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[PHOTOSHOP.COM TUTORIALS] [5 Insider Tips Every Newbie Should Know by Linda Sattgast] [Sattgast] This tutorial is brought to you by scrappersguide.com, the fastest way to learn digital scrapbooking--guaranteed. You can find out a lot about Photoshop Elements just by poking around in the program. But there are some things you just won't know unless someone tells you about them. So let me give you 5 insider tips that will save you time and make Photoshop Elements easier and more enjoyable to use. Tip #1 is to use shortcuts to zoom in and out and to move around. Of course Photoshop Elements has a Zoom tool, and there are keyboard shortcuts listed in the View menu. You can zoom in by pressing Control plus in Windows or Command plus on a Mac. You can zoom out by pressing Control minus in Windows or Command minus on a Mac. To instantly change size to fit the available desktop, press Control plus the number 0 in Windows or Command plus the number 0 on a Mac. But here is an even better shortcut for moving around in Photoshop Elements, and it's not listed in the View menu. You can temporarily turn the currently selected tool--in this case the Move tool-- into the Zoom tool by simply pressing Control plus the space bar in Windows or Command plus the space bar on a Mac. This is great because you can click on a photo to zoom in or you can click and drag to zoom in to a particular spot on your photo. When you're done using the Zoom tool, simply let go of the shortcut keys to go back to the original tool. To access the Hand tool, press just the space bar without any other keys. Then click and drag on your photo to move it where you want and let go of the space bar to go back to the original tool. And of course to get back to full size, use the shortcut listed in the View menu: Control 0 in Windows or Command 0 on a Mac. I'm going to press Control or Command minus to go back to 25% size. These shortcuts will save you lots of time as you work on your projects in Photoshop Elements. Tip #2 is to use the space bar to move any outline as you're creating it. Let's say you want to select part of this photo and you want it to be an oval vignette. Get the Elliptical Marquee tool and click and drag an outline. You almost never get it exactly where you want it, so before you let go of the mouse, press the space bar and drag your mouse, which will allow you to reposition the outline. Then let go of the space bar to continue to resize. You can go back and forth between moving the outline and resizing the outline just by pressing the space bar until you get it just right. Then, and only then, let go of the mouse and you have your outline exactly where you want it. Remember, though, you can only use the space bar to reposition before you let go of the mouse. This tip can be used with other tools where you click and drag an outline such as the Crop tool or the Shapes tools. Tip #3 is to press Control J in Windows or Command J on a Mac to copy something to a new layer. For example, if I want to copy this oval selection to a new layer, the easiest way is to press Control J in Windows or Command J on a Mac. If I click on the eye of the background layer to hide it, you can see that I only have the oval on this layer. When you don't have a selection outline, pressing Control or Command J will duplicate the entire layer. I often want to duplicate a photo so I can change the blend mode. In this case I'll change it from Normal to Overlay, and that makes the sky and the colors pop. Tip #4 is to use keyboard shortcuts for filling with color. Let's go back to the oval photo again. I'll make the background visible again by clicking to the left of the thumbnail. Let's say I want to fill this background layer with color. First I would click on it to select it, and then I would need to choose my color by clicking on the foreground color chip. I'll sample a pretty blue color from her dress. Let's pick a nice light blue color and click OK. If I use the Paint Bucket tool and click on the background, I only get a partial selection, and it's based on the tolerance level up here in the options bar. But if I use a keyboard shortcut, I can fill the entire layer at once. So most of the time I prefer to use keyboard shortcuts. Press Control backspace in Windows or Command Delete on a Mac to fill with the background color. Press Alt backspace in Windows or Option Delete on a Mac to fill with the foreground color. Tip #5 is to use a keyboard shortcut to duplicate and move an object in one motion. Here I've added some design elements to create a card. Let's say I want to duplicate this flower and move a copy of it over here. I could press Control or Command J to duplicate the layer, as I taught you in Tip #3. But if I use a different keyboard shortcut, I can duplicate and move the flower at the same time. In Windows press Control Alt, on a Mac press Command Option and you'll get a black and white arrowhead. When you see those two arrowheads, you can click on an object and drag away and put it into place and then let go of your mouse and let go of the keys. And now my card is complete. So there you have 5 insider tips that every newbie should know about Photoshop Elements. This is Linda Sattgast with Scrapper's Guide. [www.scrappersguide.com]
