When you open an image in Photoshop, it is displayed to fit in the image window so that you can see the entire image regardless of its size. When working on an image, it s often necessary to vary the view size so that you can see changes to the document as a whole, concentrate on specific areas of the image, or work closely on details. Varying the size of the image display does not affect the physical size of the image. You can choose from several viewing methods .
The Zoom tool provides a fast way to take a closer look at an image and is probably the technique you ll use most frequently for changing the view. Choose the Zoom tool from the Tool palette by clicking it or press Z on the keyboard. Place your cursor on the area of the image that you want to see close-up; you will see the Zoom tool cursor (a magnifying glass) with a plus sign to indicate that the Zoom tool will enlarge the view. Click your mouse, and continue to click until the image appears at the desired magnification. Each time you click, the image appears larger, to a maximum view size of 1600%.
You can reduce the size of the displayed image by pressing the Option/Alt key. The Zoom tool displays a minus sign to indicate that it will reduce the view. Each time you click the mouse with the Option/Alt key held down, the image diminishes in size, all the way down to 1 screen pixel.
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The percentage at which you see an image in Photoshop depends on the ratio of the image resolution to the monitor s screen resolution. Macintosh monitors have a screen resolution of 72 ppi, whereas Windows monitors use 96 ppi to display an image.
When viewed at 100%, a document with an image resolution of 72 ppi will display at a ratio of 1:1 of its actual height and width dimensions on a Mac, and 33% larger on Windows. A resolution of 144 ppi will display an image at twice its print size on a Mac and, again, larger on a Windows machine when displayed at 100% viewing size. (See Chapter 13, Sizing and Transforming Images, for more on monitor and image resolution.)
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Scrolling tools and techniques let you move the image around the window when the image is larger than the image window:
Hand Tool Click the Hand tool in the Tool palette or press the H key. Click the image and drag to move the image around.
Scroll Bars As in most software, the scroll bars are to the right and bottom of the image. Click and drag a scroll handle, or click an arrow at the end of a scroll bar, to scroll in the desired direction. Or click in the scroll bar section above or below the scroll handle to jump a full screen view up or down.
Keyboard You can use either a keyboard or an extended keyboard to scroll the image up, down, left, or right. Table 4.1 lists the commands.
SCROLL | MACINTOSH KEYBOARD | MAC EXTENDED KEYBOARD | WINDOWS ACTION KEYBOARD |
---|---|---|---|
Up | Control-K | PgUp | PgUp |
Up slightly | Shift-Control-K | Shift-PgUp | Shift-PgUp |
Down | Control-L | PgDn | PgDn |
Down slightly | Shift-Control-L | Shift-PgDn | Shift-PgDn |
Left | | | Ctrl-PgUp |
Left slightly | Shift- | Shift- | Shift-Ctrl-PgUp |
Right | | | Ctrl-PgDn |
Right slightly | Shift- | Shift- | Shift-Ctrl-PgDn |
Clicking over and over again to display the image can become tiresome and consume precious time. As you become more proficient in Photoshop, you will want to consider alternative methods to speed the process of viewing your image at the right size. The following are a few techniques that will enhance your ability to see the image on-screen:
Centering an Image This technique centers and zooms in on an area of the image on-screen. It is the fastest way to closely see a detail of the image you are working on. Choose the Zoom tool, click in the image, drag a marquee around the portion of the image that you wish to enlarge, and release the mouse. The selected area enlarges to fill the window.
Restoring the Display to a 100% View Double-click the Zoom tool icon in the Tool palette.
Toggling to the Zoom Tool To toggle directly from any tool or dialog box to the Zoom tool, use one of these shortcuts:
Hold down the /Ctrl key and the spacebar, and click the mouse to zoom in. Release the keys to resume using the tool.
Hold down the Option/Alt key and the spacebar, and click the mouse to zoom out. Release the keys to resume using the tool.
Toggling to the Hand Tool To quickly access the Hand tool from any tool or dialog box, press the spacebar. Click and drag your mouse to scroll. The Hand tool lets you scroll around the image when it exceeds the size of the image window. Release the spacebar to resume using the tool.
When you are viewing an image close-up, it can be difficult to tell exactly what you are looking at and where you are in the image, especially if the image contains large areas of similar texture. The Navigator (see Figure 4.15) is a map of the image, displayed as a thumbnail, showing the exact location of what appears in the image window relative to the entire image.
When you launch Photoshop, the Navigator is displayed by default and offers the following navigational features:
View Box The red rectangle on the thumbnail indicates the image that is currently displayed in the image window. Place your cursor on the rectangle, click your mouse, and drag to scroll around the image. You can change the color of the View box by clicking the arrow in the upper-right corner of the palette and choosing Palette Options. You can then choose a color from the drop down list or click the swatch to choose a color from the Color Picker.
Zoom Slider You can zoom in on the image by moving the slider to the right, or zoom out by moving the slider to the left.
Zoom In and Zoom Out Buttons The button with the small mountains on the left of the slider zooms out, and the button with the large mountains to the right of the slider zooms in. The buttons use the same predefined increments as the Zoom tool.
Magnification Box At the bottom-left of the Navigator palette, you can enter a specific percentage at which to view your image.
Sizing Options On a Mac, you can drag the lower-right corner of the Navigator box to increase or decrease the size of the Navigator palette and its image thumbnail.
In Windows, you can drag from any resizable edge.
After you get to know the program a little better, you will discover that many of its operations seem redundant, and working effectively becomes a matter of choosing your favorite method for achieving identical end results. For example, the View ’ Zoom In command achieves the same result as the keyboard shortcut /Ctrl-plus sign; using the Zoom Out command is the same as typing
/Ctrl-minus sign. These techniques are identical to the Zoom tool and, of course, all of these commands are similar to the function of the Navigator and the magnification box, with slight variations.
The other options in the View menu include the following:
Fit On-Screen displays the image at the maximum horizontal or vertical size that the monitor screen will accommodate.
Actual Pixels displays the image in a 1:1 ratio with the monitor s screen resolution.
Print Size accurately displays the height and width dimensions of the image.
Three icons on the Tool palette determine the display modes, or the way that you see the image on-screen. These modes act like electronic mattes. There are three options:
Standard Screen Mode The default view displays the image against the operating system s desktop or against the neutral gray Photoshop desktop in Windows, which obscures the operating system s desktop.
Full Screen Mode with Menu Bars The image takes up almost the entire surface of the monitor screen and displays menu bars across the top. When you zoom to a smaller display size, the image appears centered against a neutral gray background.
Full Screen Mode The image takes up the entire surface of the monitor screen. When you zoom to a smaller display size, the image appears centered against a black background.
The Full Screen display modes are ideal for displaying a view of your work unobstructed by other windows. It can be even more helpful to see an image in the Full Screen modes without any distracting palettes. To conceal or reveal all currently visible palettes, press the Tab key.