Adobe Photoshop Basic Tools, Beginner’s Guide

When I started learning Adobe Photoshop, I found most of its tools really interesting in use but somewhat different. After a little practice, I got a good hold on its tools. Here is a tutorial for the beginners guiding them about the important tools of Adobe Photoshop using which they can learn this software quickly.

When you start Adobe Photoshop, you can see the interface with some functional windows and a toolbar on it. We are going to learn about the basic functions of toolbar in Adobe Photoshop.

1. Double clicking quickly on the top blue header of the toolbar hides/shows the toolbar.

2. Clicking the Photoshop icon on the toolbar leads you to get help online about the Photoshop.

3.    Marquee Tools has four options:

a. Rectangular Marquee Tool lets you make selection in rectangular shape.

b. Elliptical Marquee Tool allows selection in ellipse shape.

c. Single Row Marquee Tool makes selection in horizontal direction.

d. Single Column Marquee Tool makes selection vertically.

4.    Move Tool is used to move the objects like layers and selections you make.

5.    Lasso Tool has three options:

a. Simple Lasso Tool makes free-hand selection of objects, colors or anything by clicking and dragging the mouse. It is used for zig-zag selection.

b. Polygonal Lasso Tool makes selection using straight lines. It works by clicking and encloses the selection area by double clicking.

c. Magnetic Lasso Tool is an amazing selection tool. You just need to click on the color you want to select and move the mouse cursor, Magnetic tool will automatically move with same tone and make selection. It detects the similar color tones and makes the selection easy.

6.    Magic Wand is also a selection tool. It works by clicking on the required color. It can make more than one selections simultaneously.

7.    Crop Tool is used to trim the images up to required size or shape. Using this tool you can trim the extras from your image file.

8.    Slice Tool divides your image file into parts. It is used for big size files to cut those into smaller files. It makes working on big size files easier.

9.    Healing Brush Tool is used to repair the scratches on the image. Holding the Alt key, make selection of the smooth/nice area of the image, it will copy the area. Now dragging on the damaged area will repair it.

10.    Brush Tool is used to draw images using different sizes and shapes.

11.    Pencil Tool also works like Brush tool. It draws images using different sizes and shapes.

12.    Clone Stamp Tool works to clone a selected area of your image from one location to another. Hole Alt key and press on the area you want to clone. The cursor turns into a plus sign. Then release the Alt key and simply drag the mouse cursor to the other location. It will transfer the similar image there.

13.    Pattern Clone Tool works similar to Clone Stamp tool but the difference is only that it is used to clone the specific patterns which you choose from Adobe’s collection or your hard drive.

14.    History Brush Tool takes you back to any step of drawing. You can paint anything selecting from the History Palette which you have already done on the image a few steps back.

15.    Eraser Tool allows you to erase the selected colors or errors. It works by dragging and removes the color. It also works in selection.

16.    Gradient Tool creates attractive effects in your design. By a simple click and drag action on the selected area, it leaves the shades of colors and style which you have chosen in the color window and styles list. It is also used for the blending of background or foreground selected area.

16.    Paint Bucket Tool pours the colors into the selected areas by a simple click.

17. If you drag the Blur Tool into your image, it makes the selected area fuzzy and unclear. It is used to reduce the sharpness of image.

18.    Smudge Tool creates the effects like water is dropped on a painting. It drags the colors in the direction the Smudge tool moves.

19. Using Sharpen Tool, you can make a foggy image more clear by increasing its sharpness. It works by click and drag.

20.    Dodge Tool lightens the image area where you apply it. It works by clicking on the selected area.

21.    Burn Tool is used to create the effects in the image. Using Burn tool, burns the color and makes different tones of that color.

22.    Sponge Tool does not change the original effects but it paints with saturation. Using Sponge tool on an image, you can make the color less or more intense.

23.    Path Selection Tool is used while working with paths in Adobe Photoshop. Its performance is based along with the Pen tool.

24.    Text Tool adds text in your image using any font style, size and color.

25.     Pen Tool pays an important role in creating paths. Pen tool works by clicking to create the points. These points can be dragged by holding the Ctrl key to change the shape or direction of the path. Paths are mostly used for creating difficult selections.

26.    Shapes Tool holds different kind of pre-designed shapes which you can add in your design/image you are working on.

27.    Notes Tool enables you to add notes in your image in text form. These short notes enable you to remember or highlight important points about your image.

28.    Eyedropper Tool picks the color where you click it. It is helpful in selecting different tones of similar color in image.

29.    Hand Tool moves the file up and down when it is in zoom up size.

30.    Zoom Tool maximizes the view size of your image.

31.    Color Windows contain the colors you want to work with.