Photoshop is a graphic editing tool that allows the user to create and manipulate images for print, the web, and other media. It is a powerful tool and this handout only introduces the basics; many of the tools need to be explored by the user to see all of their capabilities.

Tools Found in the Toolbox
The tools in the toolbox let you select, paint, edit, and view images. Other tools are used to choose foreground and background colors, create quick masks, and change the screen display mode. Many tools have associated Brushes and Options Palettes, which let you define the tools’ painting and editing effects.

To find out the name of a particular tool, hold your mouse over the tool until the yellow tip pops up. If a tool has a small arrow in the lower right corner, it has more than one option. Click and hold on the tool, slide over to the option you wish to use, and release the mouse. If you’d like to know more about a particular tool, you can go to the Photoshop Help menu, choose Photoshop Help… then Looking at the Work Area from the left column, select Using the toolbox on the right, and then choose toolbox Overview at the bottom of the page. Selection Tools

Selection Tools are the most often used tools in Photoshop. These tools allow you to select portions of the image either by location or by pixel color, and thus apply Photoshop’s editing power in specific areas. All selection tools can be combined to create exact selections using the Shift key or Alt key (Option key on the Mac), to add or subtract respectively.

There are three basic selection tools in Photoshop: the Marquee, the Lasso, and the Magic Wand. The Marquee and Lasso Tools select areas based on their location within an image; the Magic Wand selects pixels based on their color value.

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