Getting Around Photoshop

Photoshop is (in many ways) like most programs. It has menus at the top as well as a large open area where you do all of your work. It does, however, have a few additional areas that you will need to become acquainted with. These include the tools and palettes.

I will cover the five major areas in the Photoshop workspace. These are the Canvas (File), Menus, Tool Box, Tool Options Box, and Palettes.


Canvas/ File

The canvas is where you do all of your work. It is very often a photograph that you have opened. It can also be called a “file.” In other words it is what you are working on.

The canvas should not be confused with the background of the program. Mac users don’t have a program background, so they are probably confused already as I talk of one. But PC versions of most programs do have a program background.

The canvas/ file floats above that background and there can be multiple files open at the same time floating above and below each other.

Some notable features of the canvas are that it is its own window that can be enlarged, closed, minimized, etc. Along the top of the canvas is the file name, how zoomed in it is (in percentage), the color space, and the bit depth. That looks like something like this: File Name.jpg @ 100% (RGB/8).

Color space and bit depth are advanced concepts. For now just know that RGB color space at 8 bits/ channel (RGB/8) is normal for about 90% of normal photographic manipulation.

The Canvas can have a ruler (as in the video example). The ruler can be in inches, cm, percentage, pixels, etc. It can be turned on or off in the “View” menu. A grid is also available, but not recommended

The canvas does have one more option. It is an information display box at the bottom of the window, just to the left of the scroll arrow. There is a right-facing triangle that, when clicked on, can change the information displayed in a box left of that arrow.



Menus

The program menus in Photoshop are where you find most of the effects that you can apply to your image. You will also find the usual program commands such as: Open, Save, Print, Cut, Paste, etc.

These menus have so many uses that it would take weeks to explore all of them. The video does a quick overview of the menu groups.



Tool Box

Tools are mainly used for selective changes that you apply to a certain area. When you select a tool, your mouse becomes that tool. It is as though you are picking up and holding a tool out of a tool box.

Because you are now able to “wield” a tool, you are able to manipulate the image in specific areas. This is important if, for example, you wanted to brighten just one area and not the entire image.

This is the main difference between the effects you find in the program menus and the effects you can achieve using the tools in the tool box. The effects in the program menus are (for the most part) effects that you apply to the image as a whole. It is in the menu that I would find the effect to brighten the entire image. However, using the “Dodge” tool from the tool box, I can lighten a specific area using a “brush.”



Tool Options

Tool options appear just under the program menus (unless that “window” has been closed, it can be brought up again by going to the Window menu and selecting “Tool Options). This is where you can fine-tune your tool and make it act how you need it to.

Often you can increase or decrease the intensity of the tool, and change how large of an area it affects at a time. The tool options window is an important place to start right after selecting a tool.



Palettes

Palettes can be moved anywhere (as can the tool box and the tool options window), but generally they are found to the far right of the program window.

Palettes are where you store extra windows. These windows usually contain extra options and tools that are connected to either tools from the tool box, or effects found in the menus.
Just like an artist’s palette is customized for their workflow, you open the palettes that are most useful to you. If you are always needing to select colors to use, then you will have a color palette open (it is an extension of the color tool in the tool box).