Photoshop Tools:
- The tools panel appears on the left side of the screen by default.
- We can view information about any tool by positioning the mouse pointer over it.
- Right click on the tool to show the hidden tools beneath the tool.
Tools Panel Overview:
There are four main group of tools by functionality on the tools panel.
1. Selection, Cropping and Measuring tools.
1. Selection, Cropping and Measuring tools.
2. Retouching and Painting tools.
3. Drawing and Type tools.
4. Navigation tools.
3. Drawing and Type tools.
4. Navigation tools.
At the bottom of the tools panel we find set foreground and background color, as well as quick mask.
Tools and Their Functionality:
Selection, Cropping and Measuring |
Tool Icon | Tool Name | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Move (V) | Moves selections, layers and guides. | |
 |
Marquee (M) | Makes rectangular, elliptical, single row and single column selections. | |
 |
Lasso (L) | Makes free hand, polygonal (straight-edged) and magnetic (snap to) selections. | |
 |
Quick Selection (W) | Makes quick selections by painting. | |
 |
Crop (C) | Crops an image. | |
 |
Eyedropper (I) | Samples colors in an image. | |
Retouching and Painting | |||
 |
Spot Healing (J). | Removes Imperfections. | |
 |
Brush (B) | Paints the foreground color. | |
 |
Clone Stamp (S) | Paints with a sample of the image. | |
 |
History Brush (Y) | Paints with selected state or snapshot. | |
 |
Earser (E) | Erases pixels or reverts to a saved history state. | |
 |
Gradient (G) | Creates a gradient. | |
 |
Blur | Blurs the pixels. | |
 |
Dodge (O) | Lightens pixels in an image. | |
Drawing and Type | |||
 | Pen (P) | Draws a vector path. | |
 | Horizontal type (T) | Creates a type layer. | |
 | Path Selection (A) | Allows to manipulate paths. | |
 | Rectangle (U) | Draws vector shapes. | |
Navigation | |||
 | Hand (H) | Navigates the page. | |
 | Zoom (Z) | Magnifies or reduces the view of the image. |