The Zoom Tool |
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Pixel perfect... |
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| The Big Picture Well lets take a look at the wider issue. If you're investigating the zoom tool, chances are you either want things very big, or very small. The Photoshop Elements zoom tool caters for both. But hang on a moment ... if that's all there is to it, then why so many items up in the options bar? |
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 Click here for full image |
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| Step by Step Well the best way to explain all these features is simply one at a time. Firstly, select the zoom tool from the toolbox so the options bar appears. The very first button is identical to the icon in the toolbox. Clicking on it gives you the option to reset the tool options to their defaults. This is useful if you find something gets changed, and you don't know how to change it back. Just go back to the start. The next two buttons are magnifying glasses, one with a plus sign and one with a minus sign marked on them. This is the main mode for the tool. Select the plus magnifying glass to zoom in. Clicking once on the image will zoom towards that part, to the next preset level of magnification. By clicking and dragging you can quickly zip to a custom magnification, displaying only the rectangle you select when you click and drag. The maximum zoom level is 1600%. The zoom out mode is even simpler. No drag feature here, just click on the image and it will zoom out to the next preset level. The smallest magnification possible is a fraction of a percent. If your image is very large, you may reach this limit, otherwise Photoshop Elements does not let you reduce an image smaller than one pixel, so you may hit that limit instead on smaller images. These are the two simplest ways to quickly zoom in or out with your image. A Shortcut If you want to really fly, you can even use the shortcut for this tool! It's simple enough to remember ... 'Z' for Zoom! Press the 'Z' key at any time during your use of the program, and you'll be able to quickly zip into zoom mode without even going for the toolbox. Fine Tuning Back to all those options. Like I mentioned, the first two modes are the most useful ones, but the other options each have their merits. Firstly, there's the drop down box with the current magnification in it. This is useful on two levels. Firstly, with a glance up here you can actually tell how magnified the image is at the moment! Sometimes we forget after all. Assuming you want to change the zoom though, upon dropping down this box you may be surprised! After all, I expected the classic long list of text values, 100%, 200%, 400%, 800% ... and on and on it goes, both ways too! But nope, Adobe has more class than that! ;) When you click on the arrow, a small slider appears below the drop down box, and this can be used to adjust the zoom. It does not stick to the preset values, so there is a more dynamic feel to this method. Personally I like nice, neat round numbers, and find this way a little redundant given the others supplied, but some people like it. Alternatively if you are like me, you can always just type in a value to the text box part, and it will zoom there quickly for you. Use it or not, it's all down to personal preference. The Further We Go... Well it always happens. The further along the options bar we go, the more people can't be bothered to learn what the functions do! I wonder how many people would still be reading this article after all? But you are ... because you know what's best for you. ;) There are just six options left, and they are all very simple, but most people just never bother using them, and make-do with the first few. Well simple they may be, but they can still save you time. Firstly, the 'Resize Windows To Fit' option. This is especially useful when you are working with more than one image at once. All the time an image window is maximized within the main Photoshop Elements window, this option has no effect, but while the images are visible windows within the workspace this option becomes important. If this option is ticked, then when you use the zoom tool, the window which that image resides in will automatically resize as well. This accommodates the larger image, or saves space that would otherwise be wasted displaying a blank border around a smaller one. I actually wanted to know about this option to turn it off, because I was working with four images at once. Their windows were tiled equally in my workspace, and I wanted to keep it that way! The next option, 'Ignore Palettes', is again applicable only when the images are windowed. When windows are resizing automatically because the Resize Windows To Fit option is ticked, this option becomes important. If the option is unticked, the image windows will expand sensibly, and not enlarge themselves to the point where they are hidden behind other palettes or tool windows. If the option is ticked, they are allowed this freedom, and in some cases will grow behind other items in the display. 'Zoom All Windows' is a very useful option. When working on several images, sometimes you wish to compare them in detail. This option ensures that all windows are zoomed to the same degree, and saves you manually enforcing this. Final Fits The final three command buttons are all for very similar purposes. You will notice that these buttons are also displayed in the options bar for the hand tool. They can also be found by right clicking on an image with the zoom tool selected, which brings up a menu with these items displayed. 'Actual Pixels' is your quick and easy way to un-zoom! After all that zooming, sometimes you just want to remember what 100% felt like. This is the quickest way to achieve it. 'Fit On Screen' gives you the best balance of visibility and magnification possible. It zooms in on the image to the point where it exactly fills your available viewing space. This is much easier than finding this balance manually, so just click the button to zip there straight away. It works the same whether images are in windowed mode or maximized mode. 'Print Size' is a funny one. The intention is that the image should be displayed at its approximate printed size. This can be changed when setting the image size options, and these are the values this option works from. There is a warning attached to this option though. The size and resolution of your monitor actually affect the on-screen print size, so you do have to be sure this display is accurate before relying on it. Some people report that it works fine, others insist on a test-print beforehand just to be sure. This will come down to your personal computer's setup. Summing Up Well to some, all that might have seemed self-explanatory, but it is exactly those kind of tools and options which people under-use most. If a tool seems simple, people assume it is, and often miss added functionality that could save them time if they only knew how to use it, or even that it existed! I hope that you've gained some knowledge yourself from this article. |
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Kind Regards
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A page about the Zoom Tool
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We've all been there. You're working on a 'fiddly bit', and you need that pixel perfect
precision that only the zoom tool can provide. Instead of straining your eyes to see tiny
specks, you're now clicking on blocks half the size of your monitor! But is that all the
zoom tool is capable of?
