Photoshop Hints, Tips and Shortcuts for beginners

[Anubis]

Alright, this is a full tutorial of the shortcuts, and hints with masks and color balance [I AM STILL ADDING ON TO THIS] i just need a break, deciding its good enough to post it, will edit once added other things.

Here we go!

Argh, images not showing up on my side, if you cant see some, post it, i`ll fix it.

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First, i shall describe most, or all of the commands in photoshop!


Command Results

Basics-

ctrl+n New Document
ctrl+shift+N New Layer
ctrl+e Merge Layers
Shift+ctrl+e Merge Visible
Ctrl+S save
Shift+ctrl+S Save as
Alt+Shift+ctrl+S Save for web
ctrl+o open
alt+shift+ctrl+o Open as
alt+ctrl+o Browse

Useful Commands-

ctrl+b Color balance
Shift+ctrl+B Auto Color
ctrl+t Free Transform
ctrl+L Levels
Shift+ctrl+L Auto levels
Alt+Shift+ctrl+L Auto Contrast
Ctrl+M Curves
Shift+ctrl+u Desaturate
ctrl+i Invert
ctrl+F Use last filter
X Switch Foreground to background
D Reset Colors

Tools -

A Path selection Tool (Hold Shift+B to swap between modes)
B Brush tool (Shift+B Enabled)
C Crop tool
E Eraser (Shift+B Enabled)
G Paint bucket tool (Shift+B Enabled)
H Hand tool
I Eyedropper tool (Shift+B Enabled)
J Patch tool (Shift+B Enabled)
K Slice tool (Shift+B Enabled)
L Lasso tool (Shift+B Enabled)
M Marquee tool (Shift+B Enabled)
N Notes tool (Shift+B Enabled)
O Dodge, burn and sponge tools (Shift+B Enabled)
P Pen tool (Shift+B Enabled)
R Blur, sharpen and smuge tools (Shift+B Enabled)
S Stamp tools (Shift+B Enabled)
T Text tools (Shift+B Enabled)
U Custom Shape Tool (Shift+B Enabled)
V Move tool
W Magic wand tool
Y History brush tool
Z Zoom tool


Tuts -

Green Means its important or you need to Click there!!!!!

How to Use Color Balance! (USE COLOR BALANCE! NOT CTRL+U!!!!! COLOR BALANCE ADDS CONTRAST TO THE IMAGE!):

Step one - Ctrl + B OR for layer mask with the color balance over the image (reccomended) Use this method:



Now, to actually use color balance use the sliders, play around with the settings in all of the Tone balance area (keep preserve luminosity checked)


Be careful with the highlights, too much can be devistating, too little can be disastrous.


Layer Masks (Hey, its the same with everything, layer masks, they are all the same!) -

BEFORE YOU BEGIN: you must know this; black and white are the only colors possible to be painted onto a mask, masks can be put on any layer! Just go Layer - Layer Mask - Reveal All (or hide all) ! Also, black = Hide things White = Show things

Alright, now i`ll create a quick image, here we go. Now, Hit D to reset your colors to b/w, click on the actual mask, not the layer, the mask.



Next choose a brush, i chose soft, as it seems odd to have hard curves...now brush along the path where you dont want color, or you want to add a different color there.(You may also add filter - render - clouds to the mask.)



Now, if you want, add another color balance layer and brush the opposite color onto the places you brushed.

My Finished product:



TADA! You have learnt the basics of color balance! Congratz!


Try messing around with things, such as Brightness and contrast, its nearly the same.

Also, remember, when making a signature...BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH! =D


I`ll add onto this, or if you have anything you want to put on this, just IM me if i`m online, or E-mail me the tutorial at 1337Anubis@comcast.net. Remember to put it in .txt format, with images included!

Thanks for taking your time to view this tutorial, Hope it helped!

Cool..

Nie tutorials Anubis *thumbs up*

[~Felly~]

Nice,Anubis. Maybe I should continue looking through threads to learn more on PS. But good job,Anubis. *puts 2 thumbs up*

Submitted to Good-Tutorials

[Anubis]

Argh, i though we all agreed Not to submit anything to GT!? We dont need That kind of advertising, we are not a graphics forum.

Ah well, what ever.

I forgot to submit anyway ... lol