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Introduction
First of all, if you can't find the toolbar on your Photoshop layout, go to Window > Tools. The bar should show up somewhere on your screen. Place it wherever you want it. The image on the left is what your toolbar should look like. The image on the right is the key we will be using for this tutorial. Notice sections A, B, C, D, E, and F on the key.
All of the pictures on this toolbar represent different tools. It takes a while to know what all of the pictures mean, but you'll learn eventually. Some tool images have a black arrow in the bottom-right corner. This means there are other kinds of tools for the same category. For example, there is a marquee, or selection, tool. This tool comes in several different modes: Rectangular, circular, and more. To view these subtools, click and hold on the tool image. The subtools should appear in a list beside your main toolbar.
A1: Marquee
The marquee tools can select portions of your image.
Hotkey: M
Rectangular Marquee
Selects in a blocky, width-by-height manner. Hold "shift" to drag out squares.
Eliptical Marquee
Selects in a circular manner. Hold "shift" to drag out perfect circles.
Single Row Marquee
Selects an entire horizontal row of your image. The selection is one pixel in height, but its width is the width of your entire image.
Single Column Marquee
Selects an entire vertical column of your image. The selection is one pixel in width, but its height is the height of your entire image.
A2: Move
Simple enough. The move tool allows you to move portions around your image. Note that the move tool will move an entire layer at once. You can bypass this by selecting a specific part of your layer and then moving it.
Hotkey: V
A3: Lasso
The lasso tools are another form of selecting specific portions of your image.
Hotkey: L
Lasso
The lasso tool allows you to select potions of your image by freehand. This tool proves to be inefficient for some purposes, but very useful for others.
Polygonal Lasso
This tool allows you to select portions by setting vertices. Start by clicking anywhere. This sets your initial path. Click in other places to set different vertices. Finish your selection by clicking on your initial path. This closes your selection, forming a polygon; hence the tool's name.
Magnetic Lasso
A nifty little tool that can be quite useful. This self-guided selection tool almost does the work for you. Start an initial path and drag your mouse along the edge you would like to select. The tool will detect ragged edges and bind to them, which is helpful. However, since this tool works artificially, it may be unreliable. The tool automatically sets new vertices every few seconds, but it's always safe to click and set vertices yourself. You never know when the tool will lose its binding to the edge, thus ruining your selection. This tool comes in handy for such things as cutting out renders, although it does not always prove to be reliable.
A4: Magic Wand
This tool is also used for selection. It also contains artificial intelligence. Say you're trying to cut out a render on a green background. Simply click the background with this tool and it will select everything but your render. The magic wand is sensitive to color changes. You can even change the tool's color tolerance value, say, if the background is not all the exact same color.
Hotkey: W
A5: Crop
Another pretty simple tool. Click and drag out a selection over your image. You'll see your selection on the screen. Press "enter" and Photoshop will crop out the grayed space, leaving only your selection.
Hotkey: C
A6: Slice
The slice tools allow you to organize different portions of an image for being placed on the internet. The most common use is slicing buttons for templates so that you'll be brought to a certain URL depending on the button your click. I personally find slicing images to be easier in Adobe Imageready, but you can do it in P-Shop too.
Hotkey: K
Slice
Click and drag out your selection. The resulting section is your slice. Double-click individual slices to set names, alternate texts, targets, URL's, and more.
Slice Select
Similar to the slice tool, although this tool is more sensitive to edges and colors to do some slices for you.
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B1: Healing
This is where we really get into the image-editing process that Photoshop was created for. The healing tools allow you to do minor touch-ups to pictures.
Hotkey: J
Spot Healing Brush
A very, very useful tool. Adjust your brush settings and sizes. Then just click anywhere on your canvas. The spot healing brush analyzes areas surrounding where you clicked, and it replaces your clicking area to blend it in with its surroundings. It's a bit hard to describe, so I'll give you an example. Something this tool is good for is healing faces. If you'd like to remove a blemish on the face of a subject, just adjust the brush to the same size as the blemish. Then click it. The tool will analyze the skin color around the blemish and seemingly swap it with skin. Pretty cool, huh?
