Photoshop Tools

Adobe Photoshop features a comprehensive Tools Panel located on the left side of the interface. Clicking on certain tools reveals a dropdown of hidden tools beneath them. A small triangle at the lower right of any tool’s icon indicates the presence of additional hidden tools. The tools in Photoshop can be categorized into several functional groups as follows:

Display Tools

The Display Tools in Photoshop are divided into two key tools:

Zoom Tool: Used for zooming in (Zoom In) or zooming out (Zoom Out) on images within the application. Its keyboard shortcut is Z.
Hand Tool: This tool allows users to pan or move an image within the workspace by clicking and dragging with the mouse. The shortcut for this tool is H.

Selection Tools

Selection Tools are essential for defining shapes and areas in an image. They include the following:

Marquee Tool: Utilized for selecting rectangular or elliptical areas, as well as single rows or columns. Its shortcut key is M.
Lasso Tool: Allows freehand drawing of polygons around specific areas of an image. Its shortcut key is L.
Quick Selection Tool: This tool facilitates selection based on color. The shortcut for this tool is W.
Move Tool: Used for relocating the selected area or layer. The shortcut for this tool is V.

Enhancement Tools

Enhancement Tools are designed to improve the quality of images. These include:

Spot Healing Brush: This tool is employed to eliminate imperfections from images. Its shortcut is J.
Blur Tool: Used to blur specific areas of an image without a dedicated shortcut.
Clone Stamp Tool: Utilized to replicate color or shape from one part of the image and apply it to another area. The shortcut for this tool is S.
Sponge Tool: This tool helps modify colors within an image, with a shortcut of O.
Smart Brush Tool: Used to apply tonal adjustments to selected areas of the image. Its shortcut is F.
Eye Tool: Designed to remove red-eye effects from photographs, with a shortcut key of Y.

Drawing Tools

Photoshop provides various Drawing Tools, including:

Brush Tool: Allows for drawing light or dark strokes, with a shortcut of B.
Eraser Tool: Used to erase portions of an image by brushing over them. Its shortcut is E.
Paint Bucket Tool: Fills a selected area with a single color. The shortcut for this tool is K.
Gradient Tool: Creates a color gradient in the desired area. Its shortcut key is G.
Color Picker Tool: Captures a specific color from the image for use as the foreground or background color. The shortcut is I.
Pencil Tool: This tool enables freehand line drawing. Its shortcut is N.
Horizontal Type Tool: Used for creating and editing text in images, with a shortcut of T.

Modification Tools

Photoshop includes several Modification Tools, such as:

Crop Tool: This tool is utilized to cut a specific part of an image according to the defined area, with a shortcut key of C.
Content-Aware Move Tool: It allows users to select an element in an image and move it to a new location or extend it within the same image. Its shortcut is Q.
Straighten Tool: Used for realigning an image either vertically or horizontally. Its shortcut is P.
Recompose Tool: This tool enables resizing images without altering visible content like people, buildings, or animals. The shortcut is W.

For a deeper understanding of Photoshop, you can read the main article on Photoshop.