10 Helpful Photoshop Timesavers
Jul 29th, 2008 by Martin Speight
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. Press Shift Cmd/Ctrl U (Desaturate) to do away with all color in an image in RGB mode and without having go into grayscale mode. Using the channel mixer and clicking on the Grayscale option will create a better result however
3. Press Cmd/Ctrl J to copy a selection into its own layer. Press Shift Cmd/Ctrl J to cut and move a selection.
4. To hide the ‘marching ants’ (selection marquee). Press Ctrl/Cmd H
5) Feathering ” When setting a feather using the Lasso Tools, press the Return/Enter key. This will highlight the Feather field in the Options palette and you can enter or change the value.
6. Press Alt/Option Delete to fill a selection or layer with the color in the foreground. Press Cmd/Ctrl Delete to fill a selection or layer with the color in the background.
7. To change the brush size. Press the [ ] keys. If you hold the shift key down and press the [and ] keys, the brush gets softer and harder, respectively. (You can change the level up to five times).
8. If you want to quickly remove scratches or blemishes from a photo and your version of Photoshop doesn’t have the Spot Healing Brush, double click on the Blur Tool, and in the Blur Tool Options palette, lower the opacity to 15%, then change the mode to Lighten. When you paint over the scratches they will disappear!
9. To draw a straight line with any of the brush tools, just click, hold the Shift key, and click again where you want the line to end. Photoshop will draw a straight line between the two points! This trick also works with most tools, including erasers and 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.