Totally Essential Photoshop Tips

05:59 PM

General Tips:

Don't like the default Shadow/Highlights Defaults? Create your own:
When you open Photoshop CS's Shadow/Highlight dialog, Adobe figures you have a problem with your shadows so by default it opens your shadow areas by 50%. However, if you'd prefer to make that call yourself, you can set your own defaults. Start by lowering the Shadow setting to 0%, then click on the "Show more Options" button. The dialog will expand and at the bottom of the expanded dialog press the button called "Save as Defaults," then uncheck the "Show More Options" checkbox.

Camera Raw Trick
If you're using Camera Raw, there's a trick you can use to find out which parts of your image will turn white/black as you tweak the exposure. Just hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) while you're dragging the Exposure or Shadows slider and then look in the Preview window to see where pixels will become white (or black).

Miss that ol' Welcome Screen?
Remember that Welcome Screen that came up the first few times you used the latest version of Photoshop? Remember how, after a few times, you pressed the "Don't show this screen again" checkbox so it wouldn't keep coming up? Well, if you miss it and decide you want it back, just go under the Help menu and choose Welcome Screen and "it's back!"

Greater sharpening control
For a more intense type of sharpening, use Filter>Other>High Pass on a duplicate of the layer that you want to sharpen. Change the layer's Blend Mode to Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard light. Smaller High Pass settings emphasize tiny details in the image where you need to keep the tiny details (such as wrinkles) unsharpened. You can reduce the opacity of the sharpening layer and mask areas to keep them from sharpening. It gives you total flexibility.

How to get "Less" Metadata in the File Browser
In the File Browser in Photoshop CS you have complete control over the fields displayed in the Metadata section. To select the fields that you want to see, choose Edit>Metadata Display Options in the main menu of the File Browser.

One-Touch rotate
Did you know that you know have one-touch ability to rotate or flag images in the File Browser? There's an easy-to-overlook set of icons to the right of the menus in the file File Browser that provide a fast way to rotate (clockwise or counterclockwise), flag, search, or delete files.

Smart pixel reduction
To reduce the number pixels but at the same time keep some of the sharpness in an image, there's a new method in CS designed to do just that. Here's how: Select Image>Image Size and in the dialog, click on Resample Image, then choose Bicubic Sharper from the drop-down menu.

Preview Your Brushes
In the Brushes palette, hover over a brush preset until the Tool Tips show up and then run your cursor over all the brushes to see a preview at the bottom of the Brushes palette.

Healing Brush too dark?
If the Healing Brush gives you a result that's a little too dark, choose Edit>Fade Healing Brush and lower the Opacity setting.

Exchanging type on a Path
Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS can exchange type on a Path, but here are a couple of things to keep in mind if you need to edit the type in the other program: Don't use Photoshop Layer Styles. Save (Photoshop) or Export (Illustrator) in the .psd file format. Convert Photoshop layers to objects when opening in Illustrator.

Better color corrections
Choosing Image>Adjustments>Auto Color automatically color-corrects your image. For better results, however, choose Image>Adjustments>Curves, click the Options button, and use the following settings: Find Dark & Light Colors, Snap Neutral Midtones, Shadow Clip .05, and Highlight Clip .05. Then turn on the Save as defaults checkbox and click OK. The next time you use Auto Color, you should get better results.

Sample Any Color From Any Where
You can use the Eyedropper tool to pick colors from all areas of your screen (not just an active document). Just click within a document first, and then drag outside of that window onto the object you'd like to sample.

Fit photos when printing
Many new digital camera owners run into trouble when they try to print their photos and discover that the photos are too big to fit on the paper (even 8.5x11" paper). How can you make the images print? Choose Image>Image Size, uncheck the Resample Image checkbox, and then change the Resolution to 300 ppi. By unchecking Resample Image, you tell Photoshop to make the pixels smaller but to use all of them. You can now print a high-quality image that preserves all of the original data.

Preview your textures and patterns
Have you ever created a pattern or texture that you really liked and then wondered why it looked so insignificant when you printed it? Your monitor shows you the image at between 72 and 96 ppi, whereas print resolution is typically 300 ppi. Anything you see on your monitor, therefore, is much smaller in print. Here's a way to preview the pattern: Change your view of the image to 25%. If you can see your pattern, texture, or design element clearly at that small screen size, you'll be able to view it in print.

Sharpening an image
When you reduce an image's size or import it from a digital camera, it usually needs some sharpening—the amount depends on the output method for the image. Several books recommend changing the image into Lab mode and only sharpening the Luminosity channel, but here's an easier way to do the same thing: Choose Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask, apply the settings that you want, then choose Edit>Fade Unsharp Mask, and alter the Blend Mode to Luminosity. As an added benefit, you can also reduce the amount of the sharpening at the same time if you feel that you've applied too much.

Repositioning Marquees
If you start to make a Rectangular Marquee tool (M) selection and discover that you don't have the selection positioned where you want it, don't start over. Before you finish creating the Marquee, press and hold the Spacebar, reposition the selection, and then finish making the selection. This trick also works with the Crop tool and the Shape tools.

Saving a color-dynamic brush
If you've created a brush that uses color dynamics, you can save that brush with its exact colors by choosing New Tool Preset from the Tool Presets palette's pop-up menu. You should also save the brush to the Brush palette—having it in both places makes it really easy to either choose new colors or reclaim your original color combination.

Selection Preview while you Move it:
Have you noticed that when you make a selection and move it (by holding down the Command-key on a Mac, or Control key on a PC) that only an outline of the edge of your selection actually moves and when you release the mouse, the image inside the selection then draws in? Well, there's an easy way to see the selected part of your image as you move it. After you've made your selection, you have to click and hold to drag right? Right, but just pause for about a second before you move the selection and Photoshop will draw the selection preview for you while you move.

Pasting paths from Illustrator
If you miss getting the Paste as Pixels, Path, or Shape when pasting a path from Illustrator, then change Illustrator 10 (or higher) Preferences so it doesn't't use PDF as the Clipboard format.

Using the Patch tool
When working with the Patch tool, you have to tell Photoshop whether you created a selection that defines the area you need to fix or the area from which you'll be fixing. First make the selection and then look in the Options Bar. Choose either Source or Destination as the area that you'll be dragging to, then drag the selection.

Spell in another language
Take advantage of the fact that Photoshop not only spell-checks but can do so in different languages. Type in some text and select the words typed in the other language. Open the Character palette and from the pop-up menu, choose the appropriate language. Now when you spell-check, Photoshop automatically switches to the other language's dictionary.

Advanced Sharpening Technique
Using Unsharp Mask to sharpen a digital camera image always poses a problem in that the user may overdo the procedure. The result is a halo edge for high contrast subjects. Although I've been using the High Pass filter to sharpen images for more than a year, there's an even sharper variation. Here's how it works:

Duplicate the Background layer by typing Command-J (PC: Control-J).
Set the Blending Mode of the copy layer to Overlay.
With the copy layer selected, run the Other>High Pass filter. Starting with a low value, move the slider until edges in the image show. This is strictly a judgment call but a value of 5 seems to be a good starting point. Click OK
Flatten image and Save.
Lower the Opacity without lowering the Opacity
If you've applied a Layer Style (such as Drop Shadow, Outer Glow, etc.) to an object (or type) on a layer, you can take advantage of the new Fill field in the Layers palette. This control is different than just lowering the Opacity. If you lower the Opacity, the entire layer becomes transparent, but if you lower the Fill amount, only your object becomes transparent—your Layer Style shadow (glow, etc.) stays at the same Opacity that was originally applied.

Troubleshooting tip
By now you've heard the tip that if Photoshop starts acting weird, the first thing to do is delete Photoshop's Preferences file and restart Photoshop. This will build a factory-fresh set of Preferences that will usually cure the problem. Now, Photoshop can make this "trashing-the-Prefs" routine even easier. Just hold the Shift-Option-Command keys (PC: Shift-Alt-Control) when you first launch Photoshop, and you'll be greeted with a dialog box asking you if you want to delete the Photoshop settings file. Click OK, and Photoshop will then build a new, factory-fresh set of Prefs for you.

