Adobe Photoshop is an amazing work environment for any designer. Its potentials are amazing, and one can do wonders by using its features and settings. On the other hand, it is without a doubt a very complex piece of software that isn’t very novice friendly.
Beside the design quality and originality which has always been emphasized, the ability to meet the deadlines while providing an exceptional output is a must. In order to do this, a designer has to know his tools of the trade by hearth. This is why we offer you the list of 4 hidden secrets of Adobe Photoshop that will help you shorten your creative design process.
Merging All Layers into One
Merging all layers into one is not that complicated as you might already know. However, there is no option in the Photoshop menu to merge them into one layer while keeping the original layer structure.Instead, there is a hidden hotkey for it. When you press Ctrl (PC)/command (Mac) + Shift + Alt(PC)/Opt(Mac) + E, all of existing layers will get merged into one new layer with your original layer structure intact.
Fast and Easy Color Sampling
In the design process, it is pretty common to look for inspiration online where you might stumble upon a beautiful color palette which you would like to try and see how it fits in your design. Instead of using a color picker and getting the hex number for that color and then use it in Photoshop, the easier and faster way to do this is to press “I” or click on the Eyedropper tool and drag the icon to the area where the color you would like to try is.
Pixel Perfect with no Trouble at All
Many clients require their designs to be pixel perfect, especially in web design. While creating guides and placing the elements attached to them is no trouble at all, getting an element in the absolute center of an area might be time consuming. Select the area you want to get your element absolutely centered in (this can be a whole document too), then click on the move tool or press V and you will be able to see your options as side icons. Click on the second icon to center the element vertically and the fifth icon to center it horizontally.
Quickly Select Layer
Selecting a layer when the project is near the end might be troublesome, especially if a design includes dozens of layers. This can be done easily by clicking on the Move tool (V), and after that hold down the Ctrl/command key and then click on the element. This will automatically select the element’s layer.
These features will hopefully increase your efficiency and allow you to increase your workload without decreasing the quality of your work. Since some of the secrets come as keyboard shortcuts, you can make things easier by writing them down on stickers and can look at them while learning.