Photoshop Cut - Copy - Crop
Background Color - Cut & Paste - Duplication - Resizing - Replace - Adding Color -
Crop - Crop & Rotate - Create Image Border - Enlarge Canvas - Canvas Resize -
Image Resize - Rotate Image - Perspective - Flip
The Selection tools are essential tools to Photoshop and are often used with other tools or start a process that is further refined by painting tools.
TIP: The Rectangle & Ellipse Marquee Tools generally draw from one corner to another. By holding down the ALT key, they will draw from the center.
Background Color
- New > Foreground Color > Color Picker > select a color
- Click ok
- Paint Bucket > click inside the 'image'
As long as you remain in the Paint Bucket 'mode', you can continue to switch colors.
TIP: The Color Palette will also allow you to set colors.
The image quality of JPEGs will decrease as you repeatedly save them with modifications. If you are working with PSD, convert to JPG only at the very end.
Cut & Paste
Copy/Cut & Paste actually creates a "layer".
- Marquee Tool (select the desired section of the image)
or
- Select > All
- Edit > Copy
- File > New
- Edit > Paste into the new canvas
TIP: You can also paste the selected area into another picture - make sure to set the Feather Radius so the foreground image will blend into the new picture
Duplicating a Selected Area
o Marquee > drag to select the area to be "copied"
o Move > Shift + drag the copy to its new location
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Resizing the Selected Area
Expanding Selected Area
Select > Modify > Expand > # of pixels to expand the selected area by
Decrease Selected Area
Select > Modify > contract > # of pixels to decrease the selected area by
Resize Height & Width of Selection
Select > Transform > reshape with the handles
Nudging a Selection
After you have selected the area, move the selection right/left/up/down via the keyboard arrows
Smoothing Selections
Smoothing rounds corners or sharp edges.
Select > Modify > Smooth
- Enter the # of pixels of "smoothness" you wish to add
- Click ok
Inverting Selections
- Select > Inverse
- The area selected will become the opposite of the current area (ex: select the zebra and invert - the area outside the zebra will become the selected area)
Adding Additional Selections to One Image
Marquee Tool > SHIFT + draw the shape
Adding Extra Space to the Selected Area
Marquee Tool > Add Tool Bar Option > draw the shape
Subtracting Space from the Selected Area
Marquee Tool > Subtract Tool Bar Option > draw the area to be subtracted
Creating the Intersection of Two Selected Areas
Marquee Tool > Intersection Tool Bar Option > draw the areas - with the intersection of the two areas becoming the new selected area
Adding Multiple Selections within the Selected Area
Marquee Tool > (cursor inside the area) ALT + draw the shape
Adding Color to a Selected Area
- Click the Foreground Color and select a color from the Color Picker.
- Click ok.
- Click on the Paint Bucket and then click inside the selected area.
Or
- Edit > Fill
Extra:
o Modify > Border > add a border
o Change the foreground/background colors to default again
o Paint Bucket > 'fill' the selections again
o TIP: Edit > Fill > options for modifications
o Border Color Option:
o Edit > Stroke
Extra:
o Select > Inverse
o Edit > Fill
NOTE: The Lasso Tool Option Bar is similar to the Marquee Tool Option Bar (normal, add, subtract, intersect)
Replace One Image with Another
- Open the images you wish to merge
- Select the marquee tool desired to "select" the area that will be replaced on the first image
- Drag the outline to the second image
- Select > Transform
- Drag the handles to scale, drag outside the selected area to rotate. Jot down the scale & rotate values.
- Click ok
- Select the marquee tool desired to "select" the new area (second image). Draw this slightly larger than the area taken from the first image
- CTRL/Drag the area selected from the first image to the second image
- Edit > Free Transform (scale and rotate the replacement area)
- Enter the jotted down values (inverted: if the rotation was 15, type in -15) in the Options Bar.
- Click ok.
