The Quick Start Guide to Photoshop (Pt.1)

The Quick Start Guide to Photoshop (Part 1)

Opening Photoshop for the first time can feel overwhelming, so this three-part guide breaks it down starting with everything worth setting up before any actual editing begins. This first part covers keyboard shortcuts, preferences, color settings, the toolbar, and the fundamentals of layers, layer masks, and blend modes, all the groundwork that makes the more hands-on editing in parts two and three make sense.

Getting Comfortable With Keyboard Shortcuts

Nearly every command in Photoshop has a keyboard shortcut next to it in the menu, and leaning on those shortcuts instead of clicking through menus is what makes working quickly in Photoshop possible.

1. Open an Image With a Shortcut

   Press Cmd/Ctrl+O to open an image instead of navigating through File > Open.

2. Open the Keyboard Shortcuts Editor

   Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts to see and change any shortcut in the program.

3. Create a Custom Shortcut

   Find a command that doesn’t have a shortcut yet, such as Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, click into the shortcut field, and press a new key combination like Shift+Option/Alt+Cmd/Ctrl+G to assign it.

Setting Up General and Interface Preferences

A handful of preference changes, mostly around interface behavior, make Photoshop feel less cluttered and more predictable to work in.

4. Open Preferences

   Go to Photoshop > Preferences > General.

5. Turn Off Animated Zoom and Flick Panning

   Uncheck options like Animated Zoom and Flick Panning, since these can use extra computer resources without adding much benefit.

6. Remove the Canvas Border

   In Interface preferences, set the border to none for Standard Screen Mode, Full Screen with Menus, and Full Screen so no border appears around the canvas.

7. Turn Off Open Documents as Tabs

   Uncheck Open Documents as Tabs if separate floating windows are preferred over a tabbed interface.

Increasing Undo History States and Background Saving

Two settings tucked into File Handling and Performance preferences control how many times an action can be undone and how safely work gets saved automatically.

8. Turn On Save in Background

   In File Handling preferences, turn on Save in Background so Photoshop saves automatically without interrupting work, and adjust the auto-save interval as needed.

9. Increase History States

   In Performance preferences, raise the History States value, such as to 500, to allow far more undos than the default of 25.

Why Increasing History States Can Slow Down Your Computer

Every history state Photoshop keeps track of takes up memory on the computer, since each one is essentially a stored snapshot of a previous edit. Raising the limit from the default 25 up to something like 500 gives a lot more room to undo mistakes, but on a slower computer that extra memory use can start to noticeably affect performance.

Choosing a Color Space in Color Settings

Photoshop’s Color Settings dialog decides which color space is used while editing, and that choice affects how much color information is available to work with.

10. Open Color Settings

    Go to Edit > Color Settings.

11. Set RGB to ProPhoto RGB

    Change the RGB working space from the default sRGB to ProPhoto RGB, which contains a much larger range of color information to edit with.

12. Turn On Ask When Opening for Profile Mismatches

    Check Ask When Opening under Profile Mismatches so Photoshop always asks how to handle an image with a different embedded color profile, rather than making that decision silently.

Converting Between Color Spaces When Opening and Saving for Web

Editing in a large color space like ProPhoto RGB means converting back to the smaller sRGB space that web browsers expect, and Photoshop handles both directions automatically once preferences are set correctly.

13. Convert an Image’s Color Profile When Opening

    When opening an image with a mismatched embedded profile, such as sRGB from an internet download, choose Convert Document’s Colors to bring it into the current ProPhoto RGB working space.

14. Use Save for Web to Convert Back to sRGB

    Go to File > Save for Web, which automatically converts the image back to sRGB and allows setting a specific output width before saving as a JPEG, PNG, or GIF.

Why Edit in ProPhoto RGB but Save for Web in sRGB

sRGB is a much smaller color space that contains less color information, which is fine for a browser to display but limiting for heavy editing since pushing and pulling pixels in a small space shows quality loss faster. Editing in the larger ProPhoto RGB space keeps more information available to work with throughout the edit, while Save for Web automatically converts back to sRGB at the very end since that’s the space the internet reads natively; the differences between how Photoshop and Lightroom handle color and editing more broadly are worth understanding as this workflow gets more advanced.