Healing Brush
Similar to the spot brush, although it is not as automatic. This tool requires you to set an anchor point (hold "alt" and click) somewhere on the canvas. Then you can click elsewhere with the brush, and you brush over with the area that the anchor point is covering. It's also difficult to explain; experiment yourself to find out more. Note that the anchor point moves as you move the location of the brush.
Patch
Another selection/healing tool. Freehand-select your portion and then fill in the selection with a preset or custom-made texture.
Red-Eye Remover
Set a pupil size and darkness setting. Then drag out a selection over the red eye. The tool will gradually desaturate the eye until it no longer appears to be red.
B2: Drawing
This set contains two very frequently-used tools, and another that is useful sometimes.
Hotkey: B
Brush
Very useful tool. Download or create brushes. Then load them (see my brushing tutorial) and click on the canvas to brush. Brushes with high-quality and blurred edges.
Pencil
This tool is very similar to the brush tool, except the edges are not blurred; they're aliased.
Color Replacement
Select a foreground color (see section E), adjust your various settings, and drag the mouse over an image to swap out colors. Experiment for different results.
B3: Stamp
These tools are similar to the healing tools.
Hotkey: S
Clone Stamp
Once again, set an anchor point by holding "alt", and then you can replace portions of your image. Very much alike the healing brush tool.
Texture Stamp
Pretty much like the brush tool, although rather than applying brushes, you can apply preset and custom-made patterns.
B4: History Brushes
History brushes. I've never found them too incredibly purposeful, but maybe you will.
Hotkey: Y
History Brush
Pretty much a brush tool that erases portions of your image.
Art History Brush
Allows you to brush various art patterns onto your image.
B5: Erasers
Various different tools that allow you to erase portions of your image.
Hotkey: E
Eraser
A brush tool that erases portions of the canvas.
Background Eraser
Set a background color and a tolerance level for the brush. Then dab over your image. This tool erases only portions that are of the current background color, and portions that fall under the same color tolerance level.
Magic Eraser
A little resemblance to the magic wand tool. Click anywhere on your image. The tool determines portions that are similar to the one you clicked, and it erases them. Experiment with it.
B6: Fillers
Tools that allow you to fill in large portions of you image at once.
Hotkey: G
Paint Bucket
Select a foreground color and then click anywhere on your image. The tool will take portions of the same color and change them to your foreground color. A bit difficult to describe, although the concept is very simple.
Gradient
A tool that allows you to fill in portions of you image with a fading gradient. For more detailed information, see my gradient tutorial.
B7: Adjustments
Several adjusting tools that are used often in designing.
Hotkey: R
Blur
Easy. Click and drag over your image to blur objects together. Works nicely when blurring edges.
Sharpen
Allows you to sharpen specific portions of your image. Sharpening the image just makes it...sharper. If you seriously don't know what that means, just experiment in Photoshop. You'll see what I mean. For a universal sharpen tool, do a Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen.
Smudge
Allows you to click and drag a brush tool to smudge the edges of objects far away from the initial points. Experiment for more knowledge.
B8: Color Adjustments
Various color adjustment tools.
Hotkey: O
Dodge
Lets you reduce portions of the image to simpler colors.
Burn
The opposite of the dodge tool. Allows you to bring objects to darker and more complex colors.
Sponge
Allows you to saturate or desaturate objects of your canvas. Saturating a color brings it to a more lively, bright state; while desaturating a color brings it to a more gray, neutral state.
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C1: Path Tools
Tools that allow you to move paths and vertices set by the pen tool (see below).
Hotkey: A
Path Selection
Moves pen tool paths when you drag and drop.
Direct Selection
Moves pen tool vertices when you drag and drop.
C2: Type Tools
Inserts text into your image.
Hotkey: T
Horizontal Type
Standard text. While editing a text layer (while the cursor is blinking on the text), you can press "ctrl + T" for a more advanced text window.
Vertical Type
Inserts text in a vertical manner.
Horizontal Type Mask
Interesting tool. Click the image and type out your text. When you apply the text mask, the actual text that you typed will disappear, but it will still be selected. This allows you to do tons of different things with the text, like adding a gradient to the selection. There are other ways of selecting your text, but this is a quick, direct way to do it.
Vertical Type Mask
Same as directly above, except the text is typed vertically.
C3: Pen Tools (woot)
Probably my favorite set of tools that Photoshop has to offer. Selection tool with a twist. Difficult to learn how to use, but the end result of learning is definitely worth it.