Shortcut: Changing the unit of measure
To quickly change your unit of measure (die: from inches to pixels, etc.), make your rulers visible by pressing Command-R (PC: Control-R), then hold the Control key (PC: Right-click) and click anywhere within your ruler and a pop-up menu will appear where you can choose your measurement unit.
Highlighting option fields
In Photoshop's Options Bar, you donut have to click-and-drag to highlight any of the options fields, just click directly on the field's name and it will highlight the field for you.

Scrubby Sliders Trick
In Photoshop CS Adobe introduced Scrubby Sliders, which makes changing the number in any of Photoshop's fields much quicker. Instead of clicking within a field (to type in a new number), you just click directly on the field's name and a two-headed arrow/hand appears and you drag left (or right) to move the value in the field down/up (respectively). That's not the trick. Here it is: if you hold the Shift key while dragging a Scrubby Slider it moves a dramatically larger increments, making larger changes much faster. Give it a try and you'll see what we mean.

Undocking the Options Bar
Although the Options Bar appears up top, just below Photoshop's menu bar, you can make the Options Bar into a floating palette, or you can dock it to the bottom of your screen. Just click and drag on the little tab that appears on the far right of the Options Bar, and the bar will become a floating palette. If you close the Options Bar (when its a floating palette) you can bring it back up by double-clicking on any tool in the Toolbox. To make the Options Bar dock to the bottom of your screen, simply drag it to the bottom left-hand corner of your screen and it will snap into place.

Resizing Paths trick
If you've drawn a path, and want it bigger, smaller, etc., get the Path Component Selection Tool (the solid black arrow tool--but NOT the Move tool), and when you click on your path, look up in the Options Bar. You'll see a checkbox for "Show Bounding Box". Click on it, and a Free Transform like bounding box will appear around you path, enabling you to click and drag your path to your desired size.

Drop Shadow Effect:
Rather than setting the Distance and Angle numerically, you can move your mouse outside the dialog box, right into your image window, and click on the shadow itself and drag it where you'd like it. Do this once and you'll never use the numeric way again.

Applying RGB Filters to CMYK Images
When you're working in CYMK, you've probably noticed that many of Photoshop's filters are grayed out and cannot be applied to your CMYK image. Here's a workaround: just go to the Channels palette, click on the Cyan channel and now all the filters are available again. Apply your filter, then click on the Magenta channel and apply the same filter with the same settings. Repeat for Yellow and Black.

Getting Back to The Default Colors
To instantly reset the Tool palette's color picker to it's default settings of Black for foreground and White for background, just press the letter "D" on your keyboard. To swap the foreground and background colors, just press the letter "X".

Choosing the Size You Want For Your Selections
If you want to make a precise selection (one that is, say 72 pixels by 72 pixels) click on the Marquee tool and up in the Options Bar, you can enter a fixed size in the Height and Width fields. Then when you click the Marquee tool, it will automatically draw a selection box that is 72 pixels by 72 pixels. If you want to add a soft edge to your selections, you can also choose to Feather the edge by entering a value in the Feather field in the Options Bar.

Layer Tips Trash linked layers
Command-clicking (PC: Control-clicking) on the Trash icon at the bottom of the Layers palette will delete all the layers that are linked to the active one.
Opacity Shortcut:
You can use a keyboard shortcut to set the opacity for any active layer. To set the opacity down to 40% just press the number 4 on your keyboard. For 80%, press 8, 100% press 0, etc. You can also dial in an exact percentage of opacity (if you can type fast). Just type in both numbers (die: 83 for 83%.)
Hiding Multiple Layers Shortcut:
There's a shortcut for displaying or hiding multiple layers. Just hold the Option key (Alt key on a PC) and click once on the eyeball icon next to layer you want to remain visible. All other layers will instantly be hidden. To view all the hidden layers again, repeat the same steps: Hold the Option (Alt) key and click the eyeball again.

Blend Modes Shortcuts:
You can now select Blend modes for layers with keyboard commands. For example press Shift-Option (PC:Shift-Alt) and the first letter of the blend mode you desire. (For example, to switch the blend mode to Multiply, press Shift-Option-M, or to switch to Color mode press Shift-Option-C.) You can also cycle through the different modes by choosing any selection tool then pressing Shift-+ (plus) or Shift-- (minus).

