Stuck in Photoshop - 8 Ways to Avoid Frustration
Have you ever been stuck in Photoshop. For some unknown reason you can't click on a tool or adjust the display size of a brush. Sometimes, nothing seems to work as if the program is in lockdown mode.
In this tutorial I will show you some of the common problems and their solutions. These problems apply to most versions of Photoshop as well as Photoshop Elements.
Problem 1 - Stuck in Full Screen Mode
For some strange reason, all of a sudden Photoshop is in full screen mode. You probably have accidentally press the TAB key. The TAB key toggles full screen.
The solution is to press the TAB key to get back to your normal screen.
Occasionally you will open up an image that is in indexed color mode. Usually these are gif files but can by jpeg files. If you select Image and Mode from the menu you will see that indexed color has been checked automatically.
Problem 2 - Image in Indexed Color Mode
When you open this type of image your editing abilities are severely reduced. Notice many of the edit and layer menu options are unavailable.
Also notice the layer is labeled Index and is locked. The solution is to go to image mode that supports most adjustments, for example Image Mode RGB Color or Gray-scale.
Problem 3 - Brush Tip Stuck in Crosshairs Mode
Sometimes when we are entering text or multi-tasking on another application while Photoshop is still active, we leave the CAPS LOCK key engaged, This will cause the brush cursor to toggle to a crosshair. Simply press the CAPS lock key again and the normal brush cursor will return.
Another possibility is that the brush cursor is too small for the resolution of the document. For example a brush size of 30 will show correctly on a 300 Pixel per inch screen but a brush size of 10 will show as a cross-hair. If you zoom in a bit it will show up.
Problem 4- Content Aware Fill Not Working
Sometimes when you are using content-aware fill or any fill, the transparent part of the selected area does not fill as we expect.
The reason the empty area doesn't get filled may be because in the Fill Dialog Box, Preserve Transparency is checked.
Be sure to it is NOT checked if you wish transparent areas to fill.
You have performed a transform, text edit, crop, or resize with the move tool. Now you seem to be stuck.
Problem 7 - Stuck after Transform, resize ,text edit or crop
All of theses actions require you to commit by pressing the large checkmark or pressing Enter.
If you decide don't like the result you can always click the cancel button next to the big checkmark.
Problem 8 - Background Locked
You have opened up an image in Photoshop. It will appear as a layer named Background and will be locked. You cannot erase,delete,change opacity, or apply changes to this layer unless you unlock it or duplicate it.To unlock the background layer select layer, new, layer from background. Then click OK to accept the default name. Another way to do this would be to double-click the background layer. Then click OK to accept the default name.
Usually it is better to duplicate the background layer rather than unlocking it - So as to have a clean copy of the original image in case you mess something up. From the menu you could choose layer, duplicate layer, OK. Another alternative would be to right-click the background layer - then select duplicate layer, then select OK.
Problem 5 - Colors Stuck in Grayscale
Sometimes, when you choose a color, it seems like only black, white, and gray are available. Here I've chosen red and I still just get a grayscale tone.
This is caused by a mask thumbnail being active.
The solution to the problem is to make sure you're not in the mask thumbnail when choosing colors.
Problem 6 - Locked after Quick Mask
When you go back to that layer the paintbrush, eraser, and other edit tools don't work as they should.
When you go back to that layer the paintbrush, eraser, and other edit tools don't work as they should.
The solution is to click the quick mask button to turn it off. Or to press the Q key to turn it off. Then choose select deselect or Control D to turn off the selection.
Sometimes, after starting a quick mask, you may get distracted and forget to turn it off.
Brush by MrX : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Makeup_brush.png
Bizarro Superman action figure by Orange_Beard: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrojp/161052865/sizes/l/
Thor and Superman image by JD Hancock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/4369073183/sizes/l/
Spidey and Superboy image by JD Hancock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/4400644136/sizes/l/
Storm Trooper image is by JD Hancock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/3594736770/sizes/l/
Jokers image is by JD Hancock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdhancock/7627813074/sizes/l/
Spiderman on Wall image is by Huhu at de.wikipedia: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spider-Man2.jpg
Image Attribution
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