Photoshop Tools Overview

Study Notes

Photoshop Tools

Move Tool: Used to move layers, selections, and objects within a document.
Marquee Tool: Creates rectangular, elliptical, single-row, or single-column selections. Often used to select large areas or shapes.
Lasso Tool: Provides freeform selection, allowing for drawing and selecting parts of an image by hand.
Crop & Slice Tool: Crop allows cutting or trimming image parts, changing composition or removing unwanted areas. Slice divides the image into smaller, easier-to-manage sections for web use and exporting optimized image parts individually.
Measure Tool: Helps measure distances, angles, and sizes within an image. Helps create accurate designs and layouts.
Retouch Tools: A category of tools for enhancing or fixing image imperfections.
Paint Tools (Brush & Pencil): Draw, paint on images, add color, or add custom details.
Clone Stamp Tool: Duplicates a part of an image and applies it elsewhere. Often used for covering elements, or duplicating textures.
History Brush: Restores image parts to a previous state based on the history. Useful for selectively reversing actions.
Erase Tool: Removes parts of a layer or mask, effectively "erasing" them from view.
Gradient Tool: Creates smooth color transitions between colors in a selected area or layer. Often used for backgrounds and blending effects.
Blur Tool: Softens edges and details in an image, making an image smoother.
Dodge/Burn Tools: Dodge lightens image areas to improve highlights. Burn darkens areas to add contrast or emphasize shadows.
Pen Tool: Creates precise paths or shapes using vector points and curves. Often used for making selections, outlines, or detailed illustrations.
Type Tool: Adds and edits text within an image.
Path Tool: A vector outline created using the Pen Tool. Used for selections, shapes, defining boundaries.
Shape Tool: Draws predefined shapes (rectangles, circles, polygons, etc.). Vector based, scalable without losing quality.
Hand Tool: Allows panning around an image.

Photoshop Core Functionality

Layers Panel: Organizes layers within a document, allowing work on image parts separately.
Adjustment Layers: Applies image effects (brightness, contrast, hue, saturation) non-destructively, without permanently altering the image.
Layer Mask: Hides or reveals parts of a layer non-destructively. Allows painting on masks to control the visibility of different parts.
Smart Objects: Retains original image data allowing for non-destructive editing and transformations. Can be edited without losing quality.
Blending Modes: Controls the interaction of layers with each other.
Filters: Predefined effects to add specific looks or styles (e.g., Sharpen, Distort, Noise, Artistic).
Actions: Records steps in order to save and apply to other images, automating repetitive tasks (batch processing).
Brush Settings: Customizes brush tools (appearance, shape, texture, behavior, size, hardness, dynamics).
Color Panel: Selects colors for brushes, text, and shapes. Includes options for RGB, CMYK, grayscale, etc.
Gradients Panel: Gradient presets and customization options for smooth color transitions.
Channels: Displays color components (Red, Green, Blue) and allows for advanced selections and editing based on color information.
Paths Panel: Manages vector paths created with the Pen tool, controlling selections and shapes precisely.
History Panel: Tracks changes on the image, allowing reverts to previous states.
Info Panel: Displays image info (color values, dimensions, cursor position), especially in precision work.
Properties Panel: Displays settings for the selected layer, mask, or Smart Object.
Libraries: Stores and accesses frequently used assets (colors, styles, graphics) across projects.
Artboards: Creates multiple layouts in a single document (for mobile app or web page designs).
Timeline: Used for creating animation edits and video editing. Enables frame-by-frame animation or video layer adjustments.
Selection Tools: Beyond Marquee and Lasso, includes Magic Wand, Quick Selection, Select and Mask for detailed selections.
Content-Aware Tools: Content-Aware Fill automatically fills selected areas based on surrounding content. Content-Aware Move allows moving/extending parts of an image.
Export Options: Provides choices for exporting images.