(Electronic music)
Hello, and welcome to this video.
Gareth here, from TastyTuts.com.
In this tutorial, I'm going to Cover ten handy tips
in Photoshop that you should know as a beginner.
The tips I'm going to cover in the next few minutes
are things that are going to improve your work flow,
and help you use the program effectively.
To follow along with this video,
You will need to open this document I've prepared
especially for this tutorial.
This can be found in the Introduction folder,
in the Project folder.
Now, you can download this project folder for free,
the download link is in the description.
So, with the project folder open, click Introduction,
Handy Tips, and open the document inside,
and you should have something that looks like this.
Along the way, I will be mentioning
some useful shortcut keys,
which you can find in the description,
and in the shortcut key page in the project pdf.
Which you can also download in the description.
We're going to be covering a lot in this video,
and in quite some depth.
If you wish to skip ahead, or back
at any point in the video,
you can do so quite simply.
The topics covered in this video are listed
in the description, along with their times.
So be sure to check that out.
Okay, so lets get into it.
Tip number one, Undo.
One of the most common things you may find yourself doing
in Photoshop is undoing your actions.
If you make a mistake, or wish to go back a few steps,
you will want to Undo.
So, for example, I click a layer in the layers panel,
I'll press V to activate the Move tool,
and move one of the origami birds around
across the canvas.
If I want to go back a step, I can press Command Z.
Command Z is the shortcut for Undo.
Now, keep in mind, Command Z is only for one step.
This time, I will move the same bird into a new space,
then select another layer, and move that.
Then select a new layer, move that,
and select another bird, and move that.
So I have just taken multiple steps
to move various elements around.
If I want to go back now, this time
I will press and hold Command and Alt on the keyboard
and press Command Z as many times
as I wish to go back. Like so.
So remember, Command Z for one step,
Command and Alt plus Z for multiple steps.
Tip number two, zooming.
Getting a good grip of the zoom tool
can really help speed things up.
The shortcut key for the zoom tool is Z.
Pressing the Z key on the keyboard,
you will notice the mouse change
to a magnifying glass with a plus in it.
This will allow you to click and zoom in, like so.
To zoom out, simply press and hold Alt on the keyboard
and notice the plus change to a minus.
Then simply click again a few times to zoom out.
Now, in Photoshop CC and later, with the zoom tool active,
you can come up to the control panel,
here you will notice the option called Scrubby Zoom.
With this ticked, with the zoom tool active,
you will be able to click and drag.
As you click and drag, you can easily zoom in
and out of your document rather smoothly, like so.
Now, should you uncheck Scrubby Zoom
up in the control panel, instead of clicking and dragging
in and out, like before, this time you can click and drag
to make a particular selection
of what you would like to zoom into.
Upon release, you will zoom into that particular area.
So be sure to practice these zoom techniques
and keep in mind Scrubby Zoom,
and go with whichever you prefer.
Another handy shortcut is Command 0.
This will snap the current canvas dock
to your workspace area.
So lets say we are zoomed in quite a lot in the canvas area,
pressing Command 0 will zoom out to show the full
document area, like so.
Another handy zoom shortcut is Command 1.
This will snap the current canvas dock to 100 percent.
So, lets say we are zoomed in quite a lot
on the canvas area, pressing Command 1 will zoom out
to show the document at 100 percent.
Notice the percentage value in the bottom left
of your document window.
Tip number three, maneuvering.
Another cool tip is to use the space bar.
No matter what tool you have active,
if you press and hold space bar, you will notice the cursor
change to what looks like a little hand symbol.
With the space bar held down, I'm going to click and drag
around the canvas, maneuvering around the area, like so.
I can zoom out and press the space bar to move around,
I can zoom back in, hold the space bar,
and move around, like so.
This is a really useful tip
to maneuver around your artwork swiftly.
Tip number four, layer tips and shortcuts.
So here are some useful shortcuts and tips
to keep in mind with regards to using
and managing layers in Photoshop.
First up, selecting a particular layer, fast.
So currently, in this document,
we can see I have multiple layers in the layers panel.
Each one of these origami birds is a separate layer.
Now there may be an occasion
where you wish to move a particular element around.
With multiple layers in your composition,
It can become tedious and time consuming
to find the one you're looking for.
