The master list of Photoshop shortcuts

Photoshop has been around for over twenty years and it has changed photography forever. It might not have been taken very seriously in the beginning and it might have been met with skepticism, but there is no doubt that it has become more complex than any classic darkroom, very shortly after it was launched. It is still scary to some beginners, and that might be normal. After all, in the classical sense, photography should be all about what you can do with a camera and nothing else. That might be the case, in the sense that a bad photograph will not become a better one no matter what you do to it. Software like Photoshop and Lightroom is designed to bring out the best in an image, to make it shine at its true potential. Digital cameras, no matter how advanced , produce images that still need a minimum amount of editing.

To help beginnng Photoshopers, and maybe even some experienced photographers, I ’ve compiled a master list of shortcuts to help you get the most out of your photographs in the shortest amount of time.

For Windows:

Open File – This is where all starts from – opening a picture. Do this by pressing Ctrl + O.

Create document – If you have no picture to open, create a new document by pressing Ctrl + N.

Zooming in and out – You do this by pressing the Ctrl button and the plus and minus keys. You can also press Ctrl and use the scroll click on a mouse to zoom both ways.

Save for the web -. Alt + Ctrl + Shift + S will always take you to the “Save for the web” box. Keep in mind that you can press the first three keys in any order you wish – the shortcut will still work.

Transform layer - If you wish to transform the active layer, all you have to do is press Ctrl + T.

Edit key shortcuts - If you want to customize the keyboard shortcuts, all you have to do is press Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K.

Preferences – Ctrl + K will always take you to the Preferences menu.

Levels - If you edit pictures, accessing the levels box is something you do often. From now on, do it by pressing Ctrl + L.

Curves – Ctrl + M will allow you to quickly edit the Curves.

Hue/Saturation - To edit this, press Ctrl + U.

Color Balance – Color Balance is another thing very useful for photo manipulation. Ctrl + B is the shortcut for this.

Desaturate – If you quickly want to desaturate, press Ctrl + Shift + U.

Image size – Another of my personal favorites is Ctrl + Alt + I.

New Layer – Creating a new layer can simply be done by pressing Shift + Ctrl + N.

Liquify – If you use the Liquify tools often, Shift + Ctrl + X should be your best friend.

Invert - Inverting the colors in Photoshop on Windows can simply be done by using the Ctrl + I shortcut.

Fit on screen – Fitting the image on your screen is simply done by pressing Ctrl + 0.

Ruler – You might not always want the ruler on, especially if you have a small screen, therefore keeping in mind Ctrl + R could be useful.

Show grid - You can show or hide the grid by pressing Ctrl + ‘

Show guides – If you want to quickly show or hide the guides, simply press Ctrl + ;

Locking guides – If you work with guides and want to lock them, Alt + Ctrl + ; will do the job.

Brush size – If you want to increase or decrease the brush size, [ and ] will do the job very quickly.

Brush hardness – If you want to modify the hardness of the brush, Shift + [ and Shift + ] will do the trick.

Different Tools (where starred , it means pressing “Shift” and the respective key will help you cycle through different tools of the same type)

Move Tool - V

Marquee Tool – M*

Lasso Tool - L*

Crop Tool - C*

Quick Selection / Magic Wand - W*

Patching Brushes – J*

Eraser – E*

Gradient Tool / Paint Bucket – G*

Pen Tool – P*

Type Tool - T*

Switch Foreground / Background Colors – X

Default Foreground / Background Colors – D

Line / Polygon / Ellipse tools – U*

Sponge / Dodge / Burn tools - O*

Brush History – Y*

Rotate View Tool – R

Hand Tool – H

For Mac:

Open File – Command + O is where you start this time.

Create document - If there is nothing to open, Command + N will create a new document.

Zooming in and out – Although Command + plus and minus work on Mac too, I seriously think zooming in and out with the trackpad is faster once you get used to it.

Save for the web - Command + Option + Shift + S is the shortcut for Macs.

Transform layer - Transforming the active layer happens when pressing Command + T.

Edit key shortcuts - Customizing the shortcut keys can be done by pressing Option + Command + Shift + K.

Preferences – Command + K takes you to the Preferences.

Levels - Accessing the Levels box is similar to the Windows shortcut, Command + L.

Curves – Command + M will allow you to quickly edit the Curves.

Hue/Saturation - To edit this, press Command + U.

Color Balance – To edit the Color Balance of a picture, simply pless Command + B.

Desaturate – Desaturating can be done by pressing Command + Shift + U.

Image size – Finding out the Image size of a picture is simple: just press Command + Option + I.

New Layer – Create a new layer in the active document by pressing Command + Shift + N.

Liquify –Then Command + Shift + X will take you there in no time.

Invert - Inverting the colors in Photoshop on Mac can be done by using the Command + I keyboard shortcut.

Fit on screen – Command + 0 will fit the document on your screen.

Ruler – Like on Windows, pressing Command + R will hide or show the ruler.

Show grid - You can show or hide the grid by pressing Command + ‘

Show guides – You can quickly show or hide the guides by pressing Command + ;

Locking guides – If you want to lock the guides, simply use Option + Command + ;

Brush size – Playing with the brush size is now very easy to do with [ and ].

Brush hardness – The brush hardness can be modified from the keyboard by using { and } – which basically means Shift + [ and Shift + ].

Different Tools(where starred , it means pressing “Shift” and the respective key will help you cycle through different tools of the same type)