VIEWING AND NAVIGATING

You can view different portions of an image at different magnifications using the Zoom tool, the Hand tool, the Navigation palette, and with several keyboard shortcut commands.

The most important thing to remember when viewing images in Photoshop is that an image's screen size as viewed on your computer monitor is not always representative of the image's print size (i.e. an image's actual width and height). In other words, what you see is NOT necessarily what you will get when you print the graphic or drop it into a layout application such as QuarkXPress or Pagemaker.

This is because an image's screen size is dependent on the resolution of your monitor, the resolution of your image, and what magnification, if any, you are using in Photoshop to view the image. Average monitor resolution is 72 dpi. If you view an image with a resolution of 72 at 100% in Photoshop, chances are that it will appear on your screen in it's actual print size. However, this is not true when viewing an image with a resolution of 600. This image, when viewed on-screen at 100%, will be enormous; the entire image probably won't even fit on your screen.

The only way to determine an image's actual width and height (i.e. what size an image will print at) in Photoshop is to go the Image Menu and select Image Size. A dialog box will appear with your Print Size and Resolution. (For more on this subject, see the tip on Image Size and Resolution).

ZOOM TOOL:

Click on the Zoom tool in the toolbox to select it (or just hit the Z key). Click once on the portion of your image that you want to zoom in on. Click again to increase the magnification even more. The image window's title bar will display your current zoom ratio. Photoshop 5 allows you to magnify an image to 1600%.

To zoom out — decrease magnification — make sure the Zoom tool is still selected, hold down the Option key (Alt key for Windows), and click once on the portion of the image you want to zoom out on. You can also use the following keyboard shortcut commands:

Zoom In: Command + (Control + for Windows)
Zoom Out: Command - (Control - for Windows)

To instantly display an image at 100%, double-click on the Zoom tool in the toolbar.

To display the image so that it fits entirely on your screen, double-click the Hand tool.

HAND TOOL:

When an image is magnified to a point where it doesn't all fit in the image window, you can use the image window's scroll bars to bring hidden portions of the image into view. However, an easier way is to use the Hand tool. Click once on the Hand tool icon in the toolbox to select it (or hit the H key). When you place the cursor over your image, notice that it changes into a little hand that you can use to move the image around (providing that the image is in a magnified state and doesn't already fit entirely within the image window). Zoom in to about 200% and with the Hand tool selected, click, hold, and drag the image around the image window.

You can access and use the Hand tool even when another tool is selected by holding down the Spacebar. For as long as you press the Spacebar, the cursor will become a hand and you can move the image around within the image window. Once you release the Spacebar, you will again have access to the selected tool in the toolbox.

NAVIGATOR PALETTE:

The problem with using the Zoom tool to zoom in and out on an image is that zoom percentages are preset within Photoshop. Once you zoom in to 100%, zooming in again will magnify the image to 200%. Sometimes you only want to zoom in another 50% or less. That's where the Navigator palette comes in handy.

To access the Navigator palette, click on the Navigator palette tab. If the Navigator palette is not showing, go to the Window menu and select Show Navigator.

The Navigator palette displays an Image Thumbnail representation of your image. Use the Zoom Slider at the bottom of the palette to increase or decrease magnification in very small intervals. The mountain icons at either side of the slider work just like the Zoom tool. When you click the smaller mountain icon, it will decrease magnification in preset intervals. The larger mountain icon will increase magnification.

The red box on the thumbnail of your image in the Navigator palette is called the View Box, and it represents the area of your actual image that is currently visible in the image window. Increase the magnification and your View Box becomes smaller. Drag the View Box around the thumbnail and your image will move along with it in the image window.

The greatest benefit of using the Navigator palette rather than the Zoom or Hand tool is that you can increase and decrease magnification, as well as navigate around an image, without having the Zoom or Hand tool selected in the toolbox.