Reset The Preferences As You Launch

You’ve probably heard that the best way to fix many common problems in Photoshop is to delete the Preferences. Rather than struggling to find the preference file and delete it, try quitting Photoshop, then re-launch it while holding down Command-Option-Shift.

You’ll be asked if you want to "delete the Adobe Photoshop Settings file." Click OK and all your settings will revert back to the original, "out of the box" defaults.

Sample Color from Anywhere

You can use the Eyedropper tool to pick colors from all areas of your screen (not just an active document). First press the letter I to select the Eyedropper tool, then click-and-drag outside your document window in Photoshop and onto the object you’d like to sample. Release your mouse button and the sampled color appears as your new Foreground color.

Shortcuts For Aligning Type

When youÕre working with Type in Photoshop, you can change the alignment of your type (flush left, centered, flush right) by highlighting the type and using these simple keyboard shortcuts:

  • Align Left:
  • Shift-Command-L
  • Align Right:
  • Shift-Command-R
  • Align Center:
  • Shift-Command-C

For Typography Freaks Only!

If youÕre a freak about typography (and I know you are) then youÕll be glad to know that Photoshop CS has added a number of high-end type features that only a real typographer could love. Stuff like built-in Titling, Swash, Ordinals, Ornaments, Stylistic Alternates, and a host of other scary-sounding stuff. These puppies are all accessed through the Character paletteÕs pop-down menu.

Adjust Those Options On The Fly

Want to quickly change the Tolerance setting for a tool (say the Magic Wand tool for example)? You donÕt have to go up into the Options Bar, just press ÒwÓ to get the Magic Wand tool, then press the Return key (PC: Enter key) and the first field in the Options Bar will automatically become highlighted. All you have to do is type in your setting and youÕre set.

Why It Looks Fuzzy When You Transform Images

When using the Free Transform tool, donÕt let it freak you out that the preview youÕre seeing while manipulating your image is horribly pixelatedÑthatÕs just a low-res preview Photoshop displays while youÕre transforming so things keep moving as fast as possible. When you finally hit Return, it then redraws your image at its full resolution and the pixelation should disappear (unless of course, you did something that actually increases pixelation, such as scaling up a 72-ppi document by 300%, but I know you wouldnÕt do that).

Setting Better Shadow/Highlights Defaults

If you’ve messed around at all with Photoshop CS’s new Shadow/Highlight tonal adjustment feature (under Adjustments in the Image menu), you’ve probably already figured out it’s pretty cool. However, when you bring up this dialog, the Shadows slider is already set at 50% (by default), so it immediately adjusts your image. So I always wind up setting the Shadows slider back to 0% (so the image is untouched until I move a slider, just like in Levels or Curves). However, if you always work in the standard mode (you don’t click the Show More Options feature), you wouldn’t know that at the bottom of the More Options panel is a button called "Save Defaults," which will let you set the shadow to 0% and save that as your default setting. Hey, every little click counts.