Tutorial: How to Zoom in Photoshop on a Mac

In this Photoshop tutorial we’ll cover how to zoom in and out on a Mac using different zoom tools and handy keyboard shortcuts. Understanding the zoom features will help you to improve your workflow and precision when editing images in photoshop.

How to Zoom in Photoshop on a Mac Outline

0:18 The zoom tool
1:03 Scrubby zoom
1:32 Keyboard shortcuts
1:51 Hand tool navigation
2:10 Navigator tool
2:36 Fit image to screen

Summary

In this tutorial, Robb from King Grizzly provides a comprehensive guide on how to effectively zoom in and out in Adobe Photoshop, emphasizing the various tools and keyboard shortcuts available to enhance editing precision and workflow efficiency.

The video starts by introducing the Zoom Tool, which can be accessed via the toolbar or by pressing “Z” on the keyboard. Robb demonstrates how to use the Zoom Tool to zoom in by clicking on the image and zoom out by holding the Option key while clicking.

He also introduces the “Scrubby Zoom” feature, which allows users to click and drag the mouse to zoom in or out fluidly.

Additionally, Robb explains how to navigate around an image using the Hand Tool (activated by the Spacebar) and the Navigator Tool, which provides a visual representation of the image and allows for easy zoom adjustments.

He concludes by encouraging viewers to share their favorite zooming techniques in the comments.

Transcript

How to Zoom in Photoshop

Hey, this is Robb from King Grizzly and in today’s tutorial I’ll be walking through how to zoom in and out in Photoshop using different Zoom tools and handy keyboard shortcuts. Understanding the zoom features will help you improve your workflow and precision when editing images.

The first way to zoom is by using the zoom tool. You’ll find it in the toolbar. It looks like a magnifying glass. You can click on the icon or press “Z” to bring it up with a keyboard shortcut. Now you’ll notice that this gives me a magnifying glass with a plus icon anywhere I click on my image.

I’m going to zoom in. If I want to zoom out I can simply hold “option” and zoom out. Now, you’ll notice that it’s zooming in where my mouse is located. That’s something to be aware of as not every zoom feature is going to zoom in on your mouse and zooming in on your mouse can be a handy tool when working on editing images. So, that’s the first way to zoom in and out.

How to Zoom Using Scrubby Zoom

Another way to zoom is by using something called Scrubby Zoom. You’ll notice that there are some zoom options when you click on the zoom tool. For me, they’re located up here at the top and you’ll see that Scrubby Zoom is enabled. What this allows me to do is click my mouse and drag to the right and that zooms in. If I click to my mouse and drag to the left it zooms out. And you can see I can do that anywhere on the image.

Handy Keyboard Shortcuts

If I want to simply use a keyboard shortcut to zoom in I can hold “command” and press “plus” and that will zoom in on my image. If I hold “command” and press “minus” that will zoom out.

Hand Tool Navigation

Now, how do you navigate around your image once you’re zoomed in? An easy way to do that is by using the hand tool. You can use a keyboard shortcut by pressing “spacebar”. If I hold spacebar you’ll see I have the hand icon and I can move around my image. This represents an easy way to navigate my image while I’m zoomed in.

Navigator Tool

Another way is to use the Navigator Tool to bring up the Navigator Tool you’ll go to “window” and down to “navigator”. That’ll bring up this little window and you’ll see your image. If I move this red box around you’ll see that it actually moves around my image wherever the red box is. I can zoom in and out by moving the slide towards the small mountain or the large mountain.

Reset Your View

If I ever get lost and I want to just zoom out I can press “command” plus “zero” and that will fit my image to screen to reorient myself.

Conclusion

And there you have it. Those are some easy ways to zoom in and out in Photoshop. And just like in any feature in Photoshop there’s lots of ways to do to do this and this doesn’t represent an exhaustive list.

If you have some ways that you like to zoom in and out please leave them in the video comments. And if you if you found this video helpful please like it. Thanks so much!