Hiding and Displaying Layers Shortcut:
Another shortcut to quickly hiding or displaying layers, is the fact that you can click-and-drag your cursor up and down the column of eyeballs, and as you drag, each active layer is hidden.

Shortcut for Moving Multiple Layers to Another Document:
If you have a document open with multiple layers, and you want to move a number of layers to another document, there's a shortcut that will save you from clicking and dragging each individual layer over one by one. In the layers palette, click on any layer that you want to move, then click in the second column (between the eyeball and the layer's name) for every other layer you want to move. This temporarily links them together. When you have them all linked, just click-and-drag the whole lot to your new document.

Move Layers Between Documents:
Another way to move layers between documents is to use the Apply Image feature, found under the Image menu. It enables you to choose any layer, from a pop-up list, and move that layer to a new document (also chosen from a pop-up list.) You can also move the entire image as a flattened file, even if you haven't flatted the file yet.

Preserve Transparency Shortcut:
There's a keyboard shortcut for turning off and on Preserve Transparency. It's the forward slash key (/) on your keyboard.

Putting a Selection Around Everything On A Layer
There's a shortcut for selecting all the elements on the active layer. Just Command-click (Control-click on a PC) on the Layer's name in the Layers palette. For example, if you have text on a layer, to instantly select all the text, Command-click the layer's name.

Merging Active Layers Shortcut:
There's a keyboard shortcut for merging the active layer with the one below it. This is extremely handy when you've created a drop shadow for text, or an object, and you want to make the shadow and object one layer. Just press Command-E (Control-E on a PC) to Merge Down. Big time saver!

Select One Letter of Text:
If you have text on a layer, but only want to select one letter of text, you have to Render your Type layer, then you can drag a Lasso selection around the letter. Then hold the Command key (Control key on a PC) and press the up arrow key and the down arrow key. This makes the letter a Floating Selection and now you can move the letter any way you'd like (we usually use the Arrow keys on the keyboard to move the selection). When you're done editing this floating selection, press Command-D (Control-D on a PC) to drop the floating selection back down to the layer where you started.

Delete an Active Layer:
There's another way to delete an active layer besides dragging it into the trash. While the layer is active, you can just click-once on the trash can and a dialog box will appear asking you if you want to delete the active layer. Click yes to trash it, no if you made a mistake. To bypass that annoying dialog box, you can Option-click (Alt-click on a PC) the trash can. And yes, if you trash a layer by accident, you can immediately choose Undo Delete Layer from the top of the Edit menu. (Command-Z on a Mac, Control-Z on a PC.)

Covert your Background Layer to a Layer:
To convert your Background Layer to a layer, just double-click on the Background Layer in the Layers palette, and a dialog will appear with the default layer name "Layer 0". However, any white areas of this new layer will remain solid white, and not transparent like a regular layer. Here's a work around for that. If you want the background to be it's own layer, but you want to be able to make the white areas transparent, just make a copy of the background layer. It will be named Background Copy. Then make the original background layer active, select all (Command-A, or Control-A on a PC) and hit delete to erase the original background. Now you background layer is blank (white) and your old background is on its own layer. Now, go back to your Background Copy layer, and use the magic wand tool to select any white area. Then go under the Select menu and choose Similar (this will select all white areas in your image) and then hit Delete to make those areas transparent.

Create a New Adjustment Layer Shortcut:
If you hold the Command key (Control key on a PC) when you click the New Layer icon, you get the dialog box to create a new Adjustment Layer.

Copy Layer Effect to New Layer
You can copy any layer effect (or set of effects) to a new layer in Photoshop just by dragging the effect label in the Layers palette onto the desired layer thumbnail.

Repositioning the Background layer
The Background layer is locked by default and cannot be moved. Not only that, you can't unlock it (the lock icon at the top of the Layers palette is grayed out). But you're not out of luck--to move the Background layer, in the Layers palette, double-click on the Background layer and the New Layer dialog box will appear. It will rename your Background layer as Layer 0 and now it will be unlocked and movable.

