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Top 10 Killer Photoshop Combo Moves
August 13th, 2008 in Events, How-To | 112 Comments
By Tom Giannattasio
Is time kickin’ your ass? Well, learn to defend yourself! Master these killer Photoshop keyboard combos and you’ll find yourself with more time for the important things (e.g. Facebook trivia questions). These combos assume you’re using Photoshop CS3 on Windows platform with default keyboard shortcuts.
Legend:
( ) = Repeat as desired
{ } = Manual Input Required
10. Cloak of Invisibility
Remove everything from the screen except for your file.
- F, F, F | Cycle through Screen Modes
- Tab | Remove Tools and Palettes
- Ctrl+H | Hide Extras (Grid, Guides, Slices, etc.)
- Ctrl+R | Hide Rulers
9. Quick Brush Jab
Quickly and easily customize a brush. This combo is a staple for digital painting.
- B | Brush Tool
- Right-Click and Select or F5 and Select | Open condensed or full Brush Palette
- or . or , or Shift+. or Shift+, | Cycle through brushes or jump to first or last brush
- [ or ]: | Shrink or enlarge brush radius
- Shift+[ or Shift+] | Decrease or increase brush hardness
- {Numeric Input} | Change brush opacity (e.g. ‘5′ = 50%, ‘55′ = 55%)
8. Quick Brush Jab Path Stroke
Stroke a path with a customized brush.
- {Draw Path} | Use any tool to draw a path
- B | Select Brush Tool
- Quick Brush Jab | Use the Quick Brush Jab Combo to customize brush
- Enter | Stroke the path with your customized brush
7. Gaussian Attack
Apply a filter, fade it and apply again. Good combo for fine-tweaking filters.
- {Apply a Filter} | Manually choose and apply a filter (warning: using the Lens Flare filter may result in a swift kick to the mouse balls)
- Ctrl+Shift+F | Fade the filter
- (Ctrl+F or Ctrl+Shift+F) | Reapply filter with or without dialog box
6. Shadow Maker
Create a basic shadow based on a chosen layer.
- {Select Layer} | Select the layer the shadow will be created after. The transparency of this layer needs to resemble the desired shape of the shadow.
- Ctrl+J | Layer via Copy
- Ctrl+[ | Move layer down
- D | Reset color defaults
- Alt+Shift+Backspace | Fill with black and preserve transparency
- Ctrl+T | Free transform
- {Transform} | Modify to your liking
- Enter | Commit
5. Layer Catcher
Select, group and mask layers. Often easier than using the layers palette.
- V | Selection Tool
- Ctrl+Click or Ctrl+Shift+Click or Ctrl+Shift+Right-Click | Select your layers
- Ctrl+G | Group Layers
4. OCD Layer Sort
Rearrange your layers quickly and easily. Great cure for you neuroticism.
- F7 | Show Layer Palette
- Alt+[ or Alt+] or Alt+, or Alt+. | Select a layer
- Shift+Alt+[ or Shift+Alt+] or Shift+Alt+, or Shift+Alt+. | Select more layers
- Ctrl+[ or Ctrl+] or Shift+Ctrl+[ or Shift+Control+] | Move layers down or up or send to bottom or bring to top
3. Ultimate Flattener
Merge All Layers (even those hidden). Quick way to flatten a file.
- Alt+. | Select Top Layer
- Shift+Alt+, | Select all layers between currently selected and bottom layer
- Ctrl+E | Merge the selected layers
2. Infinite Dupe
Duplicate and evenly distribute or transform items. Nice way to distribute something like nav buttons.
- Ctrl+T | Transform
- {Transform/Move} | Manually Move or Transform
- Enter | Commit Transform
- (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T) | Duplicate and transform relative to the newest item
1. Finishing Move - The Web Extractor
Extract a selection and save it for the web. Extremely useful when pulling individual elements from a design, such as buttons or rules.
- {Create Selection} | Select the area you want to extract
- Ctrl+Shift+C | Copy Merged to clipboard
- Ctrl+N | Create New Image based on selection size
- Enter | Confirm New Image
- Ctrl+V | Paste from clipboard
- Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S | Save for the Web
About the author
Tom Giannattasio is a Web Designer/Flash Developer living in Bethesda, MD. In his free time, he enjoys reading, philosophizing, digital painting and going to the zoo. To view a sample of his work, visit his website at www.attasi.com.
Editor’s note
This post is one of the finalists of our guest author contest. Over three weeks selected top-10-lists and discussion articles will be published. To rate the articles we’ll analyze their popularity, users activity, quality of backlinks, traffic and further data.




Žeb (August 13th, 2008, 12:56 am)
Very good !
