Photoshop Environment

The Photoshop Interface

The Photoshop interface is organized into menus, toolbars and palettes grouped around an image window in the center of the workspace:

Like other Windows programs, Photoshop’s menus contain some standard commands in expected locations, like New, Open, Save, and Print, which are grouped in the File menu, and Cut, Copy, Paste, and Transform, which are grouped in the Edit menu. Most of the commands specific to working with your images are organized by type in the Image, Layer, Select and Filter menus:

• The Image menu contains commands for adjusting image and canvas size and working with colors.
• The Layer menu contains commands for working with the layers in your images.
• The Select menu contains commands for working with selections.
• The Filter menu contains commands for applying filters, or effects, to your images.

The Photoshop toolbox contains the tools you’ll use for creating and editing images. By default, the toolbox floats vertically near the left side of the Photoshop window, but you can drag it around the window for convenience while you’re working with an image.

The Options bar appears just below the menu bar and provides options for the active tool: