Use Tools in Adobe Photoshop CS6
If you've got Photoshop CS6 and aren't sure how the tools work, this guide can help.
Contents
Steps
- Review all the options. The tools can be found in your icon menu. Get familiar with which icon gives you access to each tool.
- You can pick different types of selection tools by a long click on the tool, and then choosing the appropriate tool, like Rectangular Marquee, Elliptical Marquee, Single Row Marquee, or single Column Marquee. This long click option works on every tool except Move tool and Zoom tool; you can change different type of tool from single tool sets.
- Select different areas of your image as needed. There are several tools to help:
- Rectangular Marquee tool: Pick the tool by clicking it, and then click and drag on an area of image to select it.
- Move tool: You can click and drag to move selected layer by using this tool. Mainly this tool is used for placing the objects (layers).
- Polygonal Lasso tool: It is also used for selection purpose like Rectangular Marquee tool, but it gives you freedom of shape. You can make any shape manually for selection, to do that, first pick the tool then start clicking on different points and then click on the starting point to complete your selection, or just press enter. By long click you can choose lasso tool and can draw freehand stroke to select an area.
- Magic Wand tool: Just work like magic for selection. Click on a point of image and it will automatically select the area based on color values.
- Clip your image, using the Crop tool. You can crop the image using this tool. Just click and drag to define the area you want to crop and press enter.
- Match colors from your image using the Eyedropper tool. With it, you can pick a color from your image. You can click anywhere in your image to pick the color, and then you can use that color for painting or any purpose you can think of.
- Repair image issues with the Spot Healing Brush tool. By using this tool you can heal the unwanted spots in your image. Just choose the tool and paint on the spot you don't want in your image, it will magically disappear.
- Use a variety of tools to draw on your images.
- Brush tool: a favorite of artists and Painters, which is used for painting. You can adjust size and type by right clicking on the work area (Image).
- Clone Stamp tool: It's used for cloning the one part of the image to another part. Choose the tool and then hold alt key and then click on the area you want to clone, then leave the alt key and start painting on the area where you want to clone.
- History Brush tool: History Brush tool is used to reveal the initial state of image, when you opened the image in Photoshop. For example if you have made a colored image black and white (alt+shift+ctrl+B) and then if you start painting with History Brush tool, wherever you paint a stroke the image will become colored there.
- Pen tool: This tool is used to make vector shapes. Choose the tool and then click on any point inside the canvas, then click on any other point of the image, if you want a rounded corner hold the click and drag it farther to make a rounded corner. Complete the shape by clicking on the start point or just pressing enter.
- Erase areas with the Eraser tool. It's used to erase the brush strokes or the image layers.
- Create effects in specific areas of the image.
- Gradient tool: this tool can make a gradient of color in the selected area or within the whole image. Choose the tool and then click and drag in the direction you want your gradient to be. Gradient also depend on the length of your drag stroke.
- Blur tool: this tool is used to blur the image or brush strokes. Just choose the tool and paint the area you want to blur.
- Dodge tool: this tool is used to lighten the dark area of image. Just choose the tool and start painting on the image.
- Add writing with the Text tool. This tool is used to add text to your image. Choose the tool and click on any point to add text there.
- Add and adjust shapes in your image.
- Direct or Path Selection tool. This tool is used to select the shapes created by pen tool or shape tool, and also used to modify the shapes.
- Ellipse / Shape tool. This tool is used to create predefined tool like Rectangle, Line, star etc. Choose the tool and if you want to draw any other shape then change the shape and then click and drag to draw that shape. Hold the shift to keep the proportion intact.
- Adjust your view as needed while you work on your image.
- Hand tool: This tool is used to pan the image. Choose tool and then click and drag to pan the canvas.
- Zoom tool: This tool is used for zooming the image. Choose the tool and then click on the image to zoom in, hold Alt and then click to zoom out.
Tips
- Use the tools setting by right clicking in the canvas area, or just using the options below menu bar.
- You can see the shortcut for a tool by hovering the mouse over a tool for a second, or by just long clicking the tool.
Warnings
- After cropping the image, the History Brush tool doesn't work.
- You cannot select an empty layer.
- If you are trying to use tools in an empty layer, many tools doesn't work.
