22.04.2014 27.01.2018

A brief introduction to the basic tools in Photoshop. The article is very helpful for newbies. Its purpose is to explain the purpose of toolbars, menu items and windows commonly used in Photoshop.

is an incredibly powerful program for editing and creating images, drawings, painting and color correction. Novice users have a lot of questions, especially owners of the English version of Photoshop. In this article, I will tell you a little about the main points in Photoshop that you need to know when working and which you will inevitably encounter. It is also necessary to know this when reading Photoshop tutorials.

Toolbar - Toolbar

The most important panel in Photoshop is the Toolbar. On it you see a lot of icons that represent various tools. It is these tools that perform all the basic operations in Photoshop - for example: select, draw with brushes, erase, copy, write text and much more. In general, without them, nowhere.

Almost all icons in the panel have a small triangle in the lower right corner. This means that the icon contains several tools, so if you click on it and hold the button, a selection of additional tools will appear.

If a tool is selected, the options for that tool appear on the top bar. For example, if you select a gradient, you can edit it - choose colors, the type of gradient, and much more.

When working with the toolbar, you can actively use the keyboard. For example, to quickly select the right tools, this significantly speeds up work in Photoshop. Gurus use keyboard shortcuts all the time in Photoshop.

Here are some examples of using the keyboard:

V- Move Tool - Allows you to move objects.

M- Marquee Tool - To select areas of the image.

L- Lasso Tool - Also for selection, but in free form.

C- Crop Tool - For cropping images.

I- Eyedropper Tool - Eyedropper to capture the desired color with it.

B- Pencil, Brush Tools - Pencil and brushes.

Panes - Subwindows

Subwindows in Photoshop are very important windows containing useful features when working with images. In them, you can select the desired layer, delve into the history of image changes, view information about the position of an object on a document, manage text with its styles, and much more.

Palettes - Palettes

Usually located on the right side of Photoshop. Contains a complex of subwindows.

Panel with layers (Layers)

This is the most used panel in Photoshop. In it are with whom you will work. Here you can edit layers - change their location, set transparency and a bunch of other necessary functions.

Adjustments panel — Adjustment panel

Here is a set of tools that allow you to work with the colors of the layers.

Color picker palette — Color picker

The panel allows you to select colors.

There are also other important panels: history, text, color images and channels.

Menu

The menu contains all the options for tools and panels in itself that you might not find in subwindows. Therefore, the menu is also actively used when working in Photoshop.

File menu item- many functions when working with a document, such as creating, saving and loading.

Edit - Editing

Various image editing functions.

Image — Image

This menu in Photoshop does not end there, but these are the basics that a beginner should know.

pixel bitmap graphic windowed

File menu items

New (Create).

Used to create a new file. Consider the dialog box called by this command.

Name (Name) - the name of the future file.

Preset -- Some of the most commonly used sizes such as A4, A5, 640x480 and others, including user defined ones.

Width (Width) and Height (Height) - the width and height of the future image. Please note that you can set these parameters in different units.

Resolution - The resolution of the image.

Mode -- color mode new image. Options:

Bitmap (Bitmap). Only two colors are used - absolutely black and absolutely white.

Grayscale (Halftone). This color model uses a 255-color transition from black to white.

RGB. As a rule, you have to work in this particular color scheme, which allows you to realize all the colors visible to the human eye;

CMYK. If the image is intended for printing in a printing house, then it is better to do it in this color scheme. CMYK includes only those colors that can be realized in printing;

Lab Color. Color scheme alternative to RGB. Sometimes it is quite convenient when editing channels;

8 bit or 16 bit. Sets the color depth for some modes. Photoshop already fully supports 16-bit color, however, there are not so many areas of its application yet - standard 8 bits are enough everywhere.

Background Contents (Background color). Specifies how the image will be filled after creation.

Advanced (Advanced settings). Here are the parameters necessary only for rare professionals:

Color Profile (Color profile). Determined color profile, in which the image will be created.

Pixel Aspect Ratio (Proportions of pixels). One of the new features in Photoshop is support for non-square pixels.

Open (Open). Opening a graphic file. Photoshop opens all international bitmap formats.

Open As (Open as). This command opens a file in the specified format, regardless of its extension.

Open Recent (Open last). By selecting this command, you will see a list of several files that have been opened most recently.

Edit In Image Ready (Edit in Image Ready).

Opens the active image in an Image Ready program for preparing web graphics and websites.

Browse. Opens the built-in file browser.

Close Close the active file. As in any Windows application, to close a file, simply click the cross in the upper right corner of the document window.

Close All. Close all open files in Photoshop. The program itself remains active.

Format (Format). The format that will be used to save the file.

Alpha Channels (Alpha channels). Keep alpha channels in the file.

Layers (Layers). Save layers in a file.

Annotations (Comments). Save comments in file.

Spot Colors (Custom colors). Keep the so-called custom colors.

Use Proof Setup. Use the user's color settings when saving.

ICC Profile Determines in which standard of a particular color scheme to save the file.

Step Backward (Step back). Undo one action.

Fade (Weaken). A command that allows you to change the affect obtained by applying the last tool.

Cut (Cut). A command that only affects selections. When using it, the selected area will be removed from the image and placed on the clipboard. Called by the keyboard shortcut CtrL+X.

Soru (Copy). A command that affects only the selected area. Copies it to the clipboard.

Copy Merged (Copy merged). Unlike Soru (Copy), this command copies the selected area from all layers at once.

Paste (Insert). Paste image from clipboard. Almost always this command is called after Soru (Copy), and this sequence is the basis of any photomontage.

Paste Into (Paste in). Paste the image from the clipboard as a layer with a layer mask.

Clear. A command that clears the contents of a selection.

Check Spelling & Find and Replace Text (Spelling & Search and Replace). Standard for most Windows-programs, one way or another related to word processing, spell checking tools, as well as search and replacement of text fragments.

Fill (Fill). Filling a layer or selection. Selecting this command opens a dialog box.

Use (Style). Here you define how to fill the image. Mode (Overlay mode). Blending mode of pixels in the area being filled;

Opacity (Opacity). fill opacity; Preserve Transparency (Preserve transparency). Checking this box will replace the color of the pixels, but their transparency will not change.

Stroke (Stroke). A command that allows you to outline a selection with a line of the specified thickness and color. After the appearance of shapes (shapes), this command almost lost its meaning.

Stroke options:

Width (Thickness) - the thickness of the stroke line;

Color (Color) -- kick strokes;

Location (Location) -- determines the position of the stroke relative to the selection line;

Mode (Overlay mode) -- pixel overlay mode;

Opacity (Opacity) - the degree of opacity of the stroke;

Present Transparency (Keep transparency) - allows you to save without changing the transparency of the filled pixels,

Commands Free Transform (Free transformation) and Transform (Transform).

Commands for changing the geometric dimensions of an object. You can also launch the Free Transform command by pressing Ctrl+T.

Scale (Size). Changes the linear dimensions of the selected area, that is, the length and width.

Skew (Angle). This command changes the angle between segments by shifting the image.

Distort (Deformation) - very similar to the previous command, but the difference is that not one corner is changed, but two, which leads to a complete change in all linear dimensions.

Perspective is a very interesting and useful command. You can change two bottom or top corners at the same time, resulting in the effect of a receding surface.

Define Brush (Define brush). With this command, any image or rectangular selection can be saved as a brush and used later.

Purge (Clear). A command that allows you to remove temporary information from memory. It is used when there is clearly not enough system resources and commands are executed very slowly. Possible options:

Undo (Cancel). Remove the last undo from memory;

Clipboard (Clipboard). Clear the contents of the clipboard;

Histories (Protocol). When working with Photoshop, all actions are stored, by default up to the twentieth, so that you can always correct the inaccuracies of the work.

AIL (Clear All).

Color Manager (Color management). Color settings.

Keyboard Shortcuts. A very useful innovation that appeared in Photoshop CS. With it, you can assign any keyboard shortcut to any tool or menu item.

Preset Manager Allows you to edit (load and delete) the brushes, paths, swatches, gradients, etc. available in the system.

Menu Image (Image). This menu contains commands that provide the ability to change the entire image or selected areas.

Mode (Mode). The type of illustration and the possibilities for editing it are determined by the color mode (color model) in which it is located.

Bitmap (Monochrome). This command is for converting an image into a two-color one consisting of only black and white pixels.

Grayscale (Halftone). When switching to this color mode, all information about the colors that made up the image is destroyed.

Duotone (Duplex). The image is converted from black and white to n-color.

Index Color (Indexed colors). This mode can only be used if your image is in RGB or Grayscale mode.

RGB Color. A model that describes actual colors and is used when displaying them on a monitor. It consists of three channels: red, green and blue.

CMYK Color (CMYK Colors) - a model consisting of four main channels: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. When applying colors general image, on the contrary, darkens.

Lab Color (Colors Lab) - this model, like RGB, consists of three channels, but it is built a little differently. L stands for Lightness, and and b for colors. Channels a and b contain color information: a - from dark green to bright pink, b - from light blue to bright yellow.

Multichannel (Multichannel) - after selecting this option, the connection between the channels disappears and they begin to exist independently.

Color Table -- Replaces all colors in an image with new ones according to the selected color table.

Assign Profile - Assign an image to a color profile.

Convert to Profile - allows you to convert an image to a color mode according to a profile.

Adjustments (Settings). This section of the Image menu (Image) contains the main commands for correcting the top and brightness of images.

Levels (Ctrl+L, Levels). Setting brightness levels. You can edit the entire image or its individual components (channels).

Auto Levels (Automatic correction of levels). The lightest pixels are converted to white and the darkest pixels to black, thereby adding more saturated colors to the image.

Auto Contrast (Automatic contrast correction). Increases contrast.

Auto Color (Automatic color correction). Adjusts color saturation automatically. Works rather badly.

Curves (Ctrl+M, Curves). This is another color and brightness correction command, but unlike the Levels command (Levels), it has a large range of action.

Color Balance (Ctrl + B, Color balance). Allows you to adjust the ratio between the colors of the image.

Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) - a very handy command, as it allows you to change the brightness and contrast of the entire image without changing the colors.

Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U, Hue/Saturation). Using this command, you can change the hue, saturation, and brightness of individual color components of an image.

Desaturate (Ctrl+Shift+U, Desaturate). Turns the image gray.

Match Color. A new tool that appeared only in Photoshop CS. Allows you to customize colors by selecting any image, channel or layers as a sample.

Replace Color - allows you to replace the selected color with any other.

Selective Color (Selected colors) - not only replaces the color selected for editing, but also modifies all other colors in which it is included.

Channel Mixer - splits the image into three components corresponding to the RGB channels, which, however, are not independent grayscale images, but are inextricably linked to the original.

Gradient Map (Gradient map). It works similarly to color tables, only the colors in the image are not replaced in accordance with the new table, but are set by a gradient, for which you can choose any gradation from those available in this program.

Inverse (Ctrl+I, Invert) -- replaces all colors with their opposites.

Photo Fitter (Photo filter). A tool that mimics real photographic filters that those who have been involved in photography should be familiar with.

Shadow / Highlight (Shadow / Light). Another new color correction tool. Allows you to quickly and easily adjust the ratio between dark and light areas.

Equalize -- When this command is executed, the program analyzes the individual channels that make up the image.

Threshold (Threshold) - when using this command, all dark colors in the image are replaced by black, and light - by white, but this ratio can be changed by moving the level marker.

Posterize (Posterization) - the command divides the entire range of brightness of each of the channels that make up the image into the specified number of intervals.

Variations (Options) - here you can adjust the saturation, lightness, as well as the colors themselves. In addition, you can select the area of ​​influence (shadows, midtones, etc.).

Duplicate (Create a copy of the image) - creates a file containing a copy of the image.

Apply Image - overlays an image on itself or on another image (of the same size) in a variety of modes.

Calculations (Calculations) - performed only with individual channels: any channel of one image is mixed with the same channel or with a channel of another image (of the same size).

Image Size (Image Size) - using this command, you can change the size of the image. Proportions can be both preserved and violated.

Pixel Aspect Ratio (Proportions of pixels). This option enables non-square pixels.

Canvas Size (Canvas size) - the dimensions of the image remain the same, but the size of the canvas on which it is located changes.