A handy tip is to first press V,
to activate the move tool,
then place your mouse cursor over the element
you wish to move around.
For example, I want to find this blue bird layer,
and move it around.
If I put my mouse cursor over this visual element
and right click, upon click,
up will pop a menu
listing all the layers beneath the mouse area.
Here we can see blue bird, white and blue base.
These are the names of the layers beneath my mouse area.
From this list, I'm going to select blue bird.
Upon click, the blue bird layer is selected,
and I can now move this visual element around
with my mouse tool, with the move tool.
If I move my mouse over this red bird,
right click and select the red bird,
just like that, I have that layer selected,
and can move that layer around, Easy.
Next up, duplicating layers.
Now, there will be occasions
where you will want to duplicate elements in your document,
which exist on separate layers.
So lets say we want to duplicate
this orange bird at the bottom here.
If I press V to right click on the bird to select the layer,
with the layer now selected in the layers panel,
if I press and hold Alt on the keyboard, click and drag,
I can very quickly duplicate that creative element, like so.
Upon release, notice in the layers panel
we have a new layer called orange bird copy.
Photoshop has copied the layer and renamed it
for us to identify the new layer.
Another cool tip to duplicate a layer,
if you come into the layers panel,
select the layer you wish to duplicate,
by pressing Command J this will quickly duplicate the layer,
maintain the same name, but add copy
on the end, for identification.
Next up, new layer.
If you wish to create a new layer in the layers panel,
to fill with color or draw with the pen tool,
Simply press Command Shift N on the keyboard.
Upon click, you will get the new layer menu
which you can rename.
Now, keep in mind, when creating a new layer,
it will make it immediately above
the layer you had selected previously.
Next,
delete layer.
So, if you wish to remove a creative element
from your composition permanently
simply select the layer, for example I'll press V,
right click on the green bird, select the layer
and press backspace on the keyboard.
That will delete the layer permanently.
Next up, select multiple layers in the layers panel.
On occasions, you may find you want to move
multiple objects in your document around at once.
Lets say I want to move all the birds in the composition,
by coming into the layers panel,
I will first select the top layer,
by pressing and holding shift, I'll scroll down
and select the bottom bird layer.
Upon click, you will see all the layers become selected
in the layers panel.
Once you have your layers selected,
you can then use the move tool by pressing V
and move them around at the same time in the document area.
To select multiple layers individually,
first click the layer you want to start with,
and by pressing and holding Command on the Mac,
or Control button on the PC,
with this held down on the keyboard,
this will allow you to select multiple layers
one at a time in the layers panel.
Once you have your layers selected
you can then use the move tool by pressing V,
and move them around at the same time in the document area.
Lastly, grouping.
Now, if you have some layers you wish to group in a folder,
a swift way to do this is to first select the layers
you wish to place into a folder group,
again, I'll select them all,
with the layers selected, press Command G.
Upon pressing Command G, we'll create a new group folder,
in the layers panel
and the selected layers will be contained, easy.
So, tip number five, aligning.
So currently, I have these origami birds
on individual layers in the document.
Now for this, I'm just going to toggle the visibility
of some of the birds I have here
just to focus on a few.
Now, these currently appear scattered in the canvas area.
If I want to align these objects,
I can do this quite simply.
First I will need to select the objects
I wish to align together,
and that will mean first selecting the layers.
So just like earlier, I'm going to select the first layer,
then press and hold Command, control for PC users,
and select my other layers in the layers panel.
With them all selected,
I'm going to come to the top control panel
across the top of my interface.
And you should notice some alignment buttons here.
If you're using earlier versions of Photoshop
and you don't see these buttons for whatever reason,
you should go to Menu along the top of the screen,
go to Window, and open your Align panel
from the panel selection.
I'm going to go ahead and click
the align vertical center button,
and upon click, you can see them align
to the center, horizontal, like so.
Now, as you can see, they are oddly spaced out.
If I want to align them with equal spacing between,
I can simply click on the Distribute Horizontal Center
button, and now they are perfectly spaced out.
Excellent.
So keep in mind, you can also align in other ways,
using other alignment options.
So be sure to experiment with these.
Tip number six, rulers and guides.
Now this is a function that can allow you
to create margins in a document
and accurately place and align your objects
in relation to each other on your canvas area.
