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Chapter 2. Getting Into Photoshop CS4 Basics

In This Chapter

• Discovering the Photoshop tools

• Navigating your work area

• Changing screen modes

• Performing basic tasks in Photoshop CS4

Navigating the work area in Photoshop can be slightly cumbersome at first, especially if you've never worked in a program that relies so heavily on panels. In this chapter, we introduce you to Photoshop CS4. We introduce you to the work area, show you what the Photoshop CS4 tools are all about, and reveal how to neatly organize and hide panels. We also show you how to do basic tasks, such as opening, cropping, and saving an image.

Getting to Know the Tools

Tools are used to create, select, and manipulate objects in Photoshop CS4. When you open Photoshop, the Tools panel appears along the left edge of the workspace (see Figure 2-1), and panels appear on the right side of the screen. (We discuss panels in the upcoming section, "Navigating the Work Area".)

Tip

In the Tools panel, look for the name of the tool to appear in a ToolTip when you hover the cursor over the tool. Following the tool name is a letter in parentheses, which is the keyboard shortcut command that you can use to access that tool. Simply press the Shift key along with the key command you see to access any hidden tools. In other words, pressing P activates the Pen tool, and pressing Shift+P activates the hidden tools under the Pen tool in the order that they appear. When you see a small triangle at the lower-right corner of the tool icon, you know ...