TIP: You will notice a "fringe" of color that follows along with the pasted image. To delete the fringe:
Layer > Matting > Defringe
Or
Select > Modify > Contract
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Crop
To Determine the Image's Dimensions
Crop > Options Bar > Front Image
Basic Cropping
TIP: To specify dimensions while cropping:
Crop > Options Bar - enter values for width/height
or
Crop > Options Bar > enter value for height/width > checkmark > resizes accordingly (may loose resolution quality)
or
Crop > Options Bar - Front Image > leave dimensions as is or enter desired dimensions (useful if you wish to have several images with the same dimensions)
For Exact Image Size Dimensions:
o Marquee > options bar (Style - Fixed Size - insert the desired height/width) > draw the shape >
o "Nudge" as needed > Image > Crop
Crop & Rotate
- Drag outside the perimeter of the dotted line to crop and rotate at the same time
- Press SHIFT while dragging outside the perimeter to rotate at 15 degree increments
- Drag inside the perimeter of the dotted line to crop to move the cropped area around
TIP: Check the SHIELD CROPPED AREA box if you wish the area outside the crop marquee to be darkened - the cropped area is now "highlighted" - making it easier for you to distinguish the cropped area from the rest of the image
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Crop & Create a Border Around the Image
- Select > All >
- Select > Modify > Border
or
Edit > Stroke > enter border size, color (click in the color bar
to open the Color Picker) and location of border(inside or
outside edge of image)
- Click ok
- Click anywhere outside the image so the dotted line disappears
Crop & Enlarge Canvas
- Crop > drag outward on any of the resizing handles to make the image larger than the existing canvas.
- Enlarge the canvas area.
- TIP: Dragging a corner handle while pressing the SHIFT key to constrain proportions is a quick way to add a solid color border to an image
- Crop/Enter > Crop (yes) > Foreground color > Color Picker (select color) > Paint Bucket > click inside the background area of the canvas & the selected color will create a background to the image
Crop Using the Trim command
- Image > Trim
- Transparent pixels (trim away any extra transparency in layers)
- Top left pixel color (remove any border areas that match the color of the upper left pixel from the image)
- Bottom right pixel color (remove any border areas that match the color of the lower right pixel from the image)
- Select which area of the image you wish to trim: top, bottom, left or right
- Click ok.
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Eraser Tool
o Eraser Tool - erase one pixel at a time
o Background Eraser - erase similar background colors
o Magic Eraser - erase similar "objects"
Canvas Resize
Resizing the canvas makes the picture area larger or smaller, while leaving the image floating within it. This allows more space around an image without changing the image size.
- Image > Canvas Size > specify height/width (Photoshop will resize the alternate size)
- Use the anchor to determine where the image will be placed within the canvas
- Click the middle to "center" the image on the enlarged canvas or place it in any of the "boxes" (ex: place a logo in the upper left corner and save the "canvas" as a background to your page)
- Click ok.
TIP: The current background will "fill in" the added area.
TIP: Be careful in resizing the canvas to a smaller size - you may loose part of your image!
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Image Resize
- Image > Image Resize
- make sure Constrain Proportions is checked so the image is resized height/width proportional
- enter new %s in one of the fields (height or width - Photoshop will automatically calculate the other size)
- set the resolution to 72 dpi for web work
- click OK.
NOTE: Leave Bicubic checked if you are decreasing size - "uncheck" if increasing size
Resampling changes the resolution but does not change the resolution… thus a larger image will loose quality
Changing Image Resolution
- Image > Image Re-size
- Check the resample image box but leave the height/width intact
Resize to a Specific Height & Width
- File > Automate > Fit Image
- Enter the height OR width
- Click ok
Resizing a Portion of an Image
- Marquee > select the desired area
- Edit > Transform > Scale (resize and retain as much of the image detail as possible)
- Drag any of the "handles" that appears to change the size of the image while holding down the SHIFT key to maintain proportions.
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Rotating an Image
Photoshop allows you to rotate an image by one degree at a time or by 90 degrees at a time.
- Image > Rotate Canvas >
- 180 (person standing on their head)
- 90 CW (clockwise, Noon to 3 o'clock)
- 90 CCW (counter-clockwise, Noon to 9 o'clock)
Or
- Image > Rotate Canvas > Arbitrary > enter the number of degrees you wish to rotate (between -359.99 and 359.99)
NOTE: you can always undo and re-rotate
TIP: Click the radio button to set the rotation direction (CW - clockwise or CCW - counter-clockwise)
Options:
- Marquee > select the desired area
- Edit > Free Transform
or
- Edit > Transforms > Rotate
- Drag the handles to rotate, skew, scale, or distort… You can also enter numeric transformations in the Tool Options bar.
- Hold down the SHIFT key while rotating to ensure that your image doesn't distort
Correct perspective
- Marquee > Edit > Transform > drag over the area that will be "corrected"
- Select a corner to drag until the item selected is correctly positioned
- Repeat as needed on other corners
- Click to accept (to apply the changes) or press ENTER, or double-click inside the cropping box
Flipping an Image
Flipping is different from rotating because it changes the up/down or left/right orientation of the image.
Image > Rotate Canvas > flip horizontal/vertical
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