Tabs & Guides in Adobe Photoshop

[KristinaW]

In this post, I’m going to go through a fun little project. My goal is to open three photos into Photoshop as layers and arrange them in a new file a certain way. To do this, I’ll use Adobe Bridge and, of course, Photoshop itself.

What I’d like to show you are a few simple tips to help out your workflow. They aren’t anything huge or earth moving, but by recognizing that you have the ability to accomplish some really neat things, you’ll be able to shave at least a few minutes from each project.

Opening Files As Layers Into Photoshop​

I’m going to use Bridge to open three files directly into Photoshop. I want each of these photos to be their own layer. To do this, I need to select each photo thumbnail and then head up to the “Tools > Photoshop > Load Files Into Photoshop Layers” menu.



Once I click this menu option, I’ll see Photoshop open up with just as I thought – each of my photos as its own layer.

Creating a New Document in Photoshop​

Now, what I’d like to do is create one file that has all three of these photos in it. Sort of like a brochure. To start things off, I’m going to create a new document in Photoshop. Since I already know that each photo that I imported earlier is 1000×667 pixels, I’ll create the new document with those same dimensions. I’ll go to the “File > New” menu option and click that.



Once I see the new document dialog box appear, I’ll go ahead and fill in the file name and the dimensions. In this case, I’ll name the new document “Food-Pics” and, like I said earlier, I’ll give it the dimensions of 1000 pixels wide and 667 pixels high.



This will give me a new blank document called Food-Pics.

Moving Layers Into the Blank Document​

I want to let you know something – If I had clicked “Ctrl O” or “File > Open” from the top menu after I selected my thumbnails in Bridge, I could have opened each of my files as separate tabs in Photoshop. The reason I didn’t want to do that was because I wanted to store each file as a layer in just one tab for simplicity’s sake. Sometimes, I open many, many files and to have them all listed as tabs can be overwhelming. Really though, it’s up to you whether you want to see just one tab or many tabs.

The next step in this project is to move each layer (or file) over to the new document. I’m going to do this one at a time because I want to adjust their positioning directly after adding them.

The first layer I’d like to move over is labeled “gold-roasted-yukon-potatoes.jpg.” By the way, these are photos I took last night during my attempt at a new recipe. In order to move an existing layer in one document to a new document is to select the layer in the “Layers” panel. Then, using the “Move Tool,” drag the layer up to the new document’s tab. Don’t let go yet. Once you roll over the new document’s tab, Photoshop will switch to that new (or other) document. Once it switches, you can continue to drag the layer down into the document canvas and let go. You may encounter a few boxes that ask what you’d like to do about color and things like that. If that’s the case, answer them the way you’d like and click “OK.” You should now see the layer as a layer in the other document. Here’s a tip: To have the layer you’re moving over centered in the canvas of the new document, simply click and hold down the “Shift” key while you’re letting go of your mouse button.

Setting Guides​

This is where Photoshop gets really cool. Since my plan is to eventually have one of my layers cover the bottom half of the document and the other two layer share the top half, I’m going to need some sort of guidance. Let’s go over how to set up guides.

I know I already have my rulers showing in my example file, but if I didn’t, I’d need to go to the “View > Rulers” menu and make sure it’s checked off. This will make the rules appear around the workspace.



If I right-click in one of the rulers, I can see which measurement mode it’s currently in. For this project, I’d like to use “Percent,” so if that’s not the one that’s currently selected, I’ll need to select it.



Now, since I can easily see the 50% marks, I can click inside the ruler areas and drag down into my canvas. Each time I do this, a new guide appears. To create a guide that horizontally halves the document, I’ll click inside the the top horizontal ruler and drag down until the small indicator says 50%. To create a guide that vertically halves the document, I need to do the same thing, but this time, I’ll click and drag from the left side vertical ruler.



Because it was difficult to move the guide to exactly 50% the way the document was sized, I clicked “Ctrl +” on my keyboard to enlarge my view and to give me some breathing room.

Arranging the Layers​

I’m going to be repeating this same step for all three layers, once they’re over in this document, so this is important.

I already mentioned that I want the layer that I already dragged over to this new document to cover the entire bottom half. Instead of me selecting the layer in the “Layers” panel, clicking and dragging it around by eye, I can select the layer and let Photoshop do the alignment work for me.

To do this, I’m going to head up to the “Marquee Tool” and select it. Then, I’m going to draw a thin box from one side of the canvas to the other, near and parallel to the horizontal guide. After that, I’m going to nudge the marquee box up or down so the top border covers the horizontal guide. Take a look at the screenshot below.



At this point, I should have a box that’s touching both sides of the canvas and that’s covering the horizontal guide.

Now, I’m going to go back and select my “Move Tool” and notice how the options menu changes up top. We’ve got some items that are going to help.



What I’ve got circled in red are alignment tools. The way they work is that they align any selected layer that’s inside a marquee, according to whichever tool you choose. Since I clicked on the one that aligns the top edge of the layer with the top edge of the marquee box, that’s what I got. So, you can see how my layer changed position. Just for good measure, I could have clicked the other alignment tool that centers the layer, but I already knew it was centered, so I didn’t do that.

Finishing the Project​

To finish this project, all I’ve got to do is repeat what I’ve already done. I have to drag the next layer over to this document and align it. And then I need to do the same thing for the last layer. I just need to get creative with my alignment tools. One you play around with them, you get used to them fast.

Once I’m finished introducing these other layers to my “Food-Pics” document and I finish arranging them how I’d like, I can remove the guides by clicking on my “Move Tool” and then hovering over each guide. Once I see the cursor change to a small double arrow, I can click and drag the guide off the screen. After that, I’ll have my final image.

 

[KristinaW]

How to Use Smart Guides in Adobe Photoshop​

I use guides for so much in Adobe Photoshop. As a matter of fact, I just finished up a project in which I used a fair number of guides to trim multiple images that were to be sized identically. I love the fact that I can resize an image using the Free Transform tool and keep just a bit of the edges of the images hanging outside of the guide pattern that I set up. After the resizing, I use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to draw rectangles that snap right to the guides. I press delete, the overhanging edges disappear and I’m a happy camper. Guides rule and I couldn’t even imagine how long these types of projects would take if they didn’t exist.

By the way, if you’re new to guides I mentioned them in this post below, so please feel free to click through to learn a bit about them.

Tips For Tabs & Guides in Adobe Photoshop

What I’d like to discuss in today’s post has to do with a very special type of guide – the Smart Guide. Smart Guides are turned on in Photoshop by default, but if you’d like to turn them off, there is a way. I’ll cover that down below. Basically, Smart Guides are guides that are “active” in your workspace. They become visible when an object in a layer moves into alignment with another object or a specific position within the canvas, such as the center or in a corner. They’ve extremely helpful because of the time savings they offer. Instead of creating multiple layers that contain multiple objects and then having to link those layers and align them the traditional way, we’re able to simply create our new layers and drag them around the canvas until the Smart Guides light up, telling us the object is in position. These things are a wonderful feature I know you’re going to just love them by the end of this post.

For this post, I guess I’ll simply show you how Smart Guides work. There’s no exact science behind the feature and everyone’s experience will be different, depending on what type of project you’re working on. For my project today, I’ll move a few shapes around an empty canvas. I think that will keep things as clear as possible.

Turning Smart Guides On & Off​

The first thing I’d like to show you is how to turn Smart Guides on and off. This process is very simple. If you visit the View > Show > Smart Guides menu item and click to reveal a check mark, you’ve turned the guides on. If you click again so the check mark disappears, you’ve turned the guides off.

Aligning Some Shapes​

The best way to demonstrate how these guides work is to work with shapes in an empty document. I’ve already created the document and now I’ll use the Ellipse Tool to draw a red circle.



Now, when working with graphics, it’s oftentimes very helpful to have the ability to automatically select an object simply by clicking on it with your mouse right in the workspace, as opposed to having to select it by clicking on the layer in the Layers panel. To enable this ability, I’ll first activate the Move Tool and then I’ll go up to the options bar and click on Auto-Select. Finally, I’ll choose Layer from the drop-down box to the right of that.



Next, I’ll go ahead and click on the circle and drag it around a bit. As I do this, I’ll notice pink lines appearing as move the circle around the canvas. Take a look. This first screenshot shows the center lines for the canvas.



This next screenshot shows some random guides that aren’t quite clear as to their purpose. Look closely at the small dark box and you’ll see the coordinates of the shape as it relates to the guides.



Remember, these guides appear and disappear as I move the shape.

While this is all well and good as I deal with one shape, check out how much of a time saver these Smart Guides become as I begin duplicating shapes. Let’s pretend that I mean to align multiple shapes on the canvas. I’l first press and hold down the Alt (Option) key on my keyboard and then I’ll click and drag the shape downward.



Notice how the guides have appeared to keep the second shape aligned with the first? I’ll continue dragging downward.



Wow, as I drag, I can see exactly where I am on the canvas. And the best part is, these guides snap, meaning I don’t have to be very precise with my dragging. The shapes will snap in place as I move near the guides.

My ultimate goal is to center these circles in the middle of the canvas so they make up a square. To do this, I’ll need to align these first two circles along the center line. I’ll hold down the Shift key on my keyboard and click right on both circles. This will select the both of them. Then, I’ll drag slowly to the right until I see the center line Smart Guide appear. The circles will snap to that line and I’ll let go.



Since the two circles are already selected, all I need to do now is to hold down the Alt key again and drag to the right. Doing this will create two more duplicates. I’ll drag until I see the center guide appear again. Once the shapes snap into position, I’ll let go.



When I let go of my mouse button, the guides will disappear and I’ll have perfectly aligned shapes. If you think about it, consider how long this would have taken with traditional guides. I could perform the alignment that I just created above in about five seconds. With regular guides, it would have taken much longer and I wouldn’t even be sure if things were aligned perfectly. Needless to say, Smart Guides are the way to go. Use them and save yourself a heck of a lot of time. And remember, my example above was just a tiny taste of what these things can do. They can assist with all types of alignments so I encourage you to experiment with them.



Well, this was a quick post, wasn’t it. I like these types of posts. Straightforward and to the point. If you have any questions regarding what I covered above, please ask in the comment section down below or in the Photoshop discussion forum. Thanks for reading!

 

[KristinaW]

What’s the Easiest Way to Align Layers in Photoshop?​

Question: I do a lot of graphics work and I’m constantly trying to align graphics or objects that are contained in separate layers. I use a variety of methods, but I don’t think any of them are very good. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas or insight into the best and easiest (and most accurate) way to align graphics in layers.

Answer: Let’s say you’ve got three shapes as separate layers in your file. You can select all three shapes in the Layers panel and then use your Rectangular Marquee Tool to surround the shapes on the canvas. Then, click on the Move Tool to activate it. You’ll see the options change in the options bar. Within those options are some align tools. Choose what you need to align the layers.

Alternately, you could click and drag each layer around right on the canvas and use the Smart Guides to align them. This is a great post that covers how to do that.

How to Use Smart Guides in Adobe Photoshop

 

[KristinaW]

How to Set Up Guides in Photoshop​

I use guides in Photoshop almost every day. I never used to use them, but ever since I learned what they were and what they can do, I take full advantage of them. Basically, guides are light blue lines that you can overlay on your working workspace. They’re nice because you can line things up in relation to them and they can help a lot when drawing shapes or selections. In more recent releases of Photoshop, you can snap to the guide, which helps with accuracy.

So, how can we create guides in Photoshop? For a simple guide creation, you’ll need to make sure your rulers are being displayed. Go up to the View > Rulers menu item and make sure there’s a check next to it. If there is, you’re in good shape. You should see the rulers in the workspace. They line the image.



To create a guide, simply click inside the top ruler and drag down or click inside the left ruler and drag to the right. You can set more than one guide if you want. To remove guides that have previously been set, hover your mouse over each one until the mouse changes into a different icon and then click and drag the guide far off the workspace. That will delete it. To create a new guide with the assistance of Photoshop, you can use the View > New Guide menu item and type in your position.

To show and hide the guides but keep them alive, you can either use the View > Show > Guides menu item to turn them on and off or you can use the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+; or Command+;. That’s a semicolon if you can’t see it clearly. You can also clear (delete) them by using the View > Clear Guides menu item.



Here are a few random guides I just made with the method I described above.



The true power of guide creation lies with the New Guide Layout feature inside of Photoshop. Instead of trying to position guides accurately by hand, you can do so precisely with mathematics. Go to the View > New Guide Layout menu item and click. When you do this, you’ll see the New Guide Layout dialog box appear.



If you click on the Preset drop-down, you’ll see a bunch of different available options. You can load pre-made guide layouts into your install of Photoshop and you can also choose between a few different layouts that came installed already. The best part is creating custom layouts. To do this, click the Custom option that can be found at the bottom of the drop-down. When you do that, you’ll see all the fields below become active. Type values into those fields to see what they result in. You can use any distance metric that Photoshop accepts. Percentage, pixels, whatever. You’ll need to experiment with this feature to get used to it, but I think you’ll see the value in it very quickly.

When you’re finished, click the OK button to apply the guides to your file. In subsequent posts, I’ll discuss how you can use guides to help with the shapes and selections I mentioned above. If you have questions, please ask below. Thanks!