How to Use Adobe Photoshop Tools

Photoshop—it's so powerful that it's actually become a verb! It's one of the best known software applications on the planet, and has a reputation for being hard to learn—but we're going to dispel that. Photoshop has been around for over 20 years, and while it's certainly become far more powerful, the interface remains clean, logical, and easy to learn. Using Photoshop CS6, we'll show you the basics, and how to keep moving forward. Read on!

Edit Steps

Basic Tools

1. 1
   Launch Photoshop. If you don't currently own Photoshop, you can download a free trial version at Adobe.com. On the right side of the page, click on the Try It button. You can get a 30-day, fully-functioning trial to see if Photoshop is right for you.
   
   
   
2. 2
   Open a document. Command-click (PC: Control-Click) here to open a sample picture in a new tab. You can use to follow along with this tutorial. Drag the photo to the desktop, then open up that image in Photoshop. When you're done, your screen should look something like this:
   
   
   
3. 3
   Select the Marquee tool (M). You can do this by clicking on the icon, or by typing the letter M. For the balance of this tutorial, the key shortcut will be shown after the tool name. The Marquee tool is the most basic of all tools. It's something you're already familiar with it: virtually every application and operating system selects things the same way: click and drag to select a region of the screen. Photoshop is no different.
   
   
   
   • Clicking and holding on the Marquee icon will give you a small popup menu where you can select the variations: Rectangular marquee (the default); Elliptical marquee, for selecting circles and ovals; and a single-pixel marquee for both horizontal and vertical.
   • For now, select the Rectangular marquee, place your cursor somewhere in the upper left of the image, then click and drag the mouse. You will see the selection expand, with the pixel values to the right of the selection. Drag towards the center, until the values are roughly W: 300 H: 200, then release the mouse button.
   • Click and hold in the middle of the selection, and move the cursor—notice how the selection moves with you. Drag the selection so that it surrounds the tan house on the hill, as shown:
     
     
     
   • From here, you can copy the selection, move it, apply filters to it—pretty much anything you can do in Photoshop starts with a selection.
     
     
     
4. 4
   Select the Lasso Tool (L). Closely related to the Marquee tool is the Lasso tool. Like the Marquee tool, the Lasso is used to make a selection. However, with the Lasso tool, you can make a freeform selections. It's variants include the Polygonal Lasso tool, and the Magnetic Lasso tool. Select the basic Lasso tool, and try it out.
   
   
   
   • Click and hold the mouse button, then draw a selection around the small white sail boat that's left of center in the window. When you get to the bottom, release the mouse button—the selection will auto-complete. Now press Command-D (Control-D on a PC). This will deactivate the selection. Note that this works for all selections.
   • Press Shift-L. This will change the cursor to the Polygonal Lasso Tool. (Shift plus the tool shortcut will cycle through the other related tools). Notice the black arrow on the top left of the Polygonal Lasso cursor: that's where the click point is.
   • Click once, anywhere on the image. Notice as you move your mouse, the starting point remains pinned, and a dashed line extends towards the cursor. Click again, and that next point becomes pinned. You can continue clicking until your selection is complete: as simple as a triangle, or as complex as you like. When you reach your last click point, double click instead of single click, and the polygon will automatically close.
     
     
     
   • Press the Escape key at any time to cancel the selection in progress.
   • Press Shift-L again. This selects the Magnetic Lasso. Like the lasso tools, the click point is the black pointer in the upper left of the cursor.
   • Try this: click and hold the mouse button with the cursor pointing at the water line of the bow (front) of the boat, and drag around the boat slowly. Notice as you drag, the selection actually snaps to the boat as you move!
   • At the top of the Photoshop window, you'll see some tool modifiers: Feather, Anti-alias, Width, Contrast, and Frequency. As you advance, try each of these and see what effect they have on your selections. Hover over any interface element to see tool tips for that particular tool or setting.
     