Amarjeet Rai (August 13th, 2008, 1:04 am)
Not a bad list.
Agustino (August 13th, 2008, 1:06 am)
Flawless Victory!
Brilliant as usual!
Rune Gøgsig (August 13th, 2008, 1:08 am)
Please make a cheat cheet ;-)
Jan (August 13th, 2008, 1:08 am)
Great, infinite dupe is extremely helpful. Cloak of invisibilty aswell, but knew that before.
Joost (August 13th, 2008, 1:16 am)
Yep, all the combo’s I use on a daily basis. Love the keyboard!
Daniel (August 13th, 2008, 1:29 am)
Good article - though it’s not really a “Top Ten List” - not the authors fault really since SM put the restrictions on the contest.
A top ten list should have some sort of priority or order in the list from good to bad or bad to good - this is nothing other than a list (though a good one) of Photoshop shortcuts in no order whatsoever. For example, as a pure graphic designer, I never use #2 / #1 as I have no need for them (though copy selection to new image is of course handy).
Anyway, just a shame that this article couldn’t have been more free to be like “Killer Photoshop Combo Moves!” and not worry about the Top Ten structure. I bet the author could have made 15 / 20 (or even more) that would have been even better!
All in all, good work. No idea how 1200 character articles are going to try and compete with monsters like this though…
h-a-r-v (August 13th, 2008, 1:29 am)
Definitely the best contest article so far. “Finish him” move (Mortal Kombat paraphrase) has been my favorite combo for years now.
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (August 13th, 2008, 1:33 am)
@Daniel (#8): if the article goes well, we’ll ask the author to write a large article about the same topic.
Liam (August 13th, 2008, 1:34 am)
an even quicker way to merge the layers quickly, is simply to hit ctrl+shift+alt+e this makes a new layer with all the visible layers merged.
Mira (August 13th, 2008, 1:36 am)
I love this article especially because it reminds me of fighting games. Now I’m going to use photoshop and think I’m a Tekken character. It just totally makes PS more fun!
Danny Tatom (August 13th, 2008, 1:45 am)
Great list, there’s quite a few there I didn’t know. :o
Lucifix (August 13th, 2008, 1:45 am)
Does anyone know how can you select color in Photoshop from Firefox? Once I saw that trick but I forgot shortkeys.
Adam Alyan (August 13th, 2008, 2:14 am)
Simply the best
Flamov (August 13th, 2008, 2:23 am)
This is an fantastic article. The title really caught my eye in Google Reader ;D
Cosmi (August 13th, 2008, 2:24 am)
Good work. Usefull
Carrie (August 13th, 2008, 2:48 am)
Thanks for the list, but, will there be a MAC version?
Laura (August 13th, 2008, 3:05 am)
Agreed- would it have been so hard to add in the mac versions too?!
Cool idea for a post though
jon (August 13th, 2008, 3:44 am)
maybe a little pedantic but intro goes “These combos assume you’re using Photoshop CS3 on Windows platform.” Then the main image is of a Mac?
Good and useful article, best so far of competition entries.
Torley (August 13th, 2008, 4:11 am)
That’s a superb title image. I like how it’s slightly tilted and shows the edge of the MacBook Pro screen, too. A “how to make” tutorial might be in suitable order!
محمود (August 13th, 2008, 4:41 am)
مختصر و مفید
grazz (August 13th, 2008, 4:51 am)
Excuse me, I’m Italian and I don’t totally get the meaning of the word “combo”. Is it something like actions?
Andrew (August 13th, 2008, 5:14 am)
alt+shift+ctrl+K — and all shortcut u can learn manualy. And what good in that post?
L. (August 13th, 2008, 5:20 am)
@Carrie..
No, there won’t. A Mac version may, however.
Otafu (August 13th, 2008, 5:29 am)
Thanks for this reminder!
Loved the names!
“taste a taste of my gaussian attack, you evil multi-layered-rasterized psd!!!!!”
^_^
Paul Gendek (August 13th, 2008, 5:50 am)
Thanks for putting the Mac equivalents…
Jason (August 13th, 2008, 5:54 am)
Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S is my bestfriend
thomas (August 13th, 2008, 5:57 am)
Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out my article! In response to some of the comments, tonight I’m going to whip up a printable cheat sheet which will include the Mac shortcuts. Be on the lookout!
Mike (August 13th, 2008, 6:02 am)
Nice idea, poor execution. I was excited when I saw the headline of the post, and then the image of CS3 on a Mac. But wait… : \
Not all designers use PCs… come on SM. Posting shortcuts for both PC and Mac would be the least I would expect.
Tina (August 13th, 2008, 6:08 am)
combo = combination, more than one thing at once
unr (August 13th, 2008, 6:41 am)
Simple, alot of these are just experience. You need to learn the hotkeys, and get used to them.
