Photoshop Painting and Editing Techniques
  • Press shift while dragging with any paint or edit tool to draw a straight line..
  • Always note the opacity in the Option palette while painting to avert mistakes
  • Press a number key to change the setting of the Opacity, Pressure or Exposure slider bar in 10 percent increments
  • Consider making a new blank layer and paint there. Paint separate pieces or objects. This will allow you to make opacity adjustment in the Layers palette. It's also easier to erase unwanted areas.
  • If you're retouching with the Clone or Healing Brush tools, it's essential to zoom in very close to the area you're working on and use a small soft brush.
  • Always note what your foreground and background colors are. Check the tool box near the bottom for the two large squares. Click inside one of them to access the Color Picker. Play with it awhile and get familiar how the colors can change.
  • In the toolbar click the curved double arrow to switch the background to foreground. Type the letter X and that will switch the colors too.
  • If you want the color to be black and white then type the letter D and you got it.
  • Go to Window> Swatches and the Swatch palette will come up. Click on a square and that color will be your new foreground color.
  • Go to Window>Color and the Color palette will come up. Click around on the colors and drag the sliders a bit and you'll see that the foreground color in the toolbar changes with you. Have fun, you can't break Photoshop.

Enhance your Photoshop vocabulary with Photoshop Encyclopedia. Containing 396 pages, numerous hyperlinks and cross-references of over 1400 Photoshop and digital photography terms. Learn more...