Photoshop 101: Know Your Tools
If you look at the toolbox, you’ll see that it can be separated into a few different categories:
- Selection Tools
- Cropping and Slicing Tools
- Painting Tools
- Retouching Tools
- Drawing and Text Tools
- Helper Tools
Many of these tools operate in a similar fashion and produce similar results, just in slightly different ways. So why did Adobe make everything so complicated, you ask? Because different tools can perform different tasks more easily.
A helpful hint: Holding [Shift] and/or [Alt] will modify the function of many tools. Think of Shift as your rigid modifier, forcing the tool into a locked aspect ratio or straight lines at every 45ยบ. Try holding them when working with a tool to see what results!
Additionally, each tool has a letter shortcut associated with it. If you hold [Shift] and press the corresponding tool’s letter you will cycle through those buried beneath it.