     
     
5. 5
   Select the Quick Selection tool (W). This is the advanced version of the Magic Wand tool (which is still available as an alternate tool).
   
   
   
   • Try this: click and hold on the tan house in the middle of the picture. While holding the mouse, drag to the left or the right, "scrubbing" the house with the cursor. Notice how the selection grows as you do this. Make sure you select the roof, balcony, and all the rest of the house is selected. When done, you may notice that some of the shrubbery is selected, too:
     
     
     
   • There are two ways to eliminate the shrubbery with the Quick Selection tool. The first is to select the Subtract version of the tool.
     
     
     
   • The other way to subtract from the selection is to simply press and hold the Option (Alt) key, which temporarily switched the tool to the subtracting version (you can see the tool switch modifiers at the top of the screen as you do this.)
   • Either way, click and drag slightly on the offending shrubbery, and it will be deselected:
     
     
     
   • You can adjust the sensitivity of the selection by adjusting the size. The larger the size, the more will be selected. Try it out: click the standard Quick Selection tool, set the size to 100, then try selecting the house again.
     
     
     
6. 6
   Selecte the Crop Tool (C). According to Adobe, this is the most used tool in Photoshop. It's one of the tools that absent anything else, can dramatically improve the composition of your photographs. When you select the Crop tool, you will notice small handles on the corners, and on the edges in the center of the image:
   
   
   
   • To crop an image, either drag the handles to surround the part of the image you wish to keep, or click and drag inside the image to draw the area to crop.However you do it, the result will be the area you're keeping will be normal, and the area to be cut will be dimmed. Make a selection similar to this, then press Enter:
     
     
     
   • Notice how that's changed the entire focus of the picture. Before you do anything else, click Undo (Command-Z, Mac, or Control-Z, PC) to restore the image to its original dimensions. If did make further changes, you can step back through your editing history using Command-Option-Z (Control-Alt-Z).
   • Perspective crop. Rather than just a plain rectangle crop, Perspective Crop lets you adjust the relative perspective of the image as you crop. While an interesting and powerful tool, well worth experimenting with, it's a more advanced feature that will be covered in more advanced tutorials.
   • The Slice tools, also part of the Crop menu, are designed to carve up an image for placement into web pages. Like the Perspective crop, this is an advanced feature to be addressed in more suitable tutorials.
7. 7
   Select the Text Tool (T). They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes a picture is not enough: you want words, too! Photoshop's text tool gives you a few options.
   • With the Text tool selected, click near the bottom left of the picture. You'll see a blinking text insertion cursor. Type "Boats in the Bay." Depending on your settings, it might be too large, or too small, or a hard to read color. The editor for the text attributes is at the top of the Photoshop window:
     
     
     
   • Font family. This menu, like all font menus, lets you select the desired font. You can select from the list, or type in the font name. It will autofill as you type. For the purposes of this tutorial, select Helvetica.
   • Font style. If there are related font styles for the font family (e.g., Bold, Italic, Light, Medium, etc.), they will be available in this popup menu. If the menu is grayed, that means there are no variations on the current font family. For our purposes, select "Regular."
   • Font size. This adjusts the size of the font. You have the option of entering in a specific font size, or choosing a size from a small list. For fast, flexible, and easy font size changes, click and hold on the T icon to the left of the field, and drag to the left or right: the size should change dramatically.
   • Antialiasing. This will determine the strength of the edge blending. "None" turns off antialiasing, and text is rendered like it was rendered in 1984: like blocky stair steps. Here's a comparison of the different antialiasing settings:
     
     
     
   • Justification. The icons say it all: this justifies all text in the selected layer to the left, center, or right.
   • Color. This color chip defaults to the foreground color when you first choose the Text tool. To change the color, select the text layer itself, or with the Text cursor, any part of the text in a field. Click on the chip, select a color, and any selected text, plus all future text will be that new color. Note: If you select a text field with multiple colors, the color chip will display a question mark (?). All other text attributes will show as blanks.
   • Warp. This bends, or "warps" the text on the horizontal or vertical axis. To use it, simply select the text layer, click on the Warp button, and work the Style and sliders to find the right look . For this, we'll use the Flag style, and set the bend to 100%.
     