Applying Styles
Want to apply a style to a layer using the Styles palette? Just click, drag, and drop that style on your object. The advantage of this "dragging and dropping?" You can drag and drop your style on any object on any layer, not just the current layer.

One-click color-coding
Want to color-code one of your layers (for easy visual identification) in a snap? Go to the Layers palette, hold the Control key (PC: Right-click), and click on the Eye icon next to the layer you want to color-code. A pop-up menu will appear and you can choose the color you want from this pop-up list.

Don't have a Background Layer? Make One!
If you're working on a document that doesn't have a Background Layer and you want to add one, simply create a new blank layer, then go under the Layer menu, under New, and choose Background from Layer.
Shortcut: Duplicate Your layer
To duplicate your current layer, press Command-J (PC: Control-J).
Float Selection into a Layer:
To "float" any selection and instantly make it its own layer, just press Command-J (Control-J on a PC).
Layers palette shortcuts
Here are a few quick ways to move layers around in the Layers palette:
1. To move the top layer down "behind" the layer below—Send Backward: Command–[ (PC: Control–[)
2. To move the second from the top layer to the top of the layer stack—Bring Forward: Command–] (PC: Control–])
3. To move the top layer to the bottom of the stack (above the Background layer)—Send to Back: Shift-Command–[ (PC: Shift-Control–[)
4. To move the layer above the Background layer to the top of the stack, Bring to Front: Shift-Command–] (PC: Shift-Control–])
5. To make the higher layer active: Option–] (PC: Alt–])
6. To make the lower layer active: Option–[ (PC: Alt–[)
7. To make the top layer active: Shift-Option-] (PC: Shift-Alt-])
8. To make the Background or lowest layer active: Shift-Option-[ (PC: Shift-Alt-[).
Brush TipsRearranging your Brushes
Want to change the order of your brushes in the Brushes palette? Just go under the Edit menu and choose Preset Manager. Choose Brushes from the pop-up menu, then click on a brush, and drag it to any place in the palette you'd like. Better yet, Shift-click on multiple brushes, and you can move them around the palette as a group.
Getting the old Brushes palette back
If the huge new Brushes palette is freaking you out, you can return to the floating palette of yesteryear by choosing "Expanded View" from the Brushes palette's pop-down menu.
Creating Temporary Brushes
At any time you can create a temporary brush by clicking directly on the currently selected brushes thumbnail (in the Options Bar). This brings up a dialog box where you can choose a new size or shape. Make your choices, click OK, and start painting. When you switch to another brush size, the temporary brush you just created is gone. However, if you fall in love with your temporary brush and want to save it, before you change brush sizes, click on the brush thumbnail icon again, and when the dialog box appears, click on the New Brush icon in the upper right-hand corner.
Moving the Brushes palette
To move Photoshop brushes palette from the Options Bar to a new location within your image window, just Control-click [PC: right-click] to have the palette show up in a different location.
Changing Brush Sizes While You Work
To change the size of your current brush, press the Left Bracket key on your keyboard to make the brush smaller, and the Right Bracket key to make it the next size larger. (note: the bracket keys are located to the right of the letter "P" on your keyboard). They look like this: [ and ].
Jumping to the next Preset Brush
Want to quickly jump to the next preset brush size? (i.e. 35, 45, 65, 100, etc.). Then just press the comma key to jump down, the period key to jump upward.
