Mnemotechnic tips to learn shortcuts

[PECourtejoie]

One of my favorite ways to tell people that to duplicate a layer, or a selection, you Jump it to a new layer, so ctrl+J

Some of the most difficult shortcuts for me are the blending modes ones, so here is a list of mnemotechnic tips I posted at the U2U back in 2001: (I changed it for CS)

Of course in a mac, you replace ALT by Option

Alt+Shift+Q behind (goes back in the Queue)
Alt+Shift+C Color
Alt+Shift+R cleaR (eRase)
Alt+Shift+B color Burn
Alt+Shift+D color Dodge
Alt+Shift+K darKen
Alt+Shift+E diffErEncE
Alt+Shift+I dIssolve
Alt+Shift+X eXclusion (like the bolean operation)
Alt+Shift+H Hard light
Alt+Shift+L Hard Mix (L is hardly a line)
Alt+Shift+U hUe (the sound U)
Alt+Shift+G liGthen
Alt+Shift+A lineAr burn
Alt+Shift+W linear dodge (dodge is opposite of burn, and A fits in the middle of the W)
Alt+Shift+J linear light (J has the shape of a beam of light)
Alt+Shift+Y luminositY (like in Ycc color mode)
Alt+Shift+M Multiply
Alt+Shift+N Normal
Alt+Shift+O Overlay
Alt+Shift+S Screen
Alt+Shift+T saTuraTion
Alt+Shift+F soFt light
Alt+Shift+L treshoLd (LeveL)
Alt+Shift+V ViVid light
Alt+Shift+P Pass trough

-sponge tool-
Alt+Shift+D Desaturate
Alt+Shift+S Saturate

-dodge/burn tool-
Alt+Shift+H Highlights
Alt+Shift+M Midtones
Alt+Shift+S Shadows

I noticed that Julieanne Kost did the same at Adobe Evangelists in Blend Mode Magic (http://www.adobeevangelists.com/pdfs/photoshop/Blendmodemagic.pdf) (4.5Mb PDF)

[Thanantos]

Also, regarding the blend modes, at least on a pc, if you have the blend mode higlighted, you can use the mouse scroll (or up/down arrow keys) to go through them quickly... nice if you are trying to see the effect of varias blend modes using only one finger. I dont think this works on a mac though... at least I had no luck.

Thanantos

[PECourtejoie]

Yes, and if you are a keyboard shortcut addict, Shift+ or Shift- does it without highlighting the blending mode (useful as the highlight has the tendency to be sticky!)