Photoshop Tool Bars

On the left: The Photoshop Elements 4.0 tool bar
On the right: The Photoshop CS2 tool bar.

The tools from the tool bar is the way that we get most of the work done in Photoshop. On this web page many of the tools are described and a brief description of what they are used for is given. For some of the more important tools a more detailed description of how to use the tool is given. When a tool is selected on the tool bar a tool menu bar is displayed on the third row down on the Photoshop screen. Each tool has its own menu. Each tool's menu bar (from Photoshop Elements 4.0) is pictured along with the description of the tool. The icon of the currently selected tool is on the left end of the menu bar.

Some tools belong to a family of tools. These are marked with a small black triangle on the lower right hand side of the tool's icon in the tool bar. You can select a tool from the family by right clicking (in windows) on the icon in the tool bar and selecting the tool of choice from the menu. In Photoshop Elements you may also select which tool you wish directly on the menu bar. The icon on the tool bar will be the last tool from the family that has been used.

Some of the Basics

• Brushes
  Brushes Menu in Photoshop Elements
  
  Brushes Menu in Photoshop CS2
  A brush is not a tool but rather a component of a tool. Many of the tools in Photoshop require the use of a brush. You then go over an area in the image with the brush and in the process apply the tool effects to that area. The menues above are actually a portion of the Tool Menu Bar for each tool that requires a brush. There are many advanced types of brush applications that are beyond these pages. However, the basic use of a brush requires three things to be considered.
  • First determine if you want a hard or soft brush. A hard brush allows you to make precise edges with your strokes. A soft brush allows you to make soft edges that will blend in with the areas not effected.
  • The second consideration is the size of the brush (measured in pixels). A small brush allows for very precise work. Frequently you will zoom in on a small area and work on that area. A large brush allows you to work very quickly. In Elements you choose the hardness of the brush and the size of the brush separately. In Photoshop CS a single dropdown menu allows you to choose both.
  • And the last important attribute of a brush is the Opacity. 100% opacity will apply the effect of the tool in its most complete form. A lesser opacity will allow you to control the amount of the effect.
    
    
• Background and Foreground
  
  Some of the tools require that you apply color to an area. The brush tool, the text tool, and the paint bucket tool are but three of these. Near the bottom of each tool bar is an area that appears like the figure above. The two large squares represent the current foreground (upper left) and background (lower right) colors. The default colors are black foreground and white background. You can switch the colors by clicking on the symbol on the upper right of this diagram. You can make these colors anything you wish by using one of several techniques, including the eyedropper tool. You can restore the colors to the default by clicking on the symbol in the lower seft of this diagram.
  
  
• Eyedropper Tool
  
  The eyedropper tool is used to select a foreground color from somewhere on the image you are working on. Simply select the Eyedropper Tool, move the eyedropper to a point in your image and click. The foreground color becomes the color of the point on which you clicked. You can actually choose any color that is on your computer screen. Click anywhere within your image and hold your mouse button and drag the eyedropper to anyplace on your screen (even outside of Photoshop) and release. You will then select that color.
  
  
• Paint Bucket Tool
  
  The Paint Bucket Tool is really a color replacement tool. Choose the paint bucket tool, move the pointer to somewhere within your image, click, and all colors that are close (as determined by the tolerance setting) to the point you clicked will be replaced by the foreground color. Very useful for filling selected rectangles, complete blank layers, etc.

The basic tools

• Zoom tool
  
  The zoom tool controls how you view the active image. It does not edit the image but rather controls your view of the image. You may zoom in closely for a close-up view of the area you are working on. Or you can click on "Fit Screen" and view the entire image. And sometimes you may wish to have an even smaller image than this. Normally you would want the "Resize Windows to Fit" checked and the "Ignore Pallets" and "Zoom All Windows" unchecked. Because the zoom tool cannot change the image this (along with the hand tool) is frequently the choice to keep active whenever you are not directly using a tool.
  
  
• Hand tool
  
  The hand tool allows you to move a zoomed in image around so that you can see and work with parts of the image anywhere in the image. Simply select the hand tool and move the image (by clicking on the image and dragging) to anywhere in the image you wish. An alternative way of temporarily selecting the hand tool is to hold the space bar down. This will select the hand tool and when you release the space bar you will be returned to your original tool.
  
  
• Crop tool
  
  The crop tool is used to crop your image by selecting any portion of the picture you wish to retain. You may do this free style (as it is setup in this example) or you may enter the width, height and resolution and crop to a specified dimension. In Elements 4.0 you may return to free style by making the aspect ratio "No Restriction". In other versions of Photoshop you simply click on the "clear" button (not shown here.)
  
  
• Red Eye tool
  
  This may not be a "basic" tool but it is included in the Elements quick fix tool bar and it doesn't seem to fit anywhere else. But as the name of the tool bar indicates it is used to remove the red eye from the pictures of people who have the flash reflect off the retina of their eyes back into the camera. To correct red eye select the red eye tool then click once on each eye you wish to correct. Just like magic. Or, if you are using Elements 4.0, you may click on the "Auto" button and correct every red eye in your photograph, even if there are a hundred people in the picture. However, it is possible that you will "correct" a red button or two also.
  
  
• The Brush Tool
  
  The brush tool will paint the foreground color where ever it is applied. Apply the brush by clicking and holding and moving the brush across the image. By changing the opacity you can change the effect. An opacity of 100% will completely cover anything you brush. An opacity of 20% will simply tint the area brushed.
  