Navigating the Brush Picker
When you have the Brush Picker open, you can jump from brush to brush by using the Arrow keys on your keyboard.
Closing the Brush Picker Tricks
If you've opened the Brush Picker and decide you don't want to actually change brushes, just press the Esc. key on your keyboard. If you want to change brush and have the picker automatically close when you do, just double-click on the brush size you want.
Painting Straight Lines
To paint a straight line, just click the brush once in your image area, then move your cursor where you want the end of your straight line, hold the Shift key down, then click and a straight line will be painted between the two points.
Turn off Brush dynamic settings
Photoshop's Brush Engine is wonderful, enabling you to use Brushes, such as the Grass Brush, that paint onto the Canvas with a mind of their own, using variants of your active color. What if you don't want Photoshop's Brushes to "think" for themselves? You can easily make an "active" Brush stay where you want it and paint in the specified color by unchecking all of the small boxes on the left of the Brushes palette. By doing so, you're turning off the dynamic settings that make the Brush move.
Type TipsHiding the Text Baseline
When editing type in Photoshop CS, you may find the visible baseline distracting. After clicking inside the type object with the Type tool, mouse to the View menu and deselect Extras to temporarily hide the baseline.
Spell Checker tips
If you understand how Photoshop's spell checker works, it'll save you some time (and frustration) when spell-checking your documents. Basically, it works like this: If you highlight a word before you run the spell checker, it just checks that word; however, if you don't highlight anything, it checks all the type on every Type layer. Remember, that if you rasterize any Type layers, Photoshop doesn't see those layers as type anymore (because they're not); it sees them as an image, so make sure you run the spell checker before you rasterize your Type layer.
Rendering your Type Layer
To quickly rasterize your Type layer, hold the control-key (PC: Right-click) on the layer's name and a pop-up menu will appear. Choose Rasterize Layer from the menu.
See your Fonts on screen
Here's a trick for seeing how your type would look in various typeface (fonts). Simply create your type, highlight the type, then click once in the Font field (up in the Options Bar) then use the Up/Down arrow keys to scroll through your fonts. As you do, the typeface on screen will change.
Seeing your type as you change color
Photoshop lets you highlight any character, group of characters, or just one word within a sentence and change the color of just that highlighted area. However, while your type is highlighted, you can't actually see your type in color because of the highlighting. To get around this, press Command-H (PC: Control-H) and it will temporarily hide the highlighting, enabling you to see the color of your type as you adjust it.
Set the Tracking Tighter:
To visually (rather than numerically) set the tracking tighter (removing space between a group of letters) make sure your text is highlighted (within the text dialog box) then press Option-Left Arrow (PC: Alt-Left Arrow) to tighten. Press Option-Right Arrow (PC: Alt-Right Arrow) to add space between a selected group of letters or words.
Kerning:
To kern (adjust the space between two individual letters) click your cursor between the two letters and use the same keyboard shortcut as shown above (Option-Right and Left arrows to adjust accordingly).
Adjusting the Leading:
To visually increase the space between lines of text (called "adjusting the Leading") press Option-Down Arrow (PC: Alt-Down Arrow)to increase the space, Option-Up arrow (PC: Alt-UP Arrow) to decrease the space.