Rotate Canvas (Rotate the canvas) - there are different options for transforming.

The image can be rotated both clockwise and counterclockwise, by 90° and 180°. You can flip it vertically and horizontally.

Crop (Cropping) - the command crops the image along the selection border. If the selected area has an irregular shape, then the crop line runs along the outermost pixels.

Trim (Trimming) - using this command, the background is cut off, that is, all the pixels that are uniform in color along the edges of the image.

Histogram -- Displays a histogram showing how the number of pixels of a certain brightness depends on the brightness value.

Trap - Trapping settings. Innovation of the seventh version.

Menu Select (Selection). All (Select all). Select the weight of the image.

Deselect (Deselect). Deselects all selected areas of the image. It is entered from the keyboard with the combination Ctrl + D.

Reselect (Return selection). Applies if you have removed the selection and then need to return it.

Inverse (Invert). Swaps the selected and unselected areas.

Color Range A powerful selection tool, extremely useful in practice.

Feather (Feathering) - creating an area of ​​partially selected pixels along the selection border.

Modify (Change). Modify selection. There are the following options:

Border (Frame) - create a kind of border, which is a repetition of your selection after some specified distance.

Smooth (Smooth) - soften the sharp edges of the selection;

Expand (Expand) - apply in the event that something is not quite accurately selected and you need to expand the selection.

Consider top menu bar . Each menu item contains a drop-down list. If you expand any list, you will see a black arrow pointing to the right to the right of some lines. This means that when you hover over this line with the mouse, another drop-down list will open. And there can be several such lists that are nested one inside the other.

Some items may be disabled. This means that certain conditions have not been created for these points. For example, if nothing is selected on the image, then the item Selection - Deselect will be inactive, and this is quite natural, because there is nothing to cancel.

The menu bar can also be opened without a mouse. To do this, press the key alt. After clicking in each item, any letter will become underlined. Now just press this letter in the desired layout, and a drop-down list will appear. You can move through the list using the up and down cursor keys, and you can open a submenu by pressing the right cursor key. You can also use the cursor keys to move between the main items of the menu bar. Key Esc cancels the display of drop-down menus, and pressing the key again alt takes us out of keyboard mode.

The menu bar and nested drop - down lists provide access to almost all settings and commands . Many of these commands correspond to key combinations through which they can be activated. These are the so-called Hotkeys . Their use greatly facilitates and speeds up the work, so from the very beginning it is desirable to memorize them and use them. You can see hotkeys to the right of the commands that launch them.

For example, the command Editing - Undo , which cancels last action, enabled using hotkeys ctrl+z. This means that you can run the command not only through the menu, but you can also press the key ctrl and while holding it, press the key Z, and the command will run.

It is interesting that for some hot keys the keyboard layout is important, that is, it matters what language you have active on your computer at the moment, and for other hot keys the layout does not matter. You can, for example, press ctrl+z in both Russian and English layouts - and in any case, the command will be executed.

Some menu bar items are switches that show or hide program interface elements. Adobe Photoshop CS5. For example, we can open or hide a window tab History by clicking on the menu item Window - History. If this tab is open, then a checkmark appears to the left of this menu item; if it is hidden, there is no checkmark. Another example: you can enable or disable the rulers through the item View - Rulers . If this item is enabled, there is a checkmark on the left. If there are no rulers, then there is no checkmark to the left of the item.

In drop-down menus, commands that are combined according to some similar criteria are separated from other commands by a horizontal bar.

What are the most common commands in Photoshop cs5?

On the menu File these are commands Create And Open- creating a new document, or opening an existing one. Also commands close , Save, And Save as . For example, if you have created a new document, then it will not be registered anywhere on the computer until you click File - Save As , and do not specify the location where the file of this document will be located.

The command is also often used Save for Web and Devices , which optimizes the file for the Internet - reduces the size of the file.

On the menu Editing You perform some actions with the image, or its selected part. Top three teams: Cancel , Step forward And Step back cancel the performed actions, or vice versa, return what has already been canceled. This menu also frequently uses commands Cut , Copy , Insert. Only first, before cutting or copying, you need to select what you want to then paste somewhere.

