The Photoshop Field Guide
A specimen sheet for every tool in the toolbar, every effect in the Layer Style dialog, and every way a layer can blend with the ones beneath it — written for the first time you open the program, not the hundredth.
Three things to know before you scroll: the icon in each card is what to look for on-screen; the small tag is the keyboard shortcut that switches to it instantly; and wherever you see a checkerboard, that's Photoshop's way of showing transparency — there's nothing there yet.
Tools of the trade
Photoshop nests related tools under one flyout — hold a tool button down and its siblings appear. These 24 cards are grouped exactly that way, so what you see here matches what you'll see on-screen.
Layer effects
Double-click any layer to open its Layer Style dialog. These ten effects — Photoshop calls them fx — attach live, editable styling to a layer without touching its pixels. Stack several at once and they render in this order, top to bottom.
Blending options
Blending Options decide how a layer's pixels combine with everything underneath it. That covers more than the Blend Mode menu — here's the full panel, from the two opacity sliders to the mode list itself.
CSS can reproduce 16 of Photoshop's 27 blend modes directly in a browser — try a few above. The full set, including the ones no browser can preview, is described below.