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1. Hold down the Cmd/Ctrl key while at the same time clicking on a layer in Photoshop’s main image window to auto-select a layer.

2. If you want to remove all the colour from an image, and don’t want to go into grayscale mode, press Shift Cmd/Ctrl U (called ‘Desaturate’) and make your image grayscale while still in RGB mode. Note: using the channel mixer will produce a better result. Click on the Grayscale option.

3. If you want to move a selection to its own layer. Press Cmd/Ctrl J to copy the selection. To cut and move a selection, press Shift Cmd/Ctrl J

4) Hide the Selction Marquee (’Marching Ants’) - Press Ctrl/Cmd H.

5) Feathering ” When setting a feather using the Lasso Tools, press the Return/Enter key. This will highlight the Feather field in the Options palette and you can enter or change the value.

6. To fill a layer or selection with the foreground colour, press Alt/Option Delete. To fill a layer or selection with the background colour, press Cmd/Ctrl Delete.

7. Press the [ ] keys to change the brush size. By holding the shift key down and pressing the [and ] keys, the brush will get softer and harder, respectively. You can adjust the level up to five times.

8. If your version of Photoshop is without the Spot Healing Brush, double click on the Blur Tool and in the Options palette, decrease the opacity to 15% and change the mode to Lighten to remove the undesired scratches and blemishes. When you paint over these marks, they will disappear before you eyes.

9. Photoshop will draw straight lines for you. Using any of the brush tools, click, hold the Shift key and click again where you want your line to end. Photoshop will literally connect the dots. This can work with most any tool from erasers to even the highlight tool in the Extract filter.

10. Create a brand new picture from an existing layer by choosing Duplicate Layer in the Layers palette and changing the document setting to New.

Tags: Arts