new layers and/or mask, I know there are tons of options there, but I always mess it up and endup redoing or dragging layers.
FWIW,
XO,
You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark Twain
How many fingers do you need to have...
I was checking Greg Gorman b/w conversion out, when I got stumbled on an unknown command. In the step #16 he suggests to use Merge Visible popup menu command while holding the Option button. I was trying that - to no avail. Pressing Alt button (which is usually a PC alternative to Mac's Option) would kill the popup instantly. Shift, Ctrl and the combination of thereof would do nothing to the expected effect.
Getting desperate, I asked my "homie", Thousand Oaks local DavidTO, who also happens to be a PS expert and Mac aficionado, to help me. With his prompt aid it turned out that this simple command merges all visible layers into a newly created layer, but leaves the original layers intact. "Pretty handy command", I thought to myself.
I have scanned the help, the existing shortcuts - nothing. I found a workaround - select the existing layers, create duplicates, merge duplicates - it worked ok, but it seemed to be quite a hassle. Besides, the action that David was kind enough to send to me worked fine on my XP SP2 PC, which led me to a suspicion that the command in question actually exists in a PC version of PS, but for some reason is not surfaced properly.
It was time to call the cavalry. Being an active NAPP member, I submitted a question to the help desk. And just a few minutes ago (few hours later) I got a very straightforward answer: this command does exist in PC version of PS.
Would you like to know how to get to it?
It's very simple!:-)
Just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E - and you're there! It was SOOOOO obvious, silly, wasn't it?
Funny, this shortcut was not mentioned in any of the Scott Kelby's books, even in "PS CS Dirty Tricks".
Which leaves me wondering, how many other helpful commands are still laying there hidden from us...
Or, as I said in my post' subject: how many fingers would I need to have to activate them?:):
Getting desperate, I asked my "homie", Thousand Oaks local DavidTO, who also happens to be a PS expert
Hardly. But thanks for the compliment.
Just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E
That's the same on the Mac. It's the same command, it's just that for some reason the alt key is conflicting when you try to access the pull-down menu. The mac equivalent is cmd-opt-shift-E.
I didn't KNOW this was the shortcut, but when you posted this, I checked it out, and it works. (Proves my point that I'm no PS expert!)
One thing though: I think we need to form a sticky read only thread consisting of one post only, where the moderator could update the list of the "non-trivial" shortucts. That would make the whole thing easily searchable..
Nik's PS Shortcuts
OK, now that the thread is here - I have something to offer:-)
All of the following shortcuts are legit for PS CS (v8) /CS2 (v9). They may also work for the older version, but I have no way to test it...
Also, I provide a PC version only, since I do not have Mac. In most cases, Ctrl=Command and Alt=Option. Shift should be the same on both platforms.
Record and Play.
Everybody is aware of the Ctrl+T, which gives you the Free Transform.
But would you like to record your transformation and the replay it a dozen or more times?
Here is your hidden weapon.
Press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a special version of Free Transform. For example, rescale your selection down a bit, move it a little a tun it a tad. Press Enter to confirm. So far so good, business as usual? Not really. Now press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T - and your transformation will be repeated. Keep it pressed - and you get a nice little spiral effect:
Instant Target Acquisition
Doing patching, or another high-precision operation, need to be pixel-accurate, but your brush size is big?
Never fear! Just hit a Caps Lock - it would toggle the real-size cursor to a small cross-hair looking one. Another press toggles things back.
Don't you love it?
Instant Brush Size/Softness Change
Press "[" [/b]/ [b]"]" to decrease/increase the brush tip size.
Press Shift+"[" [/b]/[b] "]" to decrease/increase the brush softness.
Seriously, I forgot when was the last time I picked brush' size/softness from the menu...
Mighty Mouse
Ctrl+mouse - instant move your target Ctrl+Space+mouse - instant zoom by the mouse Space+mouse - instant pan with the mouse Alt+Mouse - instant color picker
The beauty of all these: once you release the mouse, you're back to whatever mode you were. Most of them also work in most of the specialty dialogs.
Show me the money!
Ctrl+0 (zero) - best fit view
Ctrl+Alt+0 - 100% view
----
One thing though: I think we need to form a sticky read only thread consisting of one post only, where the moderator could update the list of the "non-trivial" shortucts. That would make the whole thing easily searchable..
EDIT: Actually it's quite small. It just takes forever to draw or load or something.
If, by any chance, you're on v.6x, it WAS deadly slow..
I didn't notice any delays in getting, opening or printing... with the exception of the fact that my hp6840 ran out of paper after the first page and had to stack in a new ream:-)
Any of teh single keyed shortcuts, like M for Marquee, O for dodge, I for eyedropper, L for Lasso, etc will cycle through their options by pressing them a second time.
In Photoshop CS I have to hit shift plus the tool shortcut to cycle through them. Simply hitting it a 2nd time doesnt do anything new. IE M may give me the square marquee, shift m will then give me the circular marquee.
I hate going back and forth between the image and pallets so I try to work mostly pallet free, so I have alot of short cuts I like.
