Introduction to tools
Source: Freetimefoto
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The noticeable change that you might first found in Photoshop CS3 interface is the single column toolbox, even so you can switch to traditional two column tool box by click at small arrow button ( ) at top left corner of the toolbox. I’ve use two column CS3 toolbox to demonstrate above because it’s easier when compare the tool placement with earlier version of Photoshop. You can see the full picture of new single-column CS3 toolbox by click at its thumbnail on the right.The two column toolbox in Photoshop CS3 is quite similar with the Photoshop CS2. It’s add two more new tool which is Quick Selection tool, add to Magic Wand’s place, and Count Tool, in Eyedropper Tool block. And also, the pen tool and path selection tool location are switch.
To optimize the space for the width of single-column toolbox, the quick-mask button and the screen mode button are also change. The quick-mask button is turn from two left and right toggle button to one On/Off button. The Screen mode in Photoshop CS3 also have new screen mode screen mode (Maximized Screen Mode) that you can easily select though pop-up menu. With this new screen mode you can have toolbar while working in Full Screen mode which is impossible for earlier version of photoshop. |
Note: The tool’s keyboard short-cuts are indicated in (). You can press shift + tool shortcut to toggle to hidden tool.
Featured Resources
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Selection Tools
Marquee Tool (M) 
The Marquee Tools (M) let you select rectangles, ellipses, and 1-pixel rows and columns. By default, a selection border is dragged from its corner. You can also hold-down following keyboard key while dragging mouse to make selection for perform specific option.
- Shift+Drag: To constrain the marquee to a square or circle.
- Alt+Drag (Option for Mac): To start drag marquee from center..
- Alt+Shift+Drag: To start drag selection form center and constrain to square.
- Spacebar: Hold down spacebar while making selection (keep pressing mouse button). To reposition selection.
See also Using Photoshop Marquee Tool.
Move Tool (V) 
The Move tool (V) lets you drag a selection or layer to a new location in the image, and also to other images. You can also use the Move tool to align selections and layers and distribute layers within an image.
You can access Move tool by press (V) in your keyboard or hold-down Ctrl(Command) keys. Press and hold Shift key while drag your mouse will constrain movement with multiple of 45°(0°, 45°, 90° and so on..). Press Ctrl(Command) + Alt(Option) to copy and move objects. See Photoshop Move tool and Photoshop Free Transform Command for more detail.
Lasso Tool 
, Polygonal Lasso Tool 
and Magnetic Lasso Tool 
The Lasso tool (L) and the Polygonal Lasso tool (L) let you draw both straight-edged and freehand segments of a selection border. With the Magnetic Lasso tool (L), the border snaps to the edges of defined areas in the image.
While you are using Lasso tool you can hold-down Alt(Option) key to switch between draw free-hand and draw straight-edged. (See also Photoshop Lasso Tool )
Quick Selection Tool 
and Magic Wand Tool 
You can use the Quick Selection tool (W), new in Photoshop CS3, to quickly paint a selection using an adjustable round brush tip. As you drag, the selection expands outward and automatically finds and follows defined edges in the image. (See also Using Photoshop Quick Selection tool)
The Magic Wand tool (W) lets you select a area by color range without having to trace its outline. You can specify the color range, or tolerance, for the Magic Wand tool’s selection at tool’s option bar. Enter a low value to select the few colors very similar to the pixel you click, or enter a higher value to select a broader range of colors.(See also Photoshop Magic wand Tool)
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Crop and Slice Tools
Crop Tool (C) 
Cropping is the process of removing portions of an image to create focus or strengthen the composition. You can crop an image using the Crop tool and the Crop command (Image » Crop).
The Crop Tool (C) works similarly to the Rectangular Marquee tool . You can Drag to draw Rectangular area to select part of image you want to include. Moreover Crop tool include bounding box around selected area that allow you to resize, move or perspective the select area similar Free Transform Command. You can also crop and resize your selected area to taget resolution that you specify in option bar. (See also Using Photoshop Crop Tool: Beyond the Cropping)
Slice Tool 
and Slice Selection Tool 
Use Slice Tool(K)tool to divide large image to small connected pieces of rectangle image that is useful for building website. You can select the slice area manually of create from guides, by click Slice from Guide button at Slice Tool option bar.
To move, duplicate, combine, divide, resize, delete, arrange, align, and distribute user slices, using Slice Select Tool(K). You can save slice to html file that include all pieces plot in to html table that are connected show as complete large image when viewing by web browser.
