5 Replies Latest reply: Jan 2, 2013 6:26 PM by Kendall Plant RSS

    Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users

    JGreg7 Community Member

      I am new to Photoshop after using Paint Shop Pro for many years.  I am having trouble find things in Photoshop that I would have expected to be somewhat basic.

       

      For example; If I wanted to view the palette, in Paint Shop Pro, I would simply click on “View” then “Palette”.  In Photoshop, I cannot seem to find the command or menu that would show this to me.  The help system is equally useless in the it will tell me everything I want to know about the palette, except where it is hidden.

       

      Another example of drawing a circle around an object in a photo.  I can easily draw a filled circle to blot out the image, but just try to draw an empty circle around an item to highlight it. It just does not seem to be possible.

       

      I am looking for some type of basic instructions that I can use to look up where the basic features of Photoshop are, and how to use them.  Does anyone know if such a reference exists?

        • 1. Re: Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users
          Kendall Plant Employee Hosts

          Hi there

           

          I'm not familiar with Paint Shop Pro - when you say palette, do you mean the Tool Menu? (shown below) You can access the workspace setup by going to the Window menu in Photoshop. Here, you can select which palette menus are visible, or organize your workspace according to what you mainly use Photoshop for. (If you are indeed looking for the Tool Menu, you can hide or show it by going to Window > Tools)

           

          Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 12.39.37 PM.jpg Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 12.37.33 PM.jpg

           

          For drawing a circle, use the Elipse Tool (by default, this tool is located under the Rectangle Tool - just click and hold to select the Elipse Tool). With the Elipse Tool selected, you can change the fill color, stroke color/weight, or even change the stroke to a dashed line using the Elipse Tool setting bar, shown below.

           

          Quick tip: hold down Shift when dragging your circle to make a perfect circle. This applies to many shape-based functions of Photoshop including crop and selection tools. You can also use this when scaling objects to keep their original proportions.

           

          Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 12.44.05 PM.jpg Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 12.38.04 PM copy.jpg

           

          There are a lot of great resources for learning Photoshop. Below I've listed several for you to check out. And never underestimate the power of a quick Google search when you're looking for help on a specific tool or menu!

           

           

          I hope this helped out a bit - if you need additional help, you can always post future questions on the Photoshop for Beginners forum, or find more advanced help on the Photoshop General forum.

           

          Good luck!

          • 2. Re: Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users
            JGreg7 Community Member

            Thank you for your response, it was very helpful.

             

            First, I think the terminology is getting in the way.  In PSP, the "Palette" is the range of colors in use in a given image.  This will be substantially less than the range of all possible colors.   In the Palette, if you select one color (e.g. yellow) and click on the color swatch (e.g. red) everything in the image that was the shade yellow, will not be shaded red.  (A very handy tool)

             

            As for the ellipse / circle, I think I have a problem.  The menu that you show in your screenshot looks like exactly what I need, however, that menu does not seem to appear on my version of photoshop.

             

            PS_1_Screenshot.png

            How do I get the correct menu?

            • 3. Re: Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users
              Kendall Plant Employee Hosts

              Ah, my apologies. It looks like you're using CS5? CS6 got a great update to the shapes menu, but unfortunately managing simple shapes like circles and squares is a bit more roundabout in previous versions. Below I've posted a quick but informative video tutorial on creating stroked transparent circles in CS5.

               

               

              In regards to the specific function of replacing a shade of color with another you referenced - this sounds similar to the Replace Color function in Photoshop. If you go to Image > Adjustments > Replace Color, you will get a menu that allows you to select a color in your image that you want to replace. Then, you can adjust the Hue, Saturation, or Lightness of that selected color, or replace it with a completely new color (click on the Result color swatch)

               

              Screen Shot 2013-01-01 at 10.26.31 AM.jpg Screen Shot 2013-01-01 at 10.27.13 AM.jpg

               

              Again, I hope this helped you out a bit. There are a ton of great learning tools and resources available online, and you can always access the Adobe forums for individualized help

               

              Cheers!

              • 4. Re: Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users
                JGreg7 Community Member

                Thank you for the response, the instrcutions were very clear!

                • 5. Re: Photoshop menu locations for Paint Shop Pro users
                  Kendall Plant Employee Hosts

                  You're very welcome! Glad I could help