Photoshop is a magnificent tool in the world of photography. With the help of this tool one can drastically improve the quality of an image. The most basic feature of this tool is zooming in and out. With the help of this feature we can focus on a specific part of an image. There are several methods for performing Zooming In and Zooming Out, some of them are listed below. Dragging mouse for zooming can irritate you sometimes, but that’s a small price you need to pay if you want to use it this way. You can alternatively use the keyboard shortcuts to get some relief.
Below are the two keyboard shortcuts, one for Macintosh and one for Windows, which you can use to zoom in and zoom out inside photoshop.
| Tasks | Windows Shortcuts | Macintosh Shortcuts |
|---|---|---|
| Zoom In | Ctrl + the plus key (“+”) | Command + the plus key |
| Zoom out | Ctrl + the minus key (“ -“) | Command + the minus key |
The Current Zoom level
In the screenshot below, the image is at 50% of zoom level. The level of zoom in and zoom out can be seen at the bottom left corner of the photoshop, the part is highlighted in the screenshot.
But at this zoom level we are not able to see some fine details of the image, so we need to zoom into the image. So for that, press “Ctrl” and “+” key in Windows or “Command” and “+” key on a Mac, till we are satisfied by our zoom level. But if you want to see the image in exact size (the original size), you can press the “Ctrl” + “1” key combination. That will give the image a magnification of 100%.
Zoom Tool
There is another tool in the Tool Panel which is helpful for Zooming In and Zooming Out. Select this tool
Toggle between Zoom In and Zoom Out
By default the Zoom tool is in the Zoom In mode, when you select the Zoom tool and hover over the picture a plus(+) sign is seen on the magnify glass. This shows that the Zoom tool is in Zoom In mode, but if you want to switch to Zoom Out mode just click the “Alt” key in windows or Option key on Macintosh. Now you will see that the “+” sign on the magnify glass changes to minus(-) sign, which states that now the tool is in the Zoom Out mode. Click on the image to Zoom Out or click multiple times for incremental Zoom Outs.
Using the Option Bar
Another way of switching between Zoom In and Zoom Out mode is from the Option Bar present on the top of the screen. This is only visible when the Zoom tool is selected.
1. Resize Windows to Fit
This feature is used to resize the window along with the image zoom level. When this option is unchecked the image window remains still whenever Zoom In or Zoom Out is performed.
2. Zoom All Windows
When this option is checked one can simultaneously perform zoom In or zoom Out to multiple opened files using the Zoom Tool.
3. Scrubby Zoom
This is the fastest type of zoom in which one can easily Zoom In and Zoom Out by just dragging the mouse right or left.
4. Fit Screen
When we click on this button the opened image is zoomed to fit exactly on screen. The image now covers the complete image window.
5. Fill Screen
When we click on this button it Zooms the presently opened window to fill the screen.
6. Print Size
In this option the image is zoomed to the size of the print file.
The Hand Tool
When we Zoom In to the image, we only zoom at a particular part of the image. What if we want to see the other part of the image with same zoom level? This is commonly known as “panning”. Here comes another tool known as the Hand Tool that help us to see the other areas of an image with the same zoom level. One can select the Hand tool either by clicking on