Photoshop
New Images
Magnification/Navigation Controls
As you're creating and modifying images you will find you need to change the magnification and navigate around your view of the image. You can do this with the Navigator panel, the Zoom tool, the Hand tool, and the Screen Modes and Zoom Levels menus found in the Application bar.
Screen Modes (Application Bar)
In the Interface module, we mentioned the Application bar that is displayed either above or below the menu bar, depending on whether you're on a Mac or a PC. The icon on the far right of the Application bar is for Screen Modes.
Clicking this icon will display a drop-down menu with three options for viewing the interface and your active image document.
- Standard Screen Mode is the default. All parts of the interface are visible and the document window displays its title bar and scroll bars.
- In Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar the only change is that the image is shown against a full-screen, grey background and the document window has no title bar or scroll bars.
- In Full Screen Mode, the menu bar is hidden and the image is shown against a full-screen, black background with no title bar or scroll bars.
- Shortcuts. You can use keyboard shortcuts to accomplish the same thing. To switch from Standard to Full Screen With Menu Bar, simply press the F key. To cycle through the three viewing modes, continue pressing the F key. In any screen mode pressing Tab will hide the panels and Tool Options bar. In Full Screen Mode, this results in your image being the only thing displayed on your monitor. To redisplay the panels and Tool Options bar, press Tab again.)
These options can also be accessed by going to View > Screen Mode.
Zoom Levels (Application Bar)
One way to zoom in or out on an image is to use the Zoom Levels option in the Application bar.
Clicking on the Zoom Levels control will display a drop-down menu with preset zoom levels. Selecting one will change the active image to that level of magnification. You can also type in a magnification value if the one you want isn't listed. Double-click on the current value, type in a new one, and press Enter (Return) to apply it.
Navigator Panel
The Navigator panel provides options for scaling your view of an image and panning. You can access the Navigator panel in several ways:
- If the Navigator panel group is already displayed, click on the Navigator tab to display it.
- If the Navigator icon is shown in the column of panel icons (shown at right), click the icon.
- Otherwise, go to Window > Navigator.
In this example, the Navigator panel was displayed by clicking its icon in the icon dock. The Navigator panel group flies out and displays to the left of the panel icons. The current image is displayed in the panel. You will notice a red box surrounding the cat image. The red box shows what portion of the image is visible in the document window. In this case, the entire image is visible.
At the bottom of the panel you can see an input box that displays the magnification level as a percentage value. You can enter a different level here. Double-click to select the entry and type in a new value of 75. It isn't necessary to type the percent symbol. Then press Enter (Return) or use the Enter key on the numeric keypad to apply the new magnification. Notice how your view in the image window has changed.
Beside the input box are the Zoom Out, Zoom Slider, and Zoom In controls. Click the Zoom Out or Zoom In controls to increase and decrease the magnification by pre-set increments. You are also able to slide the triangle on the Zoom Slider and quickly change the magnification that way.
Take the triangle and slide it, zooming in on the cat image to roughly 600% as shown here. The red box will expand or contract based on your magnification level. If you roll your cursor over the red box, a Hand icon will appear. Now click and drag inside the red box to see how the image is navigated. When rolling the mouse pointer outside of the box but over the thumbnail, the pointer changes into a pointing Hand icon. Clicking the pointing Hand icon will reposition the red box to the point you clicked on and your view of the image will change accordingly. Move your cursor outside of the red box and try clicking on different parts of the image to see how this works.
Restore the cat image to 100% magnification by entering a new value or by using the Zoom Out control.
The Zoom Tool
The Zoom tool will adjust the magnification of an image. Select the Zoom tool and click on an area of the cat image. A plus sign appears in the centre of the magnifying glass icon 
by default. The image magnification will change to 200%. Click in the image a second time to zoom in to 300%.
The Alt (Option) key changes the Zoom tool to a Zoom Out tool. A minus sign appears in the centre of the magnifying glass icon 
. Press the Alt (Option) key and click once on the image. The magnification will zoom out by one level, making it 200%. Double-click the on the Zoom tool in the Toolbox to set the magnification to 100% again.
To zoom in quickly, click and drag in the image with the Zoom tool to draw a rectangular area (called a marquee) around a portion of your image. Once you release the mouse button, the selected area will fill the image window.
Hide the Pixel Grid
The images at the right were magnified by 1600% to demonstrate the difference between hiding and showing the pixel grid. The grid is displayed by default in images zoomed to more than 500%. If you're doing some detailed editing at the pixel level, this can help you identify where each pixel is.
To hide the pixel grid go to View > Show, and deselect Pixel Grid.
Zoom Shortcuts
- Change to Zoom In tool when another tool is active: Ctrl-space bar (Cmd-space bar)
- Change to Zoom Out tool when another tool is active: Alt-space bar (Option-space bar)
- Zoom In: Ctrl + (Cmd +)
- Zoom Out: Ctrl - (Cmd -)
Zoom Tool Options
The Tool Options bar for the Zoom tool contains several settings that affect your view of the image window. Shown here is the left half of the Tool Options bar.
- Tool Preset Picker
- If you have created any presets for the Zoom tool, clicking on this button will display a fly-out menu from which you can select and apply the preset.
- Zoom In and Zoom Out Buttons
- By default, when you select the Zoom tool in the Toolbox, it will be in Zoom In mode, with the plus sign displayed on it. You can switch back and forth between the two modes by using these buttons.
