Mistyhilltops

To start out my Tuesday tutorials after the long break, I thought I’d share with you one nifty little tool that I use all the time. It’s the Alignment Tool, which you’ll probably find somewhere at the top of your photoshop screen (if your workspace is in any way similar to mine). The Alignment Tool comes in handy when you need to arrange things, and you want to make sure they’re placed correctly in relation to other elements on your layout. When working with alphas, I use the Alignment Tool all the time. But also when I want to make sure an element is exactly in the center of a specified space. Instead of playing the guessing game (and wasting a lot of time trying to align things manually), I refer to the Alignment Tool.

I aligned the alpha

Option 1 | Aligning Elements in Relation to Each Other
When aligning elements, all you need to do is select the layers of all elements you want to be in line in the layers panel. As soon as you select two or more layers, the options for alignment will become active in the top bar of your photoshop screen. Choose your desired option (top, bottom, center, left, right), and you’ll see how your objects will be moving accordingly. Play around with it, to find out about the different options you have. Hopefully, in the future, it’ll save you a lot of time arranging things on your page.

Tip:
This trick comes in handy when you

1. want to arrange an alpha on a straight line;
2. are trying to arrange shapes you’ll need for clipping (layout composition)

Option 2 | Aligning Elements in Relationship to the Entire Canvas
When it comes to layout composition, often I want to make sure an element or paper block lines up exactly at the edge, or in the center of my page. In that case, I hit command+A to select the entire page (or use the Marquee Tool [marching ants] to select a specific area), select the layer(s) I want to align in the layers panel, and choose from the alignment options at the top of my photoshop window. In an instant all selected layers are moved in a straight line wherever I chose to align them according to the alignment options.

Tip:
This option works well for

1. arranging papers/paper blocks (layout composition);
2. aligning/centering elements within a specified area.