Slices are also advantageous when working with images that contain different types of data. For example, if one area of an image needs to be optimized in GIF format to support an animation, but the rest of the image is better optimized in JPEG format, you can isolate the animation using a slice. (See also Using Photoshop Slice Tool)
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Featured Resources
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Retouching Tools
Spot Healing Brush Tool 
and Healing Brush Tool 
The Healing Brush tool (J) lets you correct imperfections, causing them to disappear into the surrounding image. Like the cloning tools, you use the Healing Brush tool to paint with sampled pixels from an image or pattern. However, the Healing Brush tool also matches the texture, lighting, transparency, and shading of the sampled pixels to the source pixels. As a result, the repaired pixels blend seamlessly into the rest of the image.
The Spot Healing Brush Tool (J) is different from the Healing Brush Tool in that it does not require you to make a selection or define a source point before using it. You can select a blending mode for the healing, and choose between proximity match or create texture. You can also sample all layers which allows you to use the spot healing tool on a new layer for non-destructive editing.
Patch Tool 
and Red Eye Tool 
The Patch tool (J) lets you repair a selected area with pixels from another area or a pattern. Like the Healing Brush tool, the Patch tool matches the texture, lighting, and shading of the sampled pixels to the source pixels. You can also use the Patch tool to clone isolated areas of an image.
The Red Eye Tool (J) use to correct red eye error that may produced by using electronic flash. You can roughly select around the eye and set pupil diameter to easily correct the red eye. If you like see the tutorial to use Red-Eye Tool at lunacore.com
Clone Stamp Tool 
and Pattern Stamp Tool 
The Clone Stamp tool(S) can be use to fix your image. It’s allow you to paint with sample from area you select to another image or part of the same image. You can also clone part of one layer over another layer. Because you can use any Photoshop Brush with the Clone Stamp tool, you have a lot of control over the size of the area you clone. You can also use opacity and flow settings in the options bar to finesse the way you apply the cloned area. (See also Using Photoshop Brush)
The Pattern Stamp tool(S) take sample from Pattern preset instead form sample point in the image. You can select a pattern from the pattern libraries or create your own patterns.
Eraser Tool 
, Background Eraser 
and Magic Eraser Tool 
The Eraser tool(E) delete pixels in the image as you drag through them. If you’re working in the background or in a layer with transparency locked, the pixels change to the background color. Otherwise, the pixels are erased to transparency. You can also use the eraser to return the affected area to a state selected in the History palette.
The Background Eraser tool(E) allows you to erase the background while maintaining the edges of an object in the foreground. By specifying different sampling and tolerance options, you can control the range of the transparency and the sharpness of the boundaries.
The background eraser samples the color in the center of the brush, also called the hot spot, and deletes that color wherever it appears inside the brush. It also performs color extraction at the edges of any foreground objects, so that color halos are not visible if the foreground object is later pasted into another image. And please note that, the background eraser overrides the lock transparency setting of a layer.
When you click in a layer with the Magic Eraser tool(E), the tool automatically changes all similar pixels. If you’re working in the background, or in a layer with locked transparency, the pixels change to the background color; otherwise, the pixels are erased to transparency. You can choose to erase contiguous pixels only or all similar pixels on the current layer.
Blur Tool 
, Sharpen Tool 
and Smudge Tool 
The Blur tool(R) softens hard edges or areas in an image to reduce detail as you drag. You can specify area and amount of blur by modifying brush shape and dynamic. Blur tool blur image by lessening the amount of color contrast between neighboring pixels. In contrasted, The Sharpen Tool(R) focuses soft edges to increase clarity by selectively sharpens by increasing the contrast between neighboring pixels.
The Smudge tool(R) simulates the actions of dragging a finger through wet paint. The tool picks up color where the stroke begins and pushes it in the direction you drag. This tool can be effective for smoothing out colors and textures.
Dodge Tool 
and Burn Tool 
Dodge Tool (O) and Burn Tool (O) are use to lighten or darken areas of the image, the name are based on a traditional photographer’s technique. Photographers hold back light to lighten an area on the print (dodging) or increase the exposure to darken areas on a print (burning).
Sponge Tool 
The Sponge tool (O) subtly changes the color saturation of an area depend on the mode you’re selected. In Desaturate mode, the Sponge tool robs an image of color when working inside a color image. If you switch to Saturate mode, the Sponge tool adds more color in color images. In Grayscale mode, the tool saturation mode will increases contrast of the image and in opposite, desaturation mode, decreases contrast by moving gray levels away from or toward the middle gray. See also Photoshop Tool Blending Mode.
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Painting Tools
Brush Tool 
, Pencil Tool (B) 
and Color Replacement Tool 
The Brush Tool(B) and Pencil Tool (B) are paints a line of any thickness that you specify via the Options bar. You can make the line sharp or blurry, but it’s always slightly soft, or hard edge stroke for Pencil Tool. Normally, the Brush tool and Pencil tool applies a continuous stream of color and stops applying paint whenever you stop dragging. See Photoshop Painting tool for more detail.
