- Introduction
- Understanding Foreground and Background Colors
- Using the Brush and Brush Presets Panels
- Modifying the Brush Presets Panel
- Selecting Brush Tip Sets
- Adjusting Brush Tips
- Adjusting Bristle Brush Tips
- Creating Customized Brush Tips
- Saving Customized Brush Tips
- Working with the Brush and Airbrush Tools
- Working with the Mixed Brush Tool
- Working with the Pencil Tool
- Working with Auto Erase
- Working with the Line Tool
- Using the Standard Shape Tool
- Working with the Custom Shape Tool
- Creating a Custom Shape
- Saving Custom Shape Sets
- Using the Paint Bucket Tool
- Working with the Eraser Tools
- Working with the Magic Eraser Tool
- Creating and Applying Gradients
- Creating and Saving Customized Gradients
- Using the Color Replacement Tool
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Understanding Foreground and Background Colors
The Foreground and Background colors, located near the bottom of the toolbox, are Photoshop’s way of identifying your primary painting color, as well as the color Photoshop uses in conjunction with the Background layer. When you select any of Photoshop’s painting or drawing tools, the color applied to the document will be the foreground color—that’s its purpose. Hence, it’s sometimes referred to as Photoshop’s active color. The Background color serves several functions—its primary purpose is to instruct Photoshop how to handle erasing on the Background layer. When you use an eraser tool on a Photoshop layer, by default, the pixels are converted to transparency. However, when you use an eraser tool on the Background, something different happens. Since the Background does not support transparency, it replaces the erased pixels with the current background color.
Change the Active Foreground and Background Colors
Use any of the following methods to change the active foreground or background colors:
- Select the Eyedropper tool on the toolbox, and then click anywhere in the active document to change the foreground color.
Hold down the Alt (Win) or Option (Mac) key, and then click to change the background color.
- Click on a color swatch in the Swatches panel to change the foreground color.
Hold down the Ctrl (Win) or
(Mac) key, and then click to change the background color.
- Click the Foreground or Background thumbnail to choose the color’s destination. Create a color in the Color panel.
- Click the Foreground or Background Color box to open the Color Picker dialog box, select a color or enter color values, and then click OK.
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Use Default and Switch the Foreground and Background Colors
Click the Default Foreground and Background Colors button to revert the foreground and background colors to their default values of black and white.
Click the Switch Foreground and Background Colors button to switch current colors.
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