Also in this menu are often used operations free transform , And Transformation , which warp selected images, or images that are on separate layers.

Also on the menu Editing the program is configured, colors and menus are adjusted.

On the menu Image there are tools for correcting and converting images. In it, you can change the brightness, contrast, color gamut, make other sizes and much more - this item is one of the most advanced in Photoshop cs5.

On the menu Layers You are working with the layers that make up the image, and in the menu Selection you will be able to create, delete and transform selections, as well as select areas of the image by color.

Next on the menu bar are Filters, with the help of which various visual effects are added to the image, Analysis And 3D, which are also sometimes used in work, but relatively rarely.

On the menu View You can change the scale of the image, for example, to show in real size, change the image display modes, and show or hide the grid and rulers.

On the menu Window You show or hide various parts of the Photoshop interface, and in the menu reference there are links to English-language sites with information about the Photoshop program.

Video about the menu bar in Photoshop cs5

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In this article, we will look at the command structure of the top menu bar of the program. photoshop CS5. Menu bar (1) located at the top of the program and contains a menu (2) and nested submenus (3) .

Some submenus are disabled. Why are they inactive? Because for this you need to create certain conditions or perform certain actions - this is a good hint. To expand the menu (2) , you need to click on the corresponding name and you can already go without clicking. Also, if you don’t have a mouse, you can use the following method: press the Alt key and you will see such underlines (4) next to the menu item names.

And in order to open any name, you just need to press the corresponding letter on the keyboard. For example, for the File menu, this is the letter f. I press the letter f, the "File" menu opens. You can navigate through it using the arrows on your keyboard. To move through the menu or to another menu item, you need to press the arrow in the corresponding direction. The Esc key cancels the menu. Pressing the Alt key again takes us out of keyboard mode. After pressing it, the underline in the commands will disappear. This is in case you don't have a mouse.

On the menu (2) and submenu (3) there are commands that provide access to almost all the adjustments and commands of Photoshop. Many commonly used and hard-to-find commands have their corresponding keyboard shortcuts listed to the right of the commands. These are the so-called hotkeys.

Their use greatly facilitates and speeds up the work. Therefore, from the very beginning it is better to remember and use hot keys. To use a key combination, you need to press the first key and, without releasing it, then press the following keys. That is, several keys must be pressed at the end at the same time. Then the command will work.

Some menu items do not look like commands, but resemble checkboxes (5) set with a mouse click. For example, show "Auxiliary elements" or "Rulers". Such commands, as a rule, are intended to display or hide some interface elements or set the program to work in some special mode. The figure shows that I have auxiliary elements, rulers and snapping turned on.

Basic Photoshop Commands

All Photoshop commands are grouped by similar features and separated from each other by a horizontal bar. Now let's look at the main and most frequent commands.

1) File menu- these are commands for creating a new document and opening it, as well as commands for closing and saving a document in various variations ( simple save, save as with selectable format, and save for Web and devices that optimize the file for its correct display on the Internet or on any device). These are the main commands we need. Further commands are not used so often, and we will look at them a little later.

2) Edit menu - needed if we perform any action. For example, I use "Pencil". In the Edit menu, I can undo this step, take a step back, or if I need to go back to this action, I can take a step forward. You can also undo the state and go back. Also in the "Edit" menu are standard operations for most programs - this is cutting to the clipboard, copying, copying combined data and various pasting.

Also here, the commands to fill, stroke are very often used. A little lower are the commands for changing the scale and transformation, as well as working with layers. This menu also defines the brush, the pattern that we create ourselves. Below is the program setup, color adjustment and basic menu settings ( we will also consider them a little later).

3) Image Command is the most advanced team. Here we have all the image adjustment commands and tools such as levels, curves and other image manipulation tools. It can also be used to resize an image, work with canvas sizes, rotate an image to different angles, and also work with image channels.

4) Layers menu speaks for itself. It is intended for various operations with layers. The first thing we may need is to create a new layer, duplicate the layer, create new adjustment layers, as well as smart objects. All this can be created in another way through the Layers palette ( consider a little later).

5) Select Command designed to work with selected areas. It can also be used to create selections based on a range of colors or in Quick Mask mode.