The Color Replacement tool (B) simplifies replacing specific colors in your image when you paint. You can paint over a targeted color with a corrective color. For example, You can select sample color as red, and painted foreground color to correct a person’s red eyes in an image. The Color Replacement tool doesn’t work in images in Bitmap, Indexed, or Multichannel color modes.
History Brush 
and Art History Brush Tool 
This tool works similar to the Brush Tool except the History Brush (H) and Art History Brush tool(H) allow you to paint from specified history state or snapshot as the source data. The History Brush tool paints by recreating the specified source data, while the Art History Brush tool uses that data along with the options you set to create different colors and artistic styles. See Photoshop Painting tool for more detail.
Gradient Tool 
and Paint Bucket Tool 
The Gradient Tool (G), fill solid or blended color to any area of the image. The Gradient tool creates a gradual blend between multiple colors. You can choose from preset gradient fills or create your own. See also Photoshop Gradient Tool
The Paint Bucket tool(G) fills adjacent pixels that are similar in color value to the pixels you click. It work very similar to Magic Wand tool but Paint Bucket fill solid color instead of making selection.
Tip: You can change the color of the background outside image area (default is 50% gray) by assign new color to Foreground color. Select Paint Bucket Tool hold-down Shift key and click the area outside the image area to fill color.
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Drawing and Type Tools
Path Selection Tool 
and Direct Selection Tool 
Use Path Selection tool(A) to select a path component (including a shape in a shape layer) and click anywhere inside the path component. If a path consists of several path components, only the path component under the pointer is selected. To display the bounding box along with the selected path, select Show Bounding Box in the options bar.
Use Direct Selection tool(A) to select a path segment and click one of the segment’s anchor points or drag a marquee over part of the segment. To select additional path components or segments, select the Path Selection tool or the Direct Selection tool, and then hold down Shift while selecting additional paths or segments.
Horizontal Type Tool 
and Vertical Type Tool 
Use Horizontal Type Tool (T) and Vertical Type Tool (T) to create horizontal or vertical type anywhere in an image. When you create type, a new type layer is added to the Layers palette. In Photoshop, you can also create a selection border in the shape of the type.
Depending on how you use the type tools, you can enter point type or paragraph type. Point type is useful for entering a single word. You can create point type by click in the image to set an insertion point for the type. The paragraph type is useful for entering and formatting the type as one or more paragraphs. You can create paragraph type by drag the tool to define a bounding box for the type.
Horizontal Type Mask Tool 
and Vertical Type Mask Tool 
Horizontal Type Mask tool (T) or Vertical Type Mask tool (T) let you create a selection in the shape of the type. Type selections appear on the active layer, and can be moved, copied, filled, or stroked just like any other selection. For more information about working with selections
You can also create text on a path by using any type tool. To create text on path, position the pointer on the path, so the baseline indicator of the type tool turn to 
, and click. After clicking, an insertion point appears on the path.
Pen Tool 
and Freeform Pen Tool 
The Pen tool (P) lets you create straight lines and smooth flowing curves as new Path 
or Shape layer 
or Fill pixels 
, by select its icon at tool option bar. For most users, the Pen tool provides the best control and greatest accuracy for drawing. The Freeform Pen tool (P) lets you draw as if you were drawing with a pencil on paper. Anchor points are added automatically as you draw. You do not determine where the points are positioned, but you can adjust them once the path is complete. (See also Photoshop Path, Shape Layer and Fill Pixels)
The Magnetic Pen is an option of the Freeform Pen tool that lets you draw a path that snaps to the edges of defined areas in your image. You can define the range and sensitivity of the snapping behavior, as well as the complexity of the resulting path. The Magnetic Pen and Magnetic Lasso tools share many of the same options.
More about: Photoshop Pen Tool.
Add Anchor Point Tool 
, Delete Anchor Point Tool 
and Convert Point Tool 
You can add or delete or convert anchor point using Add Anchor Point Tool and Delete Anchor Point Tool . If you have selected Auto Add/Delete in the options bar for the Pen tool or Freeform Pen tool, when you click at active path’s line segment, a point is added, and when you click an existing point, it is deleted. The cursor will change to 
indicate that you can add anchor point or change to 
while you hover the cursor over existing point.
The Convert Point Tool lets you convert a smooth curve to a sharp curve or to a straight segment, and vice versa. While you using Pen tool or Freeform Pen tool you can also convert anchor point by hold down Alt(Option), the cursor will turn to 
, key and click at the point you want to convert.