     
     
   • Panels. The Panels button opens up two more palettes: Character and Paragraph. Use these to fine-tune the look of your text.
8. 8
   Create a sized text field. To do this, click and drag from the top left corner of where you want your text box to appear, to the bottom right corner of the box. You'll see a rectangle on the screen, with handles on the corners and sides.
   • Type some a couple sentences into the box. Don't worry if the text is too big or too small. When you're done entering text, press the Enter key. If your text is too small, use the Font Size control (at the top) to make it larger. Conversely, if your text is too large, use the Font Size control to make the text smaller.
   • You can also adjust the size of the text field: hover over one of the handles for a couple seconds, and your cursor will change to a double arrow. Click and drag to resize the text box: the text will flow within the boundaries of the box.
     
     
     
9. 9
   Close the window. Save the file if you like, or discard changes. Either way, you can always get an untouched version here.

Painting Tools

1. 1
   Create a new document. In the New dialog, set Width to 1024 pixels, the Height to 768 pixels, and the background contents to white.
   
   
   
2. 2
   Select the Brush Tool (B). This has been part of Photoshop since before version 1.0, and pretty much every paint application ever created!
   • The Brush menu is also home to the Pencil tool, the Color Replace tool, and the Mixer Brush.
     • The Pencil tool draws lines of varying thicknesses, and while you can use different brushes, the Pencil tool features no antialiasing: everything is very bitmapped.
     • The Color Replacement tool can be very useful for replacing one color (or range of colors) with another color.
     • The Mixer Brush. This mixes together different colors, much the same way that an artists mixes colors on a palette.
   • Pick a color for the brush. Click on the Foreground Color chip at the bottom of the tool list. A color picker dialog will appear. Pick any color that suits you. For this tutorial, we'll choose red. When you've got a color you like, click OK to close the window.
     
     
     
   • Pick a brush. The easiest way to pick a brush is with the brush picker at the top left of the Photoshop window. Pick any brush. Notice the Size and Hardness parameters. Size sets the diameter of the brush, and Hardness refers to the edges: a 100% brush has a crisp edge, while a 0% brush is feathered for a soft edge. Set the brush size to 30 and the Hardness to 50%. You can use the sliders or enter the number directly.
     
     
     
   • Scribble a bit with your chosen color. Get a feel for how the brush works. You can also adjust the Opacity and Flow, at the top. Opacity sets the transparency of the color. Flow adjusts how much color is placed on the canvas with each stroke.
     
     
     
   • To see the difference between Opacity and Flow, set the Opacity to 50%, then scribble over an area repeatedly, without stopping or clicking. If you're using red, you'll notice a nice pink blob. If you lift up your cursor, and then start scribbling again, notice that where the new scribble overlaps the old, it's darker. Where the scribble is new, is lighter. Opacity adds with every stroke—but not during a single stroke. Return the Opacity to 100%.
   • Set the Flow to 25%, the Opacity to 100%, and scribble again. Note now that as you go over your stroke, the color builds until it's completely red. The opacity is quickly build up to 100%. With a Flow rate of 100%, all the color is put on the canvas immediately.
   • When you're done experimenting, clear the canvas by pressing Command-Delete (Control-Delete). Your canvas will fill with the background color. Option-Delete (Alt-Delete) will fill with the foreground color.
3. 3
   Select the Shape Tool (U). By default, it will select the Rectangle Tool. Click on the actual Shape menu, and select the Polygon Tool. This allows you to specify any number of sides, and automatically draw the desired shape.
   