Increase Text Size:
To visually increase the text size, while your text is still selected, click once inside the size field then use the Up Arrow key to increase one point at a time.
Increase Text Size 10 Points at a Time:
To visually increase the text size 10 points at a time, while your text is still selected, press Shift-Option-Up Arrow (PC: Shift-Alt-up Arrow), and to decrease in 10 point increments press Shift-Option-Down Arrow (PC: Shift-Alt-Down Arrow).

Baseline Shift
To visually adjust the baseline shift (great for adjusting trademark and registration mark symbols) highlight the letter you want to affect and press Shift-Option-Up Arrow (PC: Shift-Alt-Up Arrow) and of course use the same shortcut with the down arrow to move text below the baseline.

Colorize Your Type
You can colorize your type within the Type dialog box. Just click on the color swatch to bring up the Color Picker, choose your new color and click OK. Your type will now appear in the color you've selected. (Unfortunately, all your type will be this new color, you can't just pick one word, or letter, and have it in a different color.)

Exact Size for Text Columns
You can create a column of text that behaves like a column in a page-layout application by clicking and dragging the Type tool before you enter your type. However, if you Option-click (PC: Alt-click) the Type tool instead, a dialog box will appear where you can enter the exact size you'd like for your text column.
Select all your Type with Once Click.
To quickly highlight all the type on a Type layer, just Double-click on the letter "T" thumbnail that appears in the Layers palette.
Changing Type without the Type Tool
If you want to change the attributes of your type (Font, Size, Leading, etc.), you don't have to get the Type tool first and highlight your type, just click on the Type Layer you want to edit and then open the Character Palette and make your changes.
Move Your Type While You're Editing It
You don't have to switch to the Move tool to reposition your Type while your either creating your type, or editing it. Just move your Text cursor away from the area where you're typing and it will temporarily change into the Move tool. Just click right there and drag to reposition your type. When you move back close to the text, the Text cursor will return.
Creating custom type
Photoshop enables you to create custom type in the same way that Adobe Illustrator does--by converting your type from a typeface, into paths you can freely edit (as if you had drawn the type with the Pen tool). To do this, create your type, then go under the Layer menu, under Type, and choose Create Work Path. This converts your type into paths that are not fully editable using the Pen tools.
Tool TipsGet the Eyedropper Any Time You're Painting
If you have any paint tool (Brush, Airbrush, Pencil, Eraser, etc.) you can temporarily switch to the Eyedropper tool (used for sampling any existing color from a image) you can just hold the Option key (Alt-key on a PC).
Get the Zoom Temporarily
To temporarily switch any tool you're working with to the Magnifying Glass tool, just hold the Command-Spacebar (Control-Spacebar on a PC).
Tip for working while zoomed in close
To temporarily switch any tool you're working with to the Grabber Hand, just hold the spacebar. Perfect for navigating while zoomed in close, because the Scroll Bars move too far, and are too unpredictable when zoomed in.
Rotate and Crop at the Same Time
When you're using the Crop tool, you can rotate while you crop by just moving your cursor outside the bounding box that appears around your image when you choose the crop tool. You'll see that your cursor temporarily changes into a double-headed arrow, which enables you to freely rotate your object. When it's rotated just the way you like it, you have two choices: Double-click inside the bounding box, or just press Return to make the rotation permanent.
How to Cancel a Crop
If you're using the Crop tool and decide you don't want to crop the image after all, just click once on the Crop tool icon in the tool palette. A dialog box will appear giving you the option to "Crop" or "Don't Crop."
Getting Straight Lines from your Lasso Tool
The Lasso tool is used for drawing freeform selections, but if you decide you'd like to use it to make straight line selections, just press "L" to get the Lasso tool, then press it AGAIN to get the Polygon Lasso tool, which draws straight lines that are connected to each other.
Editing Gradients
To bring up the Gradient Editor, get the Gradient Tool, then click on the current Gradient up in the Options Bar. To create your own custom gradient, click below the color bar to add another color to the gradient. To assign either the foreground or background color to this new color, click the "F" marker for foreground, or the "B" marker for background. To choose a different color altogether, just click on the rectangular swatch next to the F and B markers and the Color picker will appear, enabling you to choose any color you'd like. To delete a color, click and drag down to the bottom of the palette; it will disappear. To drag out an existing copy of a color already in the gradient, just Option-drag it (Alt-drag on a PC.)
Free Transform Tips:
To bring up Free Transform, press Command-T (PC: Control-T). Here's how the Free Transform tool works:

To Scale (resize) an object visually, just grab one of the corner and drag in or out. Hold down the Shift key as you drag to keep your image proportional.
To Rotate an object, just move your cursor outside the bounding box and the cursor changes to a two-headed arrow which enables you to free rotate.
To Distort an object, hold the Command key (Control key on a PC) and grab any corner and drag.
To Skew an object, hold both the Option-Command keys (Alt-Control on a PC) and drag a corner left or right to Skew.
For change the Perspective of an object, hold Shift-Option-Command (Shift-Alt-Control for a PC) and drag a corner up or down, left or right.
If all these commands seem too confusing (and frankly it is a bit hard to keep them all straight) you can always just hold the Control key and click anywhere (or on PC, just right-click) and a pop-up list of transformations will appear, and you can choose the one your looking for. When you do, the bounding box doesn't change, but the cursor changes to the right one for the transformation you selected. You can now just click and drag away!

Toggle Through The Tool Palette:
To instantly switch to the Rectangular Marquee tool just press "M". To get the Elliptical (circular) Marquee tool, just press Shift-M.

To get the Crop tool (you've missed this tool haven't you?) just press "C".

To toggle through the Pen tools press Shift-P to toggle between the Pen tool, the Magnetic Pen tool, and the Freeform Pen Tool. To get the Add Anchor Point Pen press the "+" (plus) key. To get the Delete Anchor Point Pen press the "-" (minus) key. Press the letter "A" to get the Direct Selection tool, and unfortunately there is no keyboard shortcut to get the Convert Point tool.