- Resize Windows to Fit
- While trying out some of the options above, you may have noticed that sometimes the image window resizes when you zoom in and out and sometimes it remains a fixed size, depending on which methods you use. The Resize Windows to Fit option will scale the window when the magnification changes. To maintain the window at a fixed size regardless of magnification, disable this option.
- Zoom All Windows
- With this option enabled, using the Zoom tool in one image will change the magnification in all open images. Note that this doesn't apply when the menu command View > Zoom In/Out or the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + (Cmd +) and Ctrl - (Cmd -) are used to zoom. The Zoom tool icon must be displayed in the image window either by directly selecting it from the Toolbox or using the commands for temporarily accessing the Zoom tool mentioned earlier.
- Scrubby Zoom
- This option requires that your computer video card supports OpenGL and that the Animated Zoom option is enabled in the General preferences. With the Zoom tool selected, if you drag the mouse up or to the right, the image zooms in. Dragging down or to the left zooms out.
Here is the second half of the Zoom Tool Options. All of the options discussed below can also be found in the View menu.
- Actual Pixels
- Clicking this button sets the magnification to 100%.
- Fit Screen
- Clicking this button will maximize the window size.
- Fill Screen
- Depending on the proportions of your image, the Fit Screen option may leave gaps around the document window. With the Fill Screen option, the image will fill the entire available workspace. This could result in part of your image being hidden and only available if you scroll in the image window.
- Print Size
- Clicking this button will display the image at the size it will print. You won't see any difference in an image at 72 ppi but you will at higher resolutions. The print size will be smaller.
The table below illustrates the differences between the four options in the Zoom tool options bar. Each image is a mockup of the Photoshop workspace. The grey areas are the interface, the available workspace is white, and the chrome of the image window is shown in blue. The image's resolution is 300 ppi.
| Zoom Options Compared | |
|---|---|
|
|
| 1. Actual Pixels | 2. Fit Screen |
|
|
| 3. Fill Screen | 4. Print Size |
- Actual Pixels: The image is at 100% magnification.
- Fit Screen: The image is scaled until the chrome hits the top and bottom boundaries of the available space.
- Fill Screen: The available workspace is quite literally filled with this option. You would need to use the vertical scroll bars, the Hand tool, or a mouse scroll wheel to view the hidden parts of the image. This is probably best used when the image is roughly the same proportions as the available workspace.
- Print Size: Since the monitor always displays at 72 ppi and the image is at 300 ppi, using this option will display it at 24% of the Actual Pixels size (72/300 x 100). If you do any print work, it's a useful way to preview the size of your work.
The Hand Tool
The Hand tool is useful when an image is magnified so that parts of it are hidden in the image window and you need to navigate to a hidden portion of the image. Instead of using the Navigation panel, as mentioned above, or the window's scroll bars, simply select the Hand tool from the Toolbox, then click and drag on a magnified image. The image will move around in whichever direction you drag. The keyboard shortcut to activate the Hand tool is H.
In addition, if you hold the space bar down at any time, the Hand tool will appear for use. Once you release the space bar, the tool will revert back to the original one you were using. This is one of the most useful shortcuts you can learn. Magnify the image using one of the above methods, then select the Hand tool and click and drag the Hand tool to navigate around the image. Return the image to 100% using one of the above-mentioned methods. Note that you won't be able to drag the image with the Hand tool if the entire image is visible in the image window.
Double-clicking the Hand tool will have the same effect as using the Fit Screen option.
Magnification/Navigation Controls Summary
- There are three viewing modes that affect how the document window will be displayed: Standard, Full-Screen With Menu Bar, and Full-Screen.
- The Navigator panel, Zoom tool, Hand tool, and Zoom Levels menu are used to change the magnification and/or navigate within images.
- Clicking on the Zoom In and Zoom Out controls in the Navigator panel lets you change the magnification by pre-set increments.
- You can use the Zoom slider control in the Navigator panel to quickly change between magnifications and you are not confined to pre-set magnification levels.
- The Navigator panel can also be used to move around within a magnified image by dragging the red box around in the panel.
- The Zoom tool alternates between being a Zoom In (+) and Zoom Out (-) tool.
- Clicking the image with the Zoom tool changes the magnification by one pre-set level.
- Drawing a marquee with the Zoom tool around a section of the image will magnify the selected area so it fills the image window.
- The pixel grid is displayed in images magnified by over 500%. It can be hidden by going to View > Show > Pixel Grid.
- The Zoom tool options set magnifications and window size behaviour.
- Double-clicking the Zoom tool will set the magnification to 100%.
- Custom magnification values can be entered in the lower left corner of the document window.
- Double-clicking the Hand tool is equivalent to the Fit Screen option.
- The Hand tool is used to navigate around a magnified image by clicking and dragging.
Magnification/Navigation Controls Keyboard Shortcuts:
- Zoom In: Ctrl + (Cmd +)
- Zoom Out: Ctrl - (Cmd -)
- Switch from Zoom In to Zoom Out tool: Alt (Option)
- Temporarily access the Zoom In tool when another tool is active: Ctrl-space bar (Cmd-space bar)
- Temporarily access the Zoom Out tool when another tool is active: Alt-space bar (Option-space bar)
- Hand tool: H
- Temporarily access the Hand tool when another tool is active: depress space bar
- Cycle through Screen Modes: F
- Hide or show panels and the Tool Options bar: Tab
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