   
   
   • Note the settings across the top. The Shape menu (shown open) lets you choose Shape, Path, or Pixels. Choosing Shape will give you a filled path (what you created with the Pen tool). The fill color is chosen using the Fill popup menu; the outline color (if any) is chosen using the Stroke popup menu; the stroke width is set with the stroke width menu; and the stroke options—dashed or solid lines and more—are set from the Stroke Options menu.
     
     
     
   • One other option to be aware of for the Polygon tool is the Sides field. This lets you specify the number of sides of the polygon—from 3 to 100. You can either enter the number directly, or click and hold on the word Sides, and drag left or right to increment or decrement the number.
     
     
     
   • To create a polygon, click and drag anywhere on the canvas. Your polygon will open out from the center of the click point. Before you release your mouse, it will look something like this:
     br>
     
   • When you release the mouse button, the polygon will be filled with the fill color you've selected, and the border will have the stroke attributes you set.
   • Alternately, for quick-and-easy polygon creation, single-click anywhere on the canvas. A dialog will appear on your screen that lets you set the parameters all at once. Here's what it looks like, with the result shown beside it:
     
     
     
4. 4
   Select the Paint Bucket Tool (G). Because this is the second tool in this menu, you will want to actually click on the tool palette icon, as shown, then select the Paint Bucket Tool, as shown:
   
   
   
   • You are probably familiar with this tool: it's in virtually every paint application on the planet. It will fill any give area with the color of your choice. While most applications require the filled area to be a solid color, Photoshop lets you adjust the tolerance so that any pixel that falls within the range of the original click location will get filled. For example, the right side of this image was filled with blue, using the Overlay mode, and a Tolerance of 165:
     
     
     
   • Press D to select the default Foreground and Background colors, then press Command (Control)-Delete to clear the canvas and fill with white.
5. 5
   Select the Gradient Tool (G). If the Paint Bucket Tool or 3D Material Drop Tool is selected, press Shift-G until the Gradient tool is selected. The Gradient Tool will let you fill an area with a smooth blending between 2 or more colors.
   
   
   
   • At the top of the window, click on the gradient palette, and choose the blue, red, and yellow gradient on the top right row by double-clicking on it.
     
     
     
   • Click and drag from the top left corner to the bottom right corner, and your canvas will look like this:
     
     
     
   • Like the Paint Bucket tool, you can apply a gradient to an image with different overlay styles. Experiment with those, to see how each one interacts with the gradient blend.
   • To edit a gradient, click on the gradient palette. The Gradient Editor will appear. Click on the colored tabs to choose a color for each point, and move the points to set the start and end points for each color. Click on the black tabs at top to assign opacity.
     
     
     
   • Close the Gradient Editor.

Retouching Tools

1. 1
   Return to the sample image. Open up the sample file SamplePic.jpg." If you've done the previous tutorials, and have saved your work in progress, you may have a couple text fields. Under the Layers tab on the right (or if not there, select Layers from the Windows menu), click on the eyeball icon for all layers but the actual image layer. After the text layers are deselected, click on the image layer so that it's active.
   
   
2. 2
   Select the Clone Stamp (S). The clone stamp lets you pick up part of the image, and copy it to another part of the image.
   
   
   
   • Select a brush. At the top of the window, to the right of the Clone Stamp icon, is the brush palette. Click on that, and select a brush as shown.
     
     
     
   • Using the Size slider, set the brush size to 50.
   • Set the clone source. Before you can clone the image, you need to select what you're actually copying. We're going to hide the white boat in the middle with water. Holding down the Option (Alt) key, and click on the image about where the water changes texture, as shown by the red target:
     
     
     
   • When you to this, the cursor will be the image of the source. Move the cursor next to the white boat, and match the break in the water texture as close as you can. It won't be perfect, but it's close enough. Your cursor and placement should look something like show here (enlarged):
     
     
     
   • Click and hold the mouse button, and paint over the boat as much as you can. You may start to see repetitive patterns, but we'll show you how to minimize those, next. Here's what your screen might look like after brushing out the boat:
     