  
• The Clone Stamp Tool
  
  Most people look at the clone stamp tool as a way to remove an unsightly object from your picture. But it actually copies part of your picture from one place in your picture to another part. The trick is to replace the unsightly object with something that looks like it belongs. There is a project in these lessons that shows exactly how this works.

Selection Tools

What is a selection?
Selections are used to restrict actions to a particular area of the photograph on which you are working. You may use selections to lighten a portion of your photo without changing the rest. You may use selections to delete a sky so that you may replace it with a better looking sky. You may use selections to change the color of a portion of the picture and not change the rest. You may use selections to cut out a person and put him/her in another picture. There are all kinds of uses for selections. When you make a selection that current selection will be outlined by a moving dotted line, frequently referred to as "crawling ants".

Using the select menu option in the main menu you can modify a selection by expanding it one or two pixels. You may also blur the edges of a selection by use of the selection-feather command. These two techniques are very useful in creating a natural looking picture without sharp edges. Both will be discussed and demonstrated in the projects in these lessons.

With all of the selection tools each application of the tool results in a selection being made. You have the choice of making that selection a new selection, by adding to the current selection, by subtracting from the current selection or by intersecting the current selection. Your choice is made by activating one of the icons in the figure above.

Starting from the left
a. New selection: Your current action will create a new selection, deleting the old selection if one existed. Every thing you select will become selected.
b. Add to the current selection: Your current selection will select an area which will be added to the current selection. This allows for progressively selecting an area (such as the sky.)
c. Subtract from the current selection: Sometimes a particular selection method selects more than you want. Activate the third choice and whatever you select with your next action will be deleted from the current selection.
d. Intersect with the current selection: Your current action will leave as selected only those things that are in both the current selection and what is currently being selected. This choice is seldom used.

• The Magic Wand
  
  The magic wand tool is one of the most powerful of the selection tools and one of the easiest to use. Simply select the tool on the tool bar and click somewhere on the picture within a portion that you wish to select. Then everything in the image that has a color close to the point you clicked on will be selected. There are two important settings that you need to keep in mind. The Tolerance setting tells Photoshop "how close". The smaller the number the less will be selected. If you do not select enough make the tolerance larger. If you select too much make the tolerance smaller. Also the Contiguous box, when checked, will require the selection to be within a contiguous area and will not search the entire image for its selection. The most common way to use the magic wand tool is to select "Add to Selection", make the tolerance between 10 and 40, and check Contiguous. Then click multiple times on the intended selection until it is selected.
  
  
• The Marque Tool Family
  • Rectangular Marque Tool
    
    This tool is used to select a rectangle. It will not be one of your most used selection tools but is useful to darken the corners. That is for a later lesson.
    
    
  • Elliptical Marque Tool
    
    The Elliptical Marque Tool is used to select an elliptical shape. It is useful to cut out an ellipse for enclosing it in an oval frame.
    
    
• The Lasso Tool Family
  • The Lasso Tool
    
    All of the lasso tools require the user to draw an enclosed area thereby selecting that area. The Lasso Tool itself is a free form drawing tool. Click and hold the mouse button then draw around the area you wish to select. Anytime you release the mouse button Photoshop will draw a straight line to the beginning of the loop, completing the selection. Because it is free form it is normally used when precise work is not needed. It is very difficult to move the mouse in a precise way.
    
    
  • The Polygonal Lasso Tool
    
    You can use the polygonal lasso tool for more precise work. Again you are drawing a closed loop. But this time you are doing it with a series of straight lines. Click on the beginning of your loop. Then move to the next point in your loop and click again. A straight line is drawn between the two points you clicked. Continue around the area you wish to select clicking whenever you need. Note: You can actually draw a curve with straight lines if you make them short enough. You can also smooth out the edges with the Select - Modify - Contract command.
    
    
  • The Magnetic Lasso Tool
    
    If you have a sharp contrast between what you wish to select and what you wish to leave unselected the Magnetic Lasso Tool is an excellent choice. Use it much like the polygonal lasso tool except that when you move from point to point Photoshop will hug any edge it finds. This gives you precise selection of many objects.
    
    
• The Selection Brush Family (only in Photoshop Elements 4.0)
  • The Selection Brush
    
    The Selection Brush family was introduced by Adobe with the introduction of Photoshop Elements 4.0. Expect this great family to be included in CS3 when it comes out as well as in all future versions of Photoshop. The basic selection brush will select (or deselect) any area that is brushed. This is a great tool if you need to touch up an existing selection. Make the brush size fairly small, zoom in on a small area and either add or subtract from the current selection.
    
    
  • The Magic Selection Brush
    
    The magic selection brush will make an original selection by the use of a broad stroke. Make a wide path around an object that has relatively sharp edges. Make sure your path covers the edge of the object. When you complete the path by enclosing the object release and Photoshop will find the edges and select your object. Just like magic. In practice you may need to touch up the selection, but this gives you a great start.

Tools To Use With Layers

• The Move Tool
  
  The move tool is use with layers. If you have a layer within an image you can use this tool to move your object to its correct position. You can also use the move tool to resize the object so that it looks natural within your photo (or unnatural, if that is the effect desired!)
  
  
• The Eraser Tool
  
  The eraser tool does exactly what its name implies. It will erase a portion of the selected layer. By changing the opacity you can erase all or part of whatever is brushed. A great tool for making local corrections.