The zoom tool

The zoom tool

Clicking in the image when the zoom tool has been selected in the toolbox will increase the magnification of the image by a preset amount. The increase will be centered on the spot clicked. Repeated clicking will continue to increase the magnification. If you reach the maximum amount available, the center of the zoom tool’s cursor will appear empty.

To reduce magnification, hold down the Alt key and click in the image. Again, decreases will be in preset increments. Repeated clicking will reduce the image farther.

Note - if your Alt key does not appear to be working in Photoshop, you may have another program running in the background that has taken over that key. GuruNet (Atomica) and FlySwat are two such applications. Uninstall them, or reassign the hot key in those programs to regain use of the Alt key in Photoshop.

To temporarily access the zoom tool while using other tools, press Ctrl-spacebar to zoom in (increase magnification), or Alt-Spacebar to zoom out.

You can drag a selection rectangle with the zoom tool, and that part of the image will be magnified to fill the screen. This is my preferred way of zooming.

Double-clicking the zoom tool icon in the toolbox will cause image magnification to go to 100 %.

Other ways to change image magnification include using the Navigator palette, or typing an exact amount in the box at the extreme left corner of the status bar, and then pressing Enter. Double clicking the Hand tool’s icon in the toolbox will cause the image to resize to fill its window.

The keyboard shortcut for this tool is the letter Z.

• Marquee tool
• Move tool
• Lasso tool
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• Path tool
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• Notes tool
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• Hand tool
• Zoom tool
• Color Picker
• Mode tools

Photoshop Tutorials

	Creating spooky text - 6+7
	Creating 3d Text - 6.0
	Creating Engraved text - 6.0
	Working with colormasks - 6.0
	Using the quick mask tool - 6.0
	Creating perfect rounded edges - 6.0
	Slicing a graphical interface - 6.0
	Creating torn and burnt images - 6.0
	Creating realistic wires - 6.0