     
     
   • Soften the edges of the cloned area. To do this, click on the brush palette at the top again, and this time set the Hardness to 0%. This will fade out the edges of the tool gradually. Select about the same clone source, then go over the outer edges of your cloned area. Click different parts of the water as you go, to minimize repeated patterns. When you're done, it should look something like this:
     
     
     
   • If you want a real challenge, try and clone out the mast. Use smaller brushes, and clone sources very near the mast itself.
   • Also in the Clone Stamp menu is the Pattern Stamp. Like the Clone Stamp, this paints over your image, but instead of using part of the image, it uses a pattern.
     
     
     
   • To create a pattern of your own, select part of the image using the rectangular Marquee Tool, then from the Edit menu, select Define Pattern... Name your new pattern, select the Pattern Stamp tool, then click on the Pattern palette (see above image). Paint over your picture, and the pattern will be "stamped" onto it:
     
     
     
     • Checking the "Aligned" checkbox will result in evenly-tiled patterns, like a checkerboard, even with multiple passes with the brush.
     • Unchecking the "Aligned" checkbox will restart the tile with every click of the mouse, which can result in a more natural looking pattern.
     • Checking "Impressionist" will give you random dots of color taken from the pattern. The dot size is determined by the brush size.
3. 3
   Select the History Brush (Y). The History Brush takes you back to previous versions of your image, but unlike simply saving a copy along the way, then reopening it, the History Brush lets you paint in prior versions.
   
   
   
   • Scroll to the top of the History tab. If it's not showing, select History from the Window menu. At the top of the History window, you'll see a thumbnail of the image. Click the checkbox next to that: that's going to be what we'll paint in.
     
     
     
   • Remember that white sailboat you Clone Stamped out of existence? We're going to bring it back! With your History Brush selected, use the Brush palette and set your brush size to 100, and the hardness to 100%.
   • Click and hold the mouse where the white sailboat used to be, and start painting. Your boat is painted back in!
     
     
     
   • Use the History Brush to paint the image back to the original.
4. 4
   Select the Spot Healing Brush (J). Similar to the Clone Stamp, the Spot Healing Brush will paint over your image with another part of the image. In this case, however, it works from the area around where you are painting. It can deliver amazingly natural results.
   
   
   
   • With the Spot Healing Brush selected, set your brush to a round brush, 50 pixels round, and 50% Hardness.
   • Locate the tan house on the hill, in the middle of the image. Starting on the right side of the house, make small strokes from the trees into the house. You will start to see the house disappear beneath the pine trees!
     
     
     
   • Continue painting away the house, until it's gone from view. You can work the edges to make the hillside look more natural. When you're done, it should look something like this:
     
     
     
5. 5
   Select the Dodge Tool (O). Dodging and burning have their roots in the days when photographers developed their films in a darkroom. Masking (dodging) parts of the photograph blocked the light getting to the photograph, effectively lightening the masked area; burning, or letting more light through, darkened the burned area. Photoshop's Dodge and Burn tools do the same thing, only far more reliably than a piece of cardboard with a hole punched in it!
   
   
   
   • With the Dodge Tool selected, set your brush size to 50 and Hardness to 50%. To the right of the brush palette, set Range to "Highlights," and Exposure to 50%.
   • We'll add some light to the sailboat on the bottom right. Paint the boat starting around the words "The Saint." Notice how it's much brighter now. Also, notice that if you slip and paint over the wooden cabin, it doesn't change nearly as much: we've selectively lightening only the whiter tones. That little bit of sunlight to the rear of the cabin will also lighten up considerably.
     
     
     
   • Switch to the Burn Tool by pressing Shift-O. The brush palette and Exposure settings can stay the same, but change the Range to Shadows. Dodge the water around the boats. Notice how the water becomes much darker, but the bright boats are hardly affected at all. With judicious use of the Dodge and Burn tools, you can really make an image pop.
     