And it really works well for those who don’t know these things, to read articles like this.
Thanks alot for sharing it.
A.S. (August 13th, 2008, 6:42 am)
Good stuff!
Fred (August 13th, 2008, 7:16 am)
Incredbly creative execution. Most of these people probably already know but I actually wanted to read through the entire list.
Great Job.
VT (August 13th, 2008, 7:17 am)
amazing… thank ya SM for the photoshop moves :)
Peter Bishop (August 13th, 2008, 7:39 am)
all seemed good to me - i may have been reading this wrong but not sure why you also need the alt key to select multiple layers. In CS3 you just need to shift or ctrl select.
My favorite shortcut: alt+scroll wheel
Matt (August 13th, 2008, 7:52 am)
@Lucifix (#13): Select the Eyedropper Tool, click and hold down mousebutton, switch to Firefox (Alt+Tab), move to the color you want, release mousebutton. Voilà.
electronbender (August 13th, 2008, 7:53 am)
Flawless victory!
Finish him!:)
Killer moves man, you got me:)
Daniel (August 13th, 2008, 8:29 am)
People use CS3 on PC?
Tavis (August 13th, 2008, 8:32 am)
I remember when I (accidentally) discovered the tab key would hide your palettes . I was Apple + tabbing too fast, and totally panicked when all my palettes disappeared! It was a very sad day indeed.
Seriously, nice article Tom - very handy shortcuts.
Thanks!
Davin (August 13th, 2008, 8:44 am)
Ultimate Flattener is a new one for me
Joe (August 13th, 2008, 9:02 am)
I use the web extractor all the time. Never thought anything of it.
Alex (August 13th, 2008, 9:06 am)
How stupid to you have to be to not realize that the only difference between Mac and PC shortcuts is that the ctrl key = the command key.
Replace where you see “ctrl” with “command” and stop your bitching.
Siah (August 13th, 2008, 10:29 am)
Papa’s got a brand new bag..
jenn (August 13th, 2008, 10:34 am)
Great info, but it would be nice to have both the PC & MAC platform keyboard notes. Yes I know I can figure it out, sometimes we designers are just lazy!
Mike (August 13th, 2008, 11:31 am)
You could put the keys in the KBD tags and style it a bit.
Brian (August 13th, 2008, 11:34 am)
I have been using Photoshop for a few years now… I find the most useful tool in the PS arsenal is one that is very rarely used.. even by a lot of advanced users. The Keyboard Shortcuts option. Everyone has their own style of using Photoshop.. there are a ton of shortcuts that I NEVER use.. and there are some that I use more than others… It really helps to customize your shortcuts to tools/filters/options that you actually use. For instance.. Sure F5 pops up brushes… but I almost always have that pane open anyways.. So i switched out F5 to “Convert to Smart Object”.
Even though I know the majority of these steps/shortcuts from being self taught.. It’s great to have someone really show how useful and powerful keyboard shortcuts really are.. they save so much time!! Great article!
Tone (August 13th, 2008, 12:26 pm)
As a rookie to PS, I can use all the tips I can get. Thanks!
Alix (August 13th, 2008, 12:34 pm)
Great Stuff
Hamish M (August 13th, 2008, 12:38 pm)
It’s missing the best shortcut ever.
Ctrl + Alt + Right Click
Selects the layer directly under your cursor, without fail.
I don’t know how much time this has saved me since I found it.
RonnieSan (August 13th, 2008, 12:44 pm)
Number 3 can easily be condensed into ctrl (cmd) + shift + e to merge all visible layers.
Otherwise, excellent list. There’s always something to learn in photoshop.
Andrew Wilkinson (August 13th, 2008, 12:59 pm)
Oh my god, the final one is going to save me so much time!
@Hamish M — NO WAY! You’re my new hero. Until now, I’ve been hitting V -> Ctrl-Left Click to select layers, being able to do it without switching tools is going to be fantastic!
Hailey J (August 13th, 2008, 1:10 pm)
this list is better than bacon!
rerich (August 13th, 2008, 1:54 pm)
good list. do it for fireworks and illustrator too :)
thanks
KevBurnsJr (August 13th, 2008, 3:35 pm)
The real magic comes in using actions to eliminate keystrokes.
I’ve got #1 cued to F2.
One stroke.
thomas (August 13th, 2008, 6:12 pm)
Hey everyone.
I put together a pdf cheat sheet for anyone interested. It can be downloaded from my site at: Link [www.attasi.com]
Thanks to all for viewing/voting/commenting!
Ethan Lofton (August 13th, 2008, 6:22 pm)
The title made me laugh! Witty ;).