A useful shortcut for this is Command R.
As you can see, if you look around
the edge of my document area,
as I press Command R repeatedly,
you can see the rulers becoming visible
and hiding again.
So I'm going to press this until I can see them.
Now, I'm going to move my mouse over the vertical ruler,
and click and drag out and over into the right, like so.
And as you do this, you'll notice a gray line appear.
This is your new guide you're about to drop
into the canvas area.
So I'm going to drag this over to the right,
and place it roughly in the middle,
and once I'm happy, I'm simply going to release
and my guide will be placed.
Now if, for some reason, you do not see your guide,
you can press Command colon,
this is the shortcut to hide and reveal guides.
Or you can simply come to View,
come down to Show, and come across to Guides.
So what if I want to edit this current guide?
For example, I want to move this guide over to the right.
Well, this is easy, all you have to do
is select the guide with the Move tool,
though you must first make sure that you can edit guides.
If we come back to View, and scroll down
we have an option here called Lock Guides.
To edit guides, we need to make sure this is unchecked,
and then we can simply click a guide on the canvas area
and move it around like so, simple.
If we set up some guides in the composition
and wish to lock them, come up to View,
and make sure that there is a tick next to lock guides.
Tip number seven, image size, canvas size, and crop.
Now, if you want to know exactly what size
and dimension an image you have open in Photoshop is,
by pressing and holding Command and Alt,
and pressing I, up will pop the Image Size menu box.
Here, you can clearly see Image Size, Dimension,
and Resolution, with the ability to change
the image size if you wish.
If you wish to change the canvas size,
simply come up to Image, and select Canvas Size.
Here we can expand, or decrease the size
of a canvas easily.
If you wish to crop an image,
simply press C on the keyboard.
This will activate the crop tool.
Here, I can either toggle the tabs on the outside
or click and drag an area, like so.
By pressing Enter, this will commit to the crop.
Though, I'll just press Command Z to undo that.
Tip number eight, full screen and toggle panels.
This is a really simple tip, but kind of useful
if you want to remove all the interface panels
and take a look at your work
nice and clear on the screen.
First, if you press Tab on the keyboard,
this is going to remove all the panels in the interface.
And if I press Tab again, this will bring them back.
So as I press Tab repeatedly,
you can see the panels toggle off and on.
If I press F on the keyboard once,
this will remove the panels from view,
and if I press F again, this will go into full screen mode.
Simple, yet useful.
Tip number nine, rotate canvas.
Now, this is a small tip,
but can be useful if you are using a pen tablet,
or you are working on a complex layout
that would require you to have to rotate the canvas area.
By simply pressing R on the keyboard,
you will activate the Rotate Canvas tool.
Now if you click and drag,
you can rotate the canvas, like so.
If you press and hold Shift while you drag,
you can snap to increments of 15 degrees.
If you are looking for an approximate value,
you can look up in the control panel, to the left,
and click in the Angle field to type in a precise value.
Once you're done, you can click the Reset View button
up in the control panel to snap back to normal view.
Tip number ten, grids.
For the last tip, I'm going to show you grids.
The shortcut to show your grid is command apostrophe.
Or you could simply come to View, and Show Grid.
If you are creating an intricate piece of artwork,
and need to use a grid, you will find this useful.
If you wish to customize your grid,
you can come to Photoshop in the top left corner,
I believe this is Edit for Window users,
and click preferences,
scroll down
and select guides and grid.
Up will pop a menu,
and here you can change the grid properties,
such as the color, style, gridline, quality,
and subdivisions.
As you can see here, I have mine set
to a gridline every two centimeters
and a subdivision of four.
Here, I'll change my gridline to every one centimeter
with a subdivision of ten.
To the right of this, you can set a color.
I click into this and set this color to a magenta color,
I click Okay.
So that's a few handy tips in Adobe Photoshop
to help with your workflow.
In the next video, we're going to move
into the essential practice section of this course.
In this section, we will be practicing
some of the basic tools, and familiarizing ourself
with some of the features in Photoshop,
to ready ourselves before we embark on the full project.
In the next video we are going to be focusing
on one of the most basic principles in Photoshop,
and that's making selections.
See you in the next video.
(electronic music)