     
     
   • Switch to the Sponge Tool by pressing Shift-O. The Sponge Tool lets you selectively desaturate (remove color), or saturate (enrich color) an image. With the Sponge Tool selected, set the Mode at the top to "Desaturate." Desaturate the back of the boat until it's effectively black and white. Then switch the Mode menu to "Saturate." Paint the bow of the boat to saturate the colors. At first it just is a little richer, but will quickly become cartoony. Leave the middle of the boat untouched, for comparison.
     
     
     

Advanced Tools

1. 1
   Select the Pen Tool (P). The pen tool is excellent for making very precise, editable selections. It's a more advanced tool that will take some practice to use well, but worth getting familiar with. Select it by clicking on the icon, or pressing P. Your cursor will look like the nib of a fountain pen.
   • Using the white boat left of center again, click on the bow where the hull meets the water, and drag along the water line to the middle of the boat. You will see two handles extend from the initial click point—the anchor point—in a straight line. When you reach the middle of the hull, release the mouse button.
     
     
     
   • Note that the handles remain. Now, click and hold on the stern (back) of the boat at the water line, and drag upward to about halfway up the backside of the boat. Do not release the mouse button yet.
   • You will see that the initial handles have disappeared, and a new set shows extending from the second anchor point. Notice also that there is an arced line extending from the initial anchor point, into the water, and up to the second anchor point.
     
     
     
   • If you move the handle under your cursor around the second anchor point, you will see that line bending like a rubber band. Don't worry if it's connected to the boat for the moment—we'll address that momentarily. Using the picture below, finish setting up the the anchor points around the hull of the boat, finally clicking on the initial anchor point to close the loop:
     
     
     
   • The line around the boat probably looks similar to the pic above, only loosely connected to the boat. Now we fix that, with the Direct Selection tool.
2. 2
   Select the Direct Selection tool (A). Make sure the cursor is white, not black. If it is black, press Shift-A, or use the Selection Tool menu to select the DIrect Selection tool.
   
   
   
   • Click on the first anchor point. The handles will appear as before. Click on the rightmost handle, and wiggle it: note the left and right handles move together around the anchor point. Now, press Command-Option (Control-Alt), click on the rightmost handle, and drag it upwards.
     
     
     
   • Note that only the right handle moves, and that the line between the top anchor point on the bow, and the point you are editing is now at least starting to be close to the hull. Drag the handle about halfway up the hull, and leave it there for now.
   • Click on the bottom anchor point on the stern of the boat. When you see the handles, click on the right handle, and pull it upwards slowly. You should see the line start to match up with the waterline. Adjust that handle and the left handle of the first anchor point until the line matches the waterline as closely as possible.
   • You may have to adjust the anchor points themselves—this can be accomplished by clicking on them and dragging, or clicking on them and using the arrow cursors to nudge them in any direction. When you're done, the bottom line should look like this:
     
     
     
   • Work your way around the boat, making the line as close to the boat as you can. It's not important to make a perfect selection at this point—only to get a feel of how the anchors and handles work. Stop when you get to this point:
     
     
     
   • There will be times when you don't want a soft, rounded corner, so we need to turn off the handles to make hard corners. The front edge of the cabin is one of those places. Locate the anchor point you placed there, then hold down Command-Option (Control-Alt), and click on that anchor point, and the one below it. Note that the handles disappear, and the line between the two points is straight, not rounded.
     
     
     
   • When you're done adjusting the handles, right click on the line, and choose Make a Selection from the menu. OK the dialog box that appears. The boat is now selected. If you wish to edit your selection, you can do so in the Paths window. Press Command-D (Control-D) to clear the current selection, click on the path (Work Path), make sure the Direct Selection tool is active, and edit away! When you're done, you can make a new selection.
     
     
     
   • Note: If you wish to save that path for later use, double click on the words Work Path, give it a name, and press Enter. The path will now be saved with your document.