6) In the "Filter" menu All Photoshop filters are located. Like built-in filters (6) and external filters (7) third-party manufacturers, which are called "plugins". Plugins are installed in specific folders ( consider a little later) and you can work with them just like with filters. With filters (6) You can change the image in various ways. For example, make an image blur, add noise to it, sharpen it, and so on.

7) Analysis menu designed for special work - we practically do not need this menu. Here you can count a certain number of objects, measure any length, set the measurement scale.

8) 3D Menu designed to work with 3D files and 3D objects.

9) In the View menu you can adjust the screen modes, view the image in different sizes ( image scaling), turn rulers on and off, draw guides at certain places in the image, and also perform various special operations.

10) Window Menu designed to manage workspaces and call different palettes.

11) Help menu You can get information on various questions you may have. It also houses the update module and other items.

This concludes our acquaintance with the line menu Photoshop SC5 software. We will consider all points in detail in future articles. Stay tuned for blog updates!

At the beginning of the article, let's talk about the general rules for working with a drop-down list of commands in all text menu items, using the example of a menu item File(File).

As we see in fig. commands currently available are highlighted with a clear inscription, and, accordingly, inaccessible dim. An available command is executed by clicking the left mouse button on the line of this command in the drop-down menu list.
Many commands can be executed without accessing the text menu items, but by typing the appropriate key combination on the keyboard, if such a combination exists, then it is written to the right of the command in the drop-down menu list. Good knowledge of hotkeys greatly speeds up the work with images.
If there is an ellipsis after the name of the command, then this indicates that the dialogue with the user will continue. If after the command we see a black triangle, then this indicates that this command is a group of commands or a list of options, the list appears when you simply hover the mouse over the command.
Now we can talk about the text menu item File(file).

First team New(Create) creates a new document.
When you click on this command, a dialog box appears as shown in Fig.
Let's consider it in more detail:
Name(Name)-here we can give a name to our future file
Preset-you can set the file size from the drop-down list, by the way, if you see an arrow icon on a blue background, then there is a drop-down list.
Width and Height(width and height) - if you are not satisfied standard sizes, then you can set them manually, where Width is the width and Height is the height, and from the drop-down list you can set the units of measurement.
Resolution(Resolution) is an extension. If you are making a picture for further viewing on a monitor, then 72pixels / inch will be optimal, and if for printing on a printer, then do 300pixels / inch.
Color Mode(Color mode) - the color model in which our file will be. if you are preparing a file for the Web or a photo for printing, then feel free to leave RGB, if the file is for replication in a printing house, then CMYK will do. The 8 bit size tells you how each pixel of your file will be encoded. Better leave 8 bit, because. 16 bit is still not noticeable to the eye, and the file size increases.
background content(Background content) is the background color. You can make it white-white, colorless-transparent or choose any background color-Background Color. I would like to note that the program is designed to work with ready-made images, therefore, with the New menu item, you will not work often, but it does not hurt to know.

Now let's look at other commands of the file text menu item.

open(Open) - allows you to open or download any file from any folder on your computer, the format of which is supported by Adobe Pnotoshop, . In order to find out what file formats the program recognizes, open the drop-down list of file types.
Open AS(Open as) - we can set ourselves with what extension to open the file.
Browse-command is a convenient form of viewing images available on your computer for their subsequent opening for processing.
Open Recent(Recent Documents) - Displays a list of the ten most recently opened images.
It should be noted that in Photoshop you can open as many images as you like, their number is limited only by the amount of virtual memory.
close(Close) - closes the active image.
Close All(Close All) - allows you to close all currently open images without exiting the program, unlike the Exit command, which closes the program itself
Save(Save)-command allows you to save open image under the same name, in the same format and in the same place, if the file was not processed, then the command is not available for selection.
Save As(Save As) - allows you to save both the opened and processed image under a different name or in a different graphic format, and in a different location.
Import(Import) - with this command, Photoshop works with the external environment, it is the main command for working with a scanner, as well as with a digital camera.
Automates(Automation) - a command for automating work with groups of images if they need to be processed in a similar way.
file info-displays information about the file, the title bar of the window contains the name of the file to which the command refers.
Next we have a group of commands for the printer.