Photoshop: An Introduction Part 1 - The Interface

This tutorial is aimed at users who just begun using Photoshop. It covers the very basics of the default interface, and is the first out of a series of beginner tutorials.

An Overview of the Interface

  • 1. Document Window / Canvas - Where your opened images are located.
  • 2. Tools Palette / Toolbox - The home of the tools of Photoshop.
  • 3. Palette Windows - Windows containing important options.
  • 4. Options Bar - Special options that appear after selecting a tool from the toolbox.
  • 5. Menu Bar - More important options, dealing with everything from saving documents to filters.
  • 6. Palette Dock - Dock of palette windows collapsed to icons.

The default interface can be customized as you like. For example, by clicking the arrows at the top of the toolbox, you can expand or contract its size into one or two rows.

You can also undock it from the side by clicking the top grey area (right below the arrows) and moving it towards the canvas. The same goes for the window palettes.

The Menu

Photoshop's file menu contains more options than you can imagine. This is where you'll go in order to save your files, rotate your images, apply filters or reveal hidden palettes. Of course, plenty of these things can easily be done using keyboard shortcuts.

  • File - Program options and misc tools. Open files, save, close, print, exit Photoshop.
  • Edit - Basic editing and program options. Undo / redo, cut, copy, paste, define a brush, edit keyboard shortcuts.
  • Image - Changes to the image. Change color mode, resize your image, rotate the canvas.
  • Layer - Everything dealing with layers. Make new layers, create smart objects, merge all layers.
  • Select - Make new selections, transform selections, contract or expand them.
  • Filter - Apply a filter from the large selection of artistic options: blur, sharpen, distort.
  • Analysis - Set the measurement scale, bring up the ruler and count tool etc.
  • View - Zoom in / out, and show certain things such as grids and slices.
  • Window - View hidden palettes, arrange windows or save your workspace.
  • Help - Help files.

What is the Toolbox?

The toolbox is one of your very best friends. It contains all of the various tools available in Photoshop that are at your disposal.

There's actually more tools hiding beneath the ones you see. See that tiny little arrow located at the bottom-right of some of the icons? If you right-click them, menus with more tools will appear.

  • Selection Tools - Use these to select an area of an image.
  • Crop & Slice Tools - Use these to crop or slice an image.
  • Painting Tools - Use these to paint, draw, fill an image with color or add gradients.
  • Retouching Tools - Use these to lighten or darken areas, blur, smudge or retouch.
  • Drawing Tools - Use these to draw pixel or vector graphics.
  • Type Tools - Use these to add text to an image.
  • Annotation, Measuring, Navigation Tools - Use these to add notes, sample colors, measure distances or zoom in / out.
  • Foreground / Background Color - The current foreground / background color. Change by clicking on either icon.
  • Quick Mask Mode - Starts the Quick Mask mode.
  • Screen Modes - Switches between available screen modes.

So which of these tools belongs to which group?

  • Selection Tools - Marquee tools, Move tools, Lasso tools, Quick Selection, and the Magic Wand.
  • Crop & Slice Tools - Crop, Slice, and the Slice Select.
  • Painting Tools - Brush, Pencil, Color Replacement, History Brush, Art History Brush, Gradients, and the Paint Bucket.
  • Retouching Tools - Spot Healing Brush, Healing Brush, Patch, Red Eye, Clone Stamp, Pattern Stamp, Eraser, Background Eraser, Magic Eraser, Blur, Sharpen, Smudge, Dodge, Burn and the Sponge.
  • Drawing Tools - Path Selection tools, Pen tools, Shape tools, and the Custom Shape.
  • Type Tools - Type tools and the Type Mask tools.
  • Annotation, Measuring, Navigation Tools - Annotation tools, Measuring tools, Eyedropper, Hand, and the Zoom.

For more detailed information what each of the tools do, it's easy to simply take a look in the help files that comes with Photoshop.

The Options Bar

After clicking one of the tools on the toolbox, you'll notice how the options bar will change depending on which tool you use. In the example below, I've selected the Brush tool. By clicking on the various options I can alter the way I want my brush to function. This goes for all of the tools available.

Using Palette Windows

A palette window contains many options, and is sometimes used together with tools from the toolbox. For example, open the Layers palette to easily create new layers, and play with blending modes and the opacity. Or while using the Text tool, open the Character and Paragraph palettes for more options. All of the palettes can easily be accessed via the Photoshop Menu - Window.

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