Photoshop Course - Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigation Tools

Ctrl +          Zoom In

Ctrl -           Zoom Out

Ctrl 0          Fit image to screen
Spacebar     Hold down to move the image

Clicking in Navigator window will move to different parts of the image
Select Window -> Workspace -> Default Workspace to load Default Palettes - or simply select a palette from the Window menu

Brush & Palette Tools

B                 Brush
[                  Decrease brush size
]                  Increase brush size

D                 Load Default Colors:  black as foreground and white as background
X                 Switch the foreground & background colors

Selection Tools

Ctrl A           Select All (everything in the layer)
Ctrl D           De-Select All

Layer Tools

Ctrl J             Duplicate the Active layer
Ctrl T            Free Transform (or rotate and move) - be sure to press Enter or the                     checkmark to accept the transformation
G                  Gradient

Program Tools

Ctrl W           Close a single file, but keep photoshop open
Ctrl Q            Close Photoshop
Ctrl TAB        Switch between open images

F                    Switch between full-screen and windowed mode

TAB               Hide / Show all palettes

How to Batch Resize Photos in Photoshop

How to Batch Resize Photos in Photoshop

Resizing groups of photos is very easy if you are using Photoshop. I am using Photoshop CS3 on a Mac in this example. Though I am not sure if this works in Elements, I do know that it works in CS2 on both a PC & a Mac.

Here’s the concept: you have a folder full of JPG files and they are all very large. You want to resize all of the photos at once, or you want to create small copies of all of the photos at once, but save it to another location. No problem.

Just click the File menu, and hover over Scripts, then select Image Processor:

A menu will pop up with what looks like several daunting options. Don’t worry. All it is asking for is the location of the photo folder, where you want your resized copies to go, and how small you want them. Just follow the numbers on the left. 1, 2, 3. Before I do this, I usually create a folder inside the photo folder and call it “Small Copies” so that I know exactly what it is:

Step 1: Click on “Select Folder” and browse to the location of the folder where your photos are.
Step 2: Click on “Select Folder” and choose the new location where resized copies will be saved.
Step 3: Check the “Save as JPEG” box, then choose a quality setting between 1 and 6. To resize, check the “Resize to Fit” box and enter the dimensions in pixels for your photos. 640 x 480 is a good size for e-mail, or maybe 800 x 600 would work too, if you don’t have too many photos you are going to e-mail.

And you’re done! Your photos are now copied to the new location and resized, and your original photos are untouched: