9 Photoshop Secret Features

Improve your photo editing and general skills by learning about these 9 secret Photoshop features!

The vast majority of creative minds are familiar with Adobe Photoshop. The skills depend on how long you have been using the app and how much time you spend learning about it. But let me guide you through 9 more secret features that not many artists know about! They will help you bring your designs to a whole new level, so it is surely worth your time.

Another way of improving the quality of your artworks is learning how to use new software. They have different tools that will help you create something new and maybe you’ll find your new favorite app! So, if you feel stuck and want to boost inspiration in order to be back on track, try exploring new computer drawing programs.

1. Color Picker

When you are working with the brush tool, you may select a color using the color picker. To use the standard sampler, hold Alt and simply select a color by clicking.

Additionally, a super color picker is available that lets you select hue, saturation, and brightness. In Windows, use Shift + Alt + right click. If you are working with Mac, the combination will be Cmd + Ctrl + Option. Holding the Spacebar enables you to navigate between Hue and Saturation/Luminance when using the Super Color Picker. 

This feature helps you to add more colors to your artwork, which means you will get a vivid result that catches everyone’s attention. It is especially useful for artists working on illustrations.

2. Delete empty layers

When you are working hard on your project, technically there are many things you need to consider. One of them is checking if there are no empty layers that may confuse you and overall make the workflow slow. As it can be hard to see by yourself, there is a secret combination that will help you to check it automatically.

So, are you really sure that Layer is empty? It might be difficult to tell at times. To discover, use combination Ctrl + Cmd + T. You can tell if a dialog box is indeed empty if it says “…The initial Bounding Box is Empty”.

3. Zoom into layers

Artists, illustrators and graphic designers all know the moment when you are crafting an artwork and everything seems perfect, but then you see a little dot that falls out of the wholesome image. In such a case, it is vital to know how to zoom in on the needed layer to check and fix the problem. Luckily, there is a special tip on how to do it with ease!

Photoshop will zoom into the layer’s contents if you alt/click on the Layer Thumbnail. In this instance, a little dot appears. However, it works only with Adobe Photoshop 2020+, so check if your app will suit this criterion.

4. Consolidate the layers that stay out of groups

I got a decision for you if there are too many groups of layers that confuse the work process. To make it easier and more compact, you can just combine all of the layers rather than group them. And here is a consolidation step-by-step guide:

1. Firstly, click the top layer while holding down the shift key, then click the bottom layer (not the background).

2. To deselect all of the groupings, Cmd/Ctrl+Click on them.

3. A line will appear when you drag the layers to the top of the layers panel.

4. The release will place all layers to the top and leave the groups empty, allowing you to eliminate the empty husks (groups).

5. Copy between different documents

To copy over layers between documents, most users use a long way to do it through Cut and Paste. This has the drawback of clogging up your memory and remaining there. Large papers are slowed down as a result, and who wants to waste their time? The better and more convenient way is to drag — you may easily clone a layer by doing so. Drag the selected document’s tab into the new one and the window will open in a few moments. Drag it to the center (or where you need it) and enjoy the result! 

You can also copy multiple layers by dragging them and releasing just the same as for a single layer. It will be much faster than adding the items one by one.

6. Perspective working with multiple objects

Perhaps you are familiar with a vanishing point. If not, meet them right away; if so, get ready to get some advice on how to interact with them. Here I give you a detailed guide you should follow in order to work with the vanishing point in a simple way. Plus, I include here the steps for both Windows and Mac users, so be careful:

1. Layer duplication (logo)

2. (Ctrl / Cmd + A) Select all

3. (Ctrl / Cmd + C) Copy

4. Deselect (Ctrl / Cmd + D)

5. To begin, create a new Layer.

6. Select the Vanishing point under Filter and that’s it.

7. Get a precise image

When you learn how to work with the Vanishing point in an easy way from the guide above, you can plunge into the next process using it. This time it will help you to get a precise, clear image. And, of course, I will tell you in detail how to do it in a couple of minutes:

1. Click on a surface’s four points in the Vanishing point to define a plane.

2. When a plane is established, press and hold the X key to momentarily zoom in for exact placement.

3. Then, construct additional planes for each surface you intend to use.

8. Copy the logo

Here comes a tip for graphic designers working on logo designs, so use it for saving some precious time! With this lifehack, you will be able to finish your branding image project soon. You may paste the logo you already copied into Vanishing Point (which you can use due to the info above).

1. Ctrl + V will paste the logo you need into the image.

2. Drag it to each plane and observe how it miraculously comes into perspective.

3. Enter the words to apply, in case you want to add the company name or a slogan.

9. Take advantage of the grid

We may make use of the fact that the grids stay in the filter thanks to VP. It facilitates all the work process, as now we can paste more logos inside without starting it all over again. Here you should follow the next steps:

1. Like we did in tip 6, duplicate a different logo.

2. Establish a new layer.

3. Click Filter > Vanishing Point

4. Since we don’t need to generate the grids from scratch, there is also no need to reach the vanishing point just once to complete everything.

About Nick

Nick is a Software Engineer. He has interest in gadgets and technical stuffs. If you are facing any problem with your Windows, feel free to ask him.