It’s interesting seeing photoshop combinations presented in a combo to yield a net result, cool. Although the article could probably be assuaged even more with some screenshots that give an overview of the result.
shakes (August 13th, 2008, 8:10 pm)
up up down down left right left right b a select start
Roy (August 13th, 2008, 9:08 pm)
Way to go really useful list
rajaraman (August 13th, 2008, 9:49 pm)
its a basic, not bad
Destined4design (August 13th, 2008, 10:10 pm)
Userful but very old!
This all are old shortcuts………!
Offcourse a little bit additions to CS3, more like layer shifting/selecting (other than 7.0)
Here are some of the tricks for photoshop (this may know for few)
To change the background color
1. Selct “Paint Bucket” Tool (Press G)
2. Choose your color (Foreground)
3. Shift click on the background
Note: This option will not work in fullscreen mode.
Bob (August 14th, 2008, 5:36 am)
Hold down Shift + Alt and then press “+” to cycle through blending modes on the selected layer.
Very helpful.
Daniel Janev (August 14th, 2008, 5:50 am)
niiiice…but print version would be even better :)
Stevo (August 14th, 2008, 6:20 am)
This makes everything so much easier. You should write a book.
Travis Nelson (August 14th, 2008, 7:02 am)
Excellent article! Love this site.
The extractor tip is useful for me. I usually do an Alt+i, D to duplicate the image, then Alt+L, F to flatten the image, and then crop from there. Your tip is much more intuitive and logical. Thanks so much!
Hamish M (August 14th, 2008, 7:11 am)
@Andrew Wilkinson
Glad to help. Spread the word! :)
Daniel van Ginkel (August 14th, 2008, 9:40 am)
I think it’s good but not excelent cause you didn’t include any mac shortcuts. It could have been excellent if you did. Great work on it though.
meb (August 14th, 2008, 11:04 am)
this is a great compilation of keyboard shortcuts and it’s written in a very unique way. good job.
Timespeak (August 14th, 2008, 11:34 am)
Smashing
AJ (August 14th, 2008, 1:46 pm)
merge all visible layers:
PC: shift+ctrl+E
MAC: shift+apple+E
NeoSheet (August 14th, 2008, 10:45 pm)
old stuff but still good
Hrvoje (August 15th, 2008, 1:15 am)
list of all photoshop CS3 keyboard shortcuts.
Link [morris-photographics.com]
Spencer Lavery (August 15th, 2008, 1:37 am)
Great article, but where are the OS X shortcuts?
graphycus (August 15th, 2008, 2:08 am)
Hamish M, I think it’s more simple to use Ctrl + left click. It does the same thing:)
Ivan (August 15th, 2008, 11:14 am)
Would advise everyone to visit this source…great shortcuts
Link [www.webdesignerwall.com]
eon (August 15th, 2008, 11:55 am)
no.1 I can do while sleeping :D
good collection that, thank you…
ynk (August 19th, 2008, 4:27 am)
3. could be
Ctrl Alt Shift N => new Layer without dial box
Ctrl Shift E => Merge All into current Layer
so you merge all without loosing all the layers…
Moni (August 19th, 2008, 11:53 pm)
CTRL+S it’s our best friend =))
This list is excelent :D
Doggit (August 21st, 2008, 1:47 pm)
Yeah, no Mac equivs is lazy. I’ve got #3 in an action via Shift +F1.
Jeremy Latham (August 26th, 2008, 7:06 pm)
Looks like I was late to the party. Great tutorials…now I’ve got to use them often enough that they stick!
Chaosfyre Graphix (September 2nd, 2008, 10:46 pm)
I don’t know if there’s a shortcut key, but the way I do it is to make the Photoshop window smaller, so you can see the browser, and whatever color you wanted to select, then, after selecting the Eye Dropper tool, click and hold the mouse button down, then drag it out into the browser window.
You’ll see the color change in the palette. When you have the color you want, just let go of the mouse button.
Dubs (September 8th, 2008, 3:19 am)
C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!
kamal (September 16th, 2008, 6:47 pm)
I am saying now “Its killer tips” many thanks
hu (September 18th, 2008, 6:56 pm)
suck!!!!
hu (September 18th, 2008, 7:22 pm)
i need more infomation. not this kind of shit. this is not helping me……!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
hu (September 22nd, 2008, 6:00 pm)
like shit
sher (October 10th, 2008, 7:17 am)
nothing fresh has not heard, but don’t care thank you for labour
Ignatz Horowitz (October 22nd, 2008, 5:51 am)
I never get into the position where “time’s kickin’ my ass”. If you get that pressed, well, something’s wrong somewhere.
최성대 (October 31st, 2008, 1:16 pm)
와우 정말 멋진데요~!