Ctrl + space = zoom in
Alt + space = zoom out
space = hand tool, move around
Alt + del = fill the layer with either the foreground color
Ctrl + del = fill the layer with the background color.
Ctrl + A = select all.
After you select all....
Ctrl + shift + c = copy all as if they layers were all merged.
Ctrl + v = pastes the merged layers.
If you have something selected....
Ctrl + J = moves the selected object to a new layer, removing it from the old layer. *this is going from memory, and isnt confirmed*
Ctrl + m = curves
Ctrl + l = levels
Ctrl + u = hue/saturation
Ctrl + shift = desaturate
And these are not to well known.
You can use the shift, ctrl and alt keys with most tools.
Examples with the marquee and crop tool.
Alt + drag = where you initially click will be the exact center of the selection.
Shift + drag = your marquee will be an exact square or circle.
Alt + Shift + drag = combination of those above.
Then theres the shortcuts for the individual tools. Like J for healing brush, B for brush, S for cloning stamp. M for marquee.
The following works in most windows programs including ps.
Ctrl + tab = rotate through open documents/images
Ctrl + shift + tab = rotate the other direction through open documents/images
I think my favourite short cuts is the space bar to move around, ctrl and alt space to zoom, tab to show/hide the toolbar. Also I use the ctrl shift c alot since I like to preserve my layers so I can see how I did something if I want to later.
In Photoshop CS I have to hit shift plus the tool shortcut to cycle through them. Simply hitting it a 2nd time doesnt do anything new. IE M may give me the square marquee, shift m will then give me the circular marquee.
That's a preference setting. You can change it to the other behaviour if you like.
excellent resource on keyboard shortcuts and plenty of other goodies! go to page 2 for download of ps2, bridge shortcuts for mac, and that "other" platform
Comments
Try shift + tab...
It will hide all the palettes except the toolbox
could you all put a book together with all this stuff in it, it is all good. But I am out of paper from copying it. Will get more paper, just kidding, but this stuff is so good. I will say that my keyboard does not always work, other than that I am trying to learn these things. My mind can only take so much at a time.
g
I remember doing the same thing you mention. I think it may have been the tutorial by Andy called "Layer masks explained" or the "selective color in b&w". I've tried both of these, but still have trouble because the "brush" doesn't work and I don't know why. It only works on the "background" layer, not the Mask.
Snapapple
Susan Appel Photography My Blog
in filebrowser CRTL ' flags and unflags your selection, coupled with arrow keys its so much quicker tahn the mouse
gubbs.smugmug.com
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
I stumbled across this one today, but I'm not near my computer with PS on it to try it out:
[ and ] are supposed to change the size of the brush you are using. If true, it will get rid of a big annoyance for me; I hate that brush pulldown!
Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam
http://www.mcneel.com/users/jb/foghorn/ill_shut_up.au
Any of teh single keyed shortcuts, like M for Marquee, O for dodge, I for eyedropper, L for Lasso, etc will cycle through their options by pressing them a second time. i.e. first time you hit them, they pop up with the last used, secnd time, they will cycle.
I know CTRL-L has been mentioned for levels, but what about CTRL-M for Curves.
Oh and while CTRL-Z toggles the last history state (UNDO/REDO) CTRL-ALT-Z walks back in History states (as many as you have saved)
There are tons more, the ones I always forget are when to use the alt key or the ctrl key or shift when making new layers and/or mask, I know there are tons of options there, but I always mess it up and endup redoing or dragging layers.
FWIW,
XO,
Mark Twain
Some times I get lucky and when that happens I show the results here: http://www.xo-studios.com
I was checking Greg Gorman b/w conversion out, when I got stumbled on an unknown command. In the step #16 he suggests to use Merge Visible popup menu command while holding the Option button. I was trying that - to no avail. Pressing Alt button (which is usually a PC alternative to Mac's Option) would kill the popup instantly. Shift, Ctrl and the combination of thereof would do nothing to the expected effect.
Getting desperate, I asked my "homie", Thousand Oaks local DavidTO, who also happens to be a PS expert and Mac aficionado, to help me. With his prompt aid it turned out that this simple command merges all visible layers into a newly created layer, but leaves the original layers intact. "Pretty handy command", I thought to myself.
I have scanned the help, the existing shortcuts - nothing. I found a workaround - select the existing layers, create duplicates, merge duplicates - it worked ok, but it seemed to be quite a hassle. Besides, the action that David was kind enough to send to me worked fine on my XP SP2 PC, which led me to a suspicion that the command in question actually exists in a PC version of PS, but for some reason is not surfaced properly.
It was time to call the cavalry. Being an active NAPP member, I submitted a question to the help desk. And just a few minutes ago (few hours later) I got a very straightforward answer: this command does exist in PC version of PS.
Would you like to know how to get to it?
It's very simple!:-)
Just press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E - and you're there! It was SOOOOO obvious, silly, wasn't it?
Funny, this shortcut was not mentioned in any of the Scott Kelby's books, even in "PS CS Dirty Tricks".
Which leaves me wondering, how many other helpful commands are still laying there hidden from us...
Or, as I said in my post' subject: how many fingers would I need to have to activate them?:):
HTH
merged to the shortcuts thread, nik. thanks.
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Hardly. But thanks for the compliment.
That's the same on the Mac. It's the same command, it's just that for some reason the alt key is conflicting when you try to access the pull-down menu. The mac equivalent is cmd-opt-shift-E.
I didn't KNOW this was the shortcut, but when you posted this, I checked it out, and it works. (Proves my point that I'm no PS expert!)
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
I didn't even know this thread exists. Now I do.
One thing though: I think we need to form a sticky read only thread consisting of one post only, where the moderator could update the list of the "non-trivial" shortucts. That would make the whole thing easily searchable..
OK, now that the thread is here - I have something to offer:-)
All of the following shortcuts are legit for PS CS (v8) /CS2 (v9). They may also work for the older version, but I have no way to test it...
Also, I provide a PC version only, since I do not have Mac. In most cases, Ctrl=Command and Alt=Option. Shift should be the same on both platforms.
Record and Play.
Everybody is aware of the Ctrl+T, which gives you the Free Transform.
But would you like to record your transformation and the replay it a dozen or more times?
Here is your hidden weapon.
Press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a special version of Free Transform. For example, rescale your selection down a bit, move it a little a tun it a tad. Press Enter to confirm. So far so good, business as usual? Not really. Now press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T - and your transformation will be repeated. Keep it pressed - and you get a nice little spiral effect:
Instant Target Acquisition
Doing patching, or another high-precision operation, need to be pixel-accurate, but your brush size is big?
Never fear! Just hit a Caps Lock - it would toggle the real-size cursor to a small cross-hair looking one. Another press toggles things back.
Don't you love it?
Instant Brush Size/Softness Change
Press "[" [/b]/ [b]"]" to decrease/increase the brush tip size.
Press Shift+"[" [/b]/[b] "]" to decrease/increase the brush softness.
Seriously, I forgot when was the last time I picked brush' size/softness from the menu...
Mighty Mouse
Ctrl+mouse - instant move your target
Ctrl+Space+mouse - instant zoom by the mouse
Space+mouse - instant pan with the mouse
Alt+Mouse - instant color picker
The beauty of all these: once you release the mouse, you're back to whatever mode you were. Most of them also work in most of the specialty dialogs.
Show me the money!
Ctrl+0 (zero) - best fit view
Ctrl+Alt+0 - 100% view
----
More later:-)
Cheers!
No need to reinvent the wheel. Everything is already done. Here is the linky:
http://trimoon.com/PSCSKeyboardShortcuts.pdf
Enjoy!
That requires a bandwidth warning, my friend.
EDIT: Actually it's quite small. It just takes forever to draw or load or something.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
If, by any chance, you're on v.6x, it WAS deadly slow..
I didn't notice any delays in getting, opening or printing... with the exception of the fact that my hp6840 ran out of paper after the first page and had to stack in a new ream:-)
Cheers!
I hate going back and forth between the image and pallets so I try to work mostly pallet free, so I have alot of short cuts I like.
Ctrl + space = zoom in
Alt + space = zoom out
space = hand tool, move around
Alt + del = fill the layer with either the foreground color
Ctrl + del = fill the layer with the background color.
Ctrl + A = select all.
After you select all....
Ctrl + shift + c = copy all as if they layers were all merged.
Ctrl + v = pastes the merged layers.
If you have something selected....
Ctrl + J = moves the selected object to a new layer, removing it from the old layer. *this is going from memory, and isnt confirmed*
Ctrl + m = curves
Ctrl + l = levels
Ctrl + u = hue/saturation
Ctrl + shift = desaturate
And these are not to well known.
You can use the shift, ctrl and alt keys with most tools.
Examples with the marquee and crop tool.
Alt + drag = where you initially click will be the exact center of the selection.
Shift + drag = your marquee will be an exact square or circle.
Alt + Shift + drag = combination of those above.
Then theres the shortcuts for the individual tools. Like J for healing brush, B for brush, S for cloning stamp. M for marquee.
The following works in most windows programs including ps.
Ctrl + tab = rotate through open documents/images
Ctrl + shift + tab = rotate the other direction through open documents/images
I think my favourite short cuts is the space bar to move around, ctrl and alt space to zoom, tab to show/hide the toolbar. Also I use the ctrl shift c alot since I like to preserve my layers so I can see how I did something if I want to later.
That's a preference setting. You can change it to the other behaviour if you like.
Dgrin FAQ | Me | Workshops
yes, this is how it's done.
however, i have a problem: i can no longer select highlights this way on my mac, does know why? mac, tiger, ps cs2. it's not working
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had to uncheck this box
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actually, all i had to do was uncheck one apple keyboard shortcut this info is on the adobe support knowledgebase.
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cmd-opt-2
http://www.adobeforums.com/webx/.59b70a9f
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