Hotkey: P
Pen
The holy tool itself. Click an initial point to start. Just click somewhere else if you want a straight path, or click and drag somewhere else for a curved path. Very, very useful for cutting out anything with curvy edges. A designer's best friend. However, it's difficult to learn to use. Search Google for a pen tool tutorial; there are many good ones out there. I might end up making one, myself. Once you can master this tool, you won't let it out of your sight.
You'll notice that once you click your initial vertex to end your selection, the "selection ants" don't show up. Instead, it's a solid, gray line. This is called a path. To turn the path into a selection, just right click it and select "make selection". Then make sure the value in the text box is zero, and click "OK".
Freeform Pen
Very much like the pen tool, although it works like the lasso tool where you're drawing out a path by hand.
Add Anchor Point
This "life-saver" tool allows you to add an extra vertex to a path after it's already been drawn out. Click the path to add a point to that location.
Delete Anchor Point
The opposite of the "add anchor point" tool. Just click a vertex of your pen tool path to remove it.
Convert Point Tool
If you have a curved pen tool path already drawn out, but you've decided you don't want the path to be curved at a certain point, you can use this tool. Click a vertex to remove all curves that it is connected to. Draw out a path in Photoshop and use this tool to see exactly what it does.
C4: Shape Tools
Some helpful tools for creating shapes in Photoshop.
Hotkey: U
Rectangle
Drag out a rectangular path. When you're satisfied, get the pen tool, right click the path, and make it into a selection.
Rounded Rectangle
Set a corner radius and drag out a rectangular path with rounded edges. This is how people make those signatures with the rounded corners.
Ellipse
Just a tool that creates a circular path.
Polygon
Input a number into the value box and drag out the path of a shape with that many sides.
Line
Input a value of pixels and drag out a straight line with a width of said value.
Custom Shape
Select a preset shape from the long list and simply drag out a path. You can even make your own shapes.
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D1: Note Tools
Some neat, although not frequently-used tools.
Hotkey: N
Notes
Click an area on your canvas and leave a mental note to yourself about something to remember later on.
Audio Annotation
Not very many people know about this tool. Hook up your microphone and leave yourself an audio note. A very nifty tool. Unfortunately, it's just not used much.
D2: Calculations
Some tools that are used for calculating values in Photoshop.
Hotkey: I
Eyedropper
Click any area on the screen to have the color of that pixel become your foreground color. Used very frequently.
Color Sampler
I'm not entirely sure what this tool does. I know it sets various points where you click with the tool. However, I haven't figured out how to set the points as foreground and background colors, which I'm sure you must be able to do. Try working around with this tool any becoming familiar with it. I've personally never used it, so it's not too important.
Measure
Allows you to measure the exact distance between two pixels on the canvas. Note that "ctrl + Z" does not remove the path; you must click the "clear" button at the top of the screen to do so.
D3: Hand
Hand tool. Whoop-de-doo. Allows you to navigate your way through a canvas when it takes up more than the entire screen. Adobe Reader has an identical tool, which I'm sure you must have used in the past.
Hotkey: H
D4: Zoom
Click and drag out a box selection to zoom into. If you select a very small area, say a few pixels, the screen will zoom in all the way. However, if you select a larger portion, the screen will only zoom in as far as possible with all of the selected portion still on-screen. Mess around with the tool to see what I mean.
Hotkey: Z
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Section E: Colors
E1: Foreground Color
The color that Photoshop currently has in use. Very easy to understand.
E2: Background Color
The secondary color that is not currently in use, rather being used as a one-color "storage".
E3: Double Arrow
Click this display, or press "X" on your keyboard, to switch the foreground and background colors.
E4: Black/White Swatches
Click this display, or press "D" on your keyboard, to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white, respectively.
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F1: Edit in Imageready
Click this conveniently-located button at the bottom of the toolbar to open the current image in Adobe Imageready.
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Phew, that's all for now. Scroll finger hurting?
I might be editing this tutorial with tools from the New Adjustment Layer and Filter menus as well, but I'm not positive.
I hope this tutorial helped you out. I'm exhausted.
--RaVNzCRoFT
) Props to you, Ravn for putting this together. Must've taken hours.