To get the Move tool press the letter "V"

The rest are pretty obvious (E for Eraser, B for Brush, T for Type, etc.) with the exception of:

• "I" for eyedropper
• "K" for Paint Bucket (You don't really use this tool, do you?)
• "N" for the Line tool
• "O" for the Burn tool

• "R" for Blur tool (Should have been R for Rubber Stamp)
• "U" for Smudge tool
• "Y" for Pencil tool

Other useful keyboard shortcutsShortcut: Eraser Toggle
To toggle between the regular Eraser tool and the Background Eraser, and Magic Eraser, press Shift-E.
Shortcut: Extract Dialog Box
To bring up the Extract dialog box, press Command-Option-X (PC: Control-Alt-X).
Shortcut: Extract Edge Highlighter
Within the Extract dialog box, switch to the Extract Edge Highlighter tool by pressing the letter b.
Shortcut: Extract Fill Tool
Within the Extract dialog box, switch to the Fill tool by pressing the letter k.
Shortcut: Extract Edge Highlighter's Brush Size
Within the Extract dialog box, change the Edge Highlighter's brush size by holding the right Bracket key to make it larger and the left Bracket to make it smaller.
Shortcut: Auto Contrast
To run Auto Contrast, press Shift-Command- Option-L (PC: Shift- Control-Alt-L).
Shortcut: Save for Web
To Save for Web, press Shift-Command-Option-S (PC: Shift-Control-Alt-S).
Shortcut: Toggle Between History and Art History Brush
Press Shift-Y to toggle between the History brush and the Art History brush.
Pen Tools:
To cycle through the standard pen, freeform pen, and magnetic pen tools: press Shift-P.
Add Anchor :
To select the Add Anchor Point tool press "+".
Subtract Anchor :
To select the Subtract Anchor Point tool press "-".
Direct Select Pen:
To get the Direct Select Pen (the hollow arrow) press "A" (note: you can also hold the Command key [PC: Control-key]) to get this tool anytime you have another Pen tool selected.
Convert Point Shortcut:
Hold the Option key (PC: Alt key) to get the Convert Point tool when any other Pen is selected.
Healing Brush:
Press J to get the Healing Brush.
Ruler Tool:
Press U to get the Measure tool. (Cool tip here: when you use the new Ruler tool, the Info box automatically appears, but here's the cool part. If you measure something that's crooked, the measurement automatically appears in the Rotate Canvas box for you and the proper rotation [clockwise or counterclockwise] is already selected for you. Pretty slick).
Marquee Tools:
Pressing Shift-M toggles back and forth between the rectangular marquee and circular (Elliptical) marquee tools.
Web TipsCreate slices exactly the same size
To create multiple slices that are exactly the same size, draw one slice that encompasses the full width you'd like all the slices to take up, switch to the Slice Select tool, and then click the Divide Slice button in the Options Bar and choose your options in the resulting dialog.

Normal in the Over state?
Hold Command and Option (PC: Control and Alt) when clicking the Create Layer-Based Rollover at the bottom of the Rollovers palette to use the Normal state animation in the Over state as well.

Create patterns with transparency
The Pattern Maker filter can create a pattern even when there's transparency in a layer. If you position the Marquee over an area that contains transparency, you'll get transparent areas in the final pattern. By creating several different patterns from the same image and overlaying them on top of each other, you can build up a much more complex pattern/texture this way.

Creating Background Transparency
Another way to create background transparency is to put the object you want on its own layer. Then, before you go to the Save for Web option to optimize the graphic, delete the Background Layer (leaving you with just Layer 1 in your Layers palette). After you do this, you'll notice that the checkbox for Transparency in the Save for Web dialog box is no longer grayed out. To create the transparency, click the checkbox on.

Copy the Color AND the HTML code

If you want to copy a color, and the HTML code used to create it, instead of just clicking on the color with the Eyedropper, instead Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the color and choose "Copy Color as HTML" from the pop-up menu that appears. Then you can paste this HTML code directly into your HTML editor, and the Hexadecimal code will transfer along with it. Try it by copying a color than Paste into a text document and you'll see what we mean.