Shape Tool (U) 
Photoshop provides six Shape Tools that enable you to draw geometric and predefined shapes. By default, the shapes are separated off into independent Shape layers , which are a mix of objects and pixels. The vector-based outlines of the shapes print at the maximum resolution of your printer, but the interiors may consist of solid colors, gradients, or pixel-based patterns and images.
Other than shape layer, you can also use Shape tool to create Path or Fill pixels by select Path button or Fill Pixels Button at the tool option bar. (See also Photoshop Path, Shape Layer and Fill Pixels)
Like making a selection you can also combine, delete or intersect and moreover exclude overlap area of new shape with current shape by select the operation you like to in tool option bar or holding down some keyboard keys.
More about: Photoshop Shape Tools.
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Note, Measurement and Navigation Tools
Notes Tool 
and Audio Annotation Tool 
Notes Tool (N) and Audio Annotation Tool (N) allow you to can add notes and audio annotations anywhere on a Photoshop image canvas. When you create a note, a resizable window appears for typing text. When you record an audio annotation, you must have a microphone plugged into the audio-in port of your computer.
You can import both kinds of annotations from Photoshop documents saved in PDF or from Acrobat documents saved in PDF or Form Data Format (FDF).
Eyedropper tool 
and Color Sampler Tool 
The Eyedropper tool (I) samples color to designate a new foreground or background color. You can sample . You can click to sample color assign to foreground from the active image or from anywhere else on the screen, or hold-down Alt(Option) key and click to sample color assign to background color.
You can also specify the area sampled by the Eyedropper tool. For example, you can set the eyedropper to sample the color values of a 3-by-3-pixel area under the pointer. Modifying the sample size of the eyedropper affects the color readouts displayed in the Info palette.
Note: While using Eyedropper Tool you can hold down Shift key and click to add color sampler point.
Color Sample Tool (I) let you assign up to four permanent color sampler point, with before/after value for color adjustment. The color value will show in new section at the bottom of Info Palette. See Using Photoshop Info Palette or Using Photoshop Color Sampler for more detail.
Measure Tool 
and Count Tool (CS3 Only) 
The Measure tool (I) calculates the distance between any two points in the work area. You can use measure tool to measure location, angle and distance which is show in option bar and also Info Palette. Measure Tool can also use to correct angle of rotation when use with Rotate Canvas Command. (See also Using Measure Tool and Reading Photoshop Info Palette)
You can use Count Tool (I) to count objects in an image. To count objects manually, you click the image with the Count tool and Photoshop tracks the number of clicks. The count number is displayed on the item and in the Count Tool options bar. Photoshop can also automatically count multiple selected areas in an image, and record the results in the Measurement Log Palette. See also Photoshop Count Tool Video Tutorial at photoshopuser.com
Hand Tool 
If the entire image is not visible in the document window, you can navigate to bring another area of the image into view by use Hand Tool (T). To pan you image click and drag your image to navigate over the image. While you use another tool you can temporary switch to use Hand Tool by holding down Space-bar, your cursor will turn to 
.
Zoom Tool 
Use Zoom Tool (Z) to magnify or reduce your view using various methods. The window’s title bar displays the zoom percentage (unless the window is too small for the display to fit), as does the status bar at the bottom of the window. When Zoom Tool selected your cursor will turn to 
, and Click the center of the area of the image you want to magnify or drag over the area to magnify that area inside the zoom marquee to displayed at the highest possible magnification. To zoom-out hold-down Alt(Option), your cursor will turn to 
, click on the center of area of the image you want to reduce.
While other tool is select, you can temporary switch to use Zoom tool by hold down Ctrl(Command) + Space-bar, indicated by your cursor will turn to , to zoom-in and Alt(Option) + Space-bar, indicated by your cursor will turn to , to zoom-out. You can also use Ctrl(Command) + Plus key(+) to zoom-in or Ctrl(Command) + Minus key (-) to zoom out.
Switch Colour, Quick Mask and Screen mode
At the bottom of tool bar you can click the button or use its short-cuts, indicated in ( ), to do following:
Back ground & Foreground Color Switch (X) 
: Click this button or press “X”, to switch between background color to foreground color
Reset Back ground & Foreground Color (D) 
: Click this button or press “D”, to reset background color to white and foreground color to black.
Toggle Quick Mask (Q) 
: Click this button or press “Q”, to turn quick-mask On or Off.
Toggle Screen Mode(F) 
: Press “F” to toggle between each screen mode or click to choose option from pop-up menu. Standard Screen Mode, Maximized Screen Mode(CS3), Full Screen Mode With Menu bar or Full Screen Mode.
