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Photoshop Hacks: 20 Hacks To Improve Your Editing

Photoshop can be overwhelming. Put these 20 great Photoshop hacks to use to speed up your workflow while maintaining your sanity!

Hit play on the video below to start learning about the first 13 photoshop hacks!

Continue reading below for the final 7!

20 Photoshop Hacks To Instantly Improve Your Editing:

I hope you enjoyed the first 13 tricks of this tutorials!

Now lets continue with the final 7 tips, tricks, hacks; whatever you want to call them, below:

14. Clipping Masks Trick

SHORTCUT: 

MAC: CMD + ALT + G

PC: CNTRL + ALT + G

Use the above shortcut to instantly clip your selected layer to the layer below. Below is an example of several layers clipped to another layer.

Below: All clipped layers can now only effect “Layer 1”. You know a layer is clipped when there is the small arrow beside the layer, circled below:

15. The Moving Layers Trick

SHORTCUT: 

MAC: CMD + ] or [

PC: CNTRL + ] or [

Reduce the amount of clicks and mouse moves by using your bracket keys to shuffle layers up or down your layer stack! Select the layer you are wanting to move and simply use this shortcut to move the selected layer, above or below.

16. Filling With Colour

SHORTCUT: 

MAC: ALT + DELETE = FILL WITH FOREGROUND COLOUR

MAC: CMD + DELETE = FILL WITH BACKGROUND COLOUR

 PC: ALT + DELETE = FILL WITH FOREGROUND COLOUR

 PC: CNTRL + DELETE = FILL WITH BACKGROUND COLOUR

Filling your image with a solid colour can sometimes seem a lot harder than it needs to be. Use this shortcut to make your life a whole lot easier. If you are unsure what colour is foreground versus background, see below: (Blue: Foreground – Orange: Background)

17. The Selection Trick

SHORTCUT: 

MAC: CMD + SHIFT + I

PC: CNTRL + SHIFT + I

Sometimes you need to swap your active selection to the opposite of what is being selected. For example if you use the quick selection tool to select out a sky, when you add that selection to a layer mask only the sky will be visible. Save yourself the hassle of having to invert your layer mask by simply inverting your original selection. See below for example:

18.  Better Black And White Photos

Instead of just reducing the saturation of your image until it turns black and white, use the Black and White Layer Adjustment! This tool lets you effect individual colour ranges luminosity to dial in the perfect amount of contrast in your black and white image! See below for an example of this tool in use:

19. Rotate View Tool

SHORTCUT: 

MAC/PC: R

The tool everyone needs to know! Rotate your canvas to make more comfortable adjustments to your image. Simply press R on your keyboard to rotate the canvas to a desired position! Now you can rotate your image to edit at any angle you see fit. See below:

20. Undo Multiple Steps

SHORTCUT: 

MAC: CMD + ALT + Z 

PC: CNTRL + ALT + Z

I’m sure many of you already know that Command or Control Z will undo in Photoshop. If you press that same key you will just re-apply what you just undid. So how can you step back even further? Use the shortcut above to undo to your hearts desire!

So those are 20 Photoshop hacks, tricks, tools that you can start putting to use to instantly improve your editing. I remember how challenging it is to wrap your head around the layout in Photoshop. I think that fun Photoshop hacks like these are a great way to learn the program inside and out!

Want to see more tricks? Check out 15 amazing tricks and shortcuts in Photoshop

Is there anything you think should be on this list? Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Editing 🙂

-Brendan