Photoshop Tips Main

6.0 Zoom Tool

zoom tool icon
 

 

Used to change the image's magnification
Found at # 27 in the Toolbar diagram at left

toolbar

 

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.

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.

 

 

The illustration below is the zoom tool's context sensitive menu, found by right clicking on
the image when the tool has been selected in the toolbox. The zoom tool shows no options in the options palette.

 

zoom tool's right click menu
 

 

If you have doodled with a tool's options and want to get back to the default settings, click that tool's icon at the far left end of its options bar. Choose either Reset Tool to reset only the current tool, or Reset All Tools to restore default settings to every tool.

Please note that all descriptions, and illustrations featured refer to files which are in Photoshop's .psd format, and which are in RGB color mode. Other file formats, and color modes may generate different options. Some Photoshop features are not available for images not in .psd format, or RGB color mode. To find what color mode your image is in, choose Image > Mode.

 

 

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