And while “M” will bring up the Marquee tool, Ctrl+M will open the Curves dialog box. For example, simply tapping the “D” key will set the foreground/background colors back to their default settings, but holding the Ctrl key ( Command on a Mac) down while tapping that same “D” key will deselect any selections you have made within the open image. One important thing to keep in mind is that virtually every key contains multiple shortcuts. When I first started learning these several years ago, I swear it was like clouds parting and angels singing. Instead, I really want to show you how so many of Photoshop’s most basic functions work with the keyboard shortcuts. It would be one of those articles you add to your Favorites/Bookmarks to go back and read later, but you never do. It would not only take up too much time and space, but it would also be way too intimidating. Let me start out by saying that this article does not address every single keyboard shortcut in Photoshop. You may not always remember where something appears in a drop-down menu, but once you’ve learned a keyboard shortcut, you’re not likely to forget it. While every tool or command in Photoshop is accessible with the mouse, almost as many are also available through simple keyboard shortcuts. Or “T” for the text tool or “B” for the brush tool. I mean, how long does it take to drag the mouse over to the tools menu and click on the crop tool, right? While I’ve never actually timed it, I can pretty much guarantee that it’s longer than the time it takes to hit “C” on your keyboard.