Navigating the Toolbar and Tool Options

Every tool on the left side of the screen comes with its own set of options along the top of the window, and those options change completely depending on which tool is selected.

15. Toggle the Toolbar Visibility

    Go to Window > Tools to show or hide the toolbar.

16. Select a Tool and Check Its Options

    Click a tool, such as the Magic Wand, and look at the options bar at the top for settings like sampling size and Tolerance.

17. Adjust Tolerance to Change a Selection

    Raise the Tolerance value on the Magic Wand tool to select a wider range of similar colors with a single click.

18. Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Zoom

    Hold Cmd/Ctrl and press plus or minus to zoom in or out, or hold Spacebar and Cmd/Ctrl while clicking and dragging to zoom at a specific point.

Working With Layers Instead of the Background Layer

Painting directly on the background layer permanently alters the original image, while working on a new layer keeps every addition independent and fully editable.

19. Create a New Layer

    Click the New Layer button in the Layers panel before painting or adding anything new.

20. Paint or Add Content on the New Layer

    Use the Brush tool to paint on the new layer instead of directly on the background.

21. Transform or Erase Independently

    Use the Eraser tool, the Move tool, or Cmd/Ctrl+T to erase, move, or transform the content on that layer without affecting the image underneath.

Why Layers Keep Edits From Damaging the Original Image

Erasing or editing something painted directly onto the background layer also erases and edits the original photo underneath it, since there’s no separation between the two. Placing new additions and edits on their own layers means the original background stays completely untouched, so a layer can be deleted, hidden, or adjusted at any time without any permanent damage to the source image.

Exploring Blend Modes on a Layer

The blend mode dropdown at the top of the Layers panel changes how a layer’s pixels interact with everything beneath it, opening up a huge range of effects from the same painted content.

22. Change a Layer’s Blend Mode

    Change the blend mode dropdown from Normal to options like Overlay, Multiply, or Soft Light to see how each changes the way the layer interacts with the image below.

23. Adjust Opacity

    Lower the layer’s opacity to blend a strong effect in more subtly.

Understanding Adjustment Layers and Layer Masks

Adjustment layers apply changes like brightness or hue globally, while a layer mask controls exactly where on that layer the adjustment is actually visible.

24. Add an Adjustment Layer

    Add an adjustment layer such as Hue/Saturation from the Adjustments panel or the New Adjustment Layer menu.

25. Invert the Layer Mask to Hide the Effect

    Press Cmd/Ctrl+I on the layer mask to turn it black, hiding the adjustment everywhere.

26. Paint White to Reveal the Adjustment

    Select the layer mask, choose the Brush tool set to white, and paint over any area where the adjustment should become visible.

Why This Approach Works

Setting up keyboard shortcuts, preferences, and color settings before diving into actual editing is what keeps Photoshop from feeling unpredictable once real work begins, since the program behaves consistently from the first edit onward. Choosing ProPhoto RGB for editing and letting Save for Web handle the conversion to sRGB is what balances having enough color information to work with against getting a file the internet can actually read correctly. Understanding layers, blend modes, and layer masks together is what unlocks nearly everything else Photoshop can do, since almost every more advanced technique builds on that same foundation of working non-destructively on separate layers.

Final Thoughts

None of this is flashy on its own, but getting comfortable with the shortcuts, preferences, and basic layer workflow covered in Part 1 is what makes everything covered in the rest of this series click faster. From here, Part 2 moves into some of Photoshop’s most commonly used tools and editing techniques, and Part 3 wraps up the series with saving, exporting, and naming files once an edit is finished.

Quick Reference: Keys, Menus and Settings

• Open an imageCmd/Ctrl + O
• Custom shortcutsEdit > Keyboard Shortcuts; Gaussian Blur set to Shift + Alt/Option + Cmd/Ctrl + G
• PreferencesPhotoshop > Preferences (Edit > Preferences on Windows): Save in Background on; History States 500
• Color settingsEdit > Color Settings: RGB ProPhoto RGB; Ask When Opening for mismatches
• Back to sRGBFile > Save for Web
• ZoomCmd/Ctrl + + or -; Space + Cmd/Ctrl drag
• Layers and masksCmd/Ctrl + T to transform; Cmd/Ctrl + I inverts a mask