10 Photoshop Tool Secrets

10 Photoshop hidden techniques, tips and shortcuts to increase your speed and use of the Photoshop tools.

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1 Quickly Access Related Tools

1. Hold alt and click on a particular tool’s icon to toggle related tools.

2 The Move Tool

1. Hold CTRL to access the Move tool at anytime.

3 Duplicate Current Layer

1. Hold CTRL and ALT to drag a duplicate of the current layer.

4 Use The Eyedropper Tool To Choose A Background Colour

1. With the Eyedropper tool (I) selected, hold ALT when selecting colours from the image window to change the document background color.

5 Access The Hand Tool

1. Hold the SPACE BAR to access the Hand tool (H).

6 Copy Colour Values To The Clipboard

1. With the Eyedropper tool (I) selected, right click on an image to reveal a menu.
2. Select Copy Color To Html.
3. The hexadecimanl value will then be on the clipboard ready to pasted wherever you choose.

7 Toggle Quickmask Mode

1. Simply press Q to toggle between Standard mode and Quickmask mode.

8 Quickly Increase/Decrease Brush Size

1. Press [ to increase the size of the active brush.
2. Press ] to decrease the size of the active brush.

9 Zoom In and Out Effectively

1. Press CTRL + to zoom in.
2. Press CTRL - to zoom out.

10 Access The Zoom Tool Menu

1. With the Zoom tool (Z) selected, right click on the image window to reveal the Zoom tool menu.
2. The menu includes the following options; Fit On Screen, Actual Pixels, Print Size, and Zoom In and Zoom Out.