Learn Adobe Photoshop With These 10 Helpful Photoshop Time-savers

By David Peters

How To Use Photoshop CS5

1) Auto-Select a Layer - Hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key and at the same time click on a layer in the main image window in Photoshop.

2) Remove Color - Removing all color from an image without going into gray scale mode simply press Shift Cmd/Ctrl U ('De saturate') while still in RGB mode to make your image gray scale. Another option is to use the channel mixer which will actually create a better result. In this option, all you need to do is click on the Gray scale option.

3) Move Selection to its Own Layer - Copy the selection by pressing Cmd/Ctrl J. Press Shift Cmd/Ctrl J to cut and move a selection.

4. To hide the 'marching ants' (selection marquee). Press Ctrl/Cmd H

5. If you are using the Lasso Tools, and want to set a feather, just press the Return/Enter key and the Feather field in the Options palette will highlight and you can enter or change the value.

6) Color Fill - Press Alt/Option Delete to fill a layer or area with the color in the forefront. To fill a layer or selection with the background color, press Cmd/Ctrl Delete.

7) Changing Brush Size - Press the [ ] keys. By holding the shift key down and pressing the [and ] keys, the brush gets softer and harder, correspondingly. You are allowed to change the level up to five times).

8) Removing Scratches or Blemishes If your edition of Photoshop does not have the Spot Healing Brush, edit out blemishes or scratches from a photo by double clicking on the Blur Tool. Next in the Blur Tool Options palette, decrease the opacity to 15%, and then change the mode to Lighten. Now when you paint over scratches they will vanish.

9. Photoshop will draw straight lines for you. Using any of the brush tools, click, hold the Shift key and click again where you want your line to end. Photoshop will literally connect the dots. This can work with most any tool from erasers to even the highlight tool in the Extract filter.

10) Creating Duplicates Choose Duplicate Layer in the Layers palette and change the document setting to New to generate a new picture from any layer.

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