Chapter 3: Basic Tools & Techniques

Now that you know your way around the interface, let’s start doing something. In this chapter, we will cover the fundamental tools you’ll use in almost every project.

We’ll focus on Moving, Selecting, Painting, and Erasing.

3.1 The Move Tool (V)

The most basic tool is the Move Tool (V). It does exactly what it says: it moves things.

Auto-Select: In the Options Bar, there’s a checkbox called “Auto-Select”.
- Checked: Clicking on the canvas automatically selects the layer under your cursor.
- Unchecked: You must select the layer in the Layers Panel before you can move it.
- Recommendation: Keep it unchecked for now to avoid accidentally moving the wrong thing.
Show Transform Controls: Check this box to see bounding box handles (little squares) around your selected object, allowing you to resize or rotate it instantly.

3.2 Making Selections

Selections are how you tell Photoshop “I want to work on this specific part of the image, not the whole thing.”

Marquee Tools (M)

Rectangular Marquee: Click and drag to select a square or rectangle. Hold Shift to make a perfect square.
Elliptical Marquee: Click and drag to select a circle or oval. Hold Shift to make a perfect circle.

Lasso Tools (L)

Lasso Tool: Freehand drawing selection. Great for rough selections.
Polygonal Lasso Tool: Click point-to-point to create straight-edged selections.
Magnetic Lasso Tool: Snaps to the edges of high-contrast objects.

Quick Selection & Magic Wand (W)

Quick Selection Tool: Paint over an area, and Photoshop seemingly “magically” selects the object based on textures and edges.
Magic Wand Tool: Selects pixels of similar color with a Single Click. Good for solid backgrounds.

Modifying Selections:

Add to Selection: Hold Shift and use a selection tool.
Subtract from Selection: Hold Alt (Option on Mac) and use a selection tool.
Deselect: Press Ctrl + D (Cmd + D). Memorize this!

3.3 Painting with the Brush Tool (B)

The Brush Tool (B) is for painting color.

Picking a Color: Click the Foreground Color square at the bottom of the Tools Panel to open the Color Picker.
Brush Size: Use the [ and ] bracket keys to quickly resize your brush.
Hardness:
- 0% Hardness: Soft, fuzzy edges (good for blending).
- 100% Hardness: Crisp, sharp edges (good for drawing).

3.4 Erasing (and why you shouldn’t)

The Eraser Tool (E) removes pixels permanently. When you erase, that information is gone forever.

The Golden Rule of Photoshop: destroy as little as possible.

Instead of erasing, professionals use Layer Masks. We will cover this in the very next chapter. But for now, just know that while the Eraser exists, it’s often better to hide pixels than to delete them.

3.5 cropping and Resizing

Sometimes your canvas isn’t the right shape.

Crop Tool (C): Click and drag the handles to trim your image.
- Delete Cropped Pixels: Uncheck this in the Options Bar! If you check it, anything you crop out is deleted. Unchecking it keeps the pixels there, just hidden outside the canvas.

Next Up: In Chapter 4, we tackle the most powerful concept in Photoshop: Layers and Masks. This is where the real magic happens.