Using the paint bucket tool

To fill a selection or a layer with a foreground or background color:

1Specify a foreground or background color. (See “Choosing foreground and background colors” on page 257.)

2Select the area you want to fill. To fill an entire layer, select the layer in the Layers palette.

3Choose Edit > Fill to fill the selection or layer. Or to fill a path, select the path and choose Fill Path from the Paths palette menu.

4In the Fill dialog box, for Use, choose one of the following options or select a Custom Pattern:

•Foreground Color, Background Color, Black, 50% Gray, or White to fill the selection with the specified color.

To apply a foreground color fill only to the areas that contain pixels, press Alt+Shift+Backspace (Windows) or Option+Shift+Delete (Mac OS). This preserves the

transparency of the layer. To apply a background color fill only to the areas that contain pixels, press Ctrl+Shift+Backspace (Windows) or Command+Shift+Delete (Mac OS).

•Pattern to fill the selection with a pattern. Click the inverted arrow next to the pattern sample and select a pattern from the pop-up palette. You can load additional patterns using the pop-up palette menu. Select the name of a library of patterns or choose Load Patterns and navigate to the folder containing the patterns you want to use.

•History to restore the selected area to a state or snapshot of the image. (See “Making a snapshot of an image (Photoshop)” on page 40.)

Note: If you fill a CMYK image using the Black option, Photoshop fills all the channels with 100% black. This may result in more ink than is allowable by the printer. For best results when filling a CMYK image, use the Foreground option with the foreground color set to an appropriate black.

5Specify the blending mode and opacity for the paint. (See “Setting options for painting and editing tools” on page 241.)

6If you’re working in a layer and want to fill only areas containing pixels, choose Preserve Transparency.

7If you are filling a path, enter a Feather Radius value to blend the edges of the filled path and select Anti-aliased if you want to anti-alias the path.

To fill the work canvas:

1Set the foreground color you want to use for the canvas.

2Select the paint bucket tool .

3In the options bar, set Fill to Foreground.

4Hold down Shift, and click in the work canvas.

Note: You need to be in full screen mode and viewing the menus to fill the work canvas.

To fill a selection with a pattern:

1Select the part of the image you want to fill.

2Do one of the following:

•Choose Edit > Fill. In the Fill dialog box, for Use, choose Pattern, select a pattern from the pop-up palette, and click OK.

If Pattern is dimmed, you need to load a pattern library before you can select this option. (See “Managing libraries with the Preset Manager (Photoshop)” on page 54.)

•Select the paint bucket tool . In the options bar, choose Pattern from the Fill pop-up menu and select a pattern from the Pattern pop-up palette. Then click to fill the selected area with the pattern.

Note: You can load additional pattern libraries into the pop-up palette prior to making a selection. (See “Creating and managing patterns” on page 252.)

Stroking a selection or layer with color

You can use the Stroke command to paint a colored border around a selection, layer, or path. This allows you to create a softer border than one created using the Stroke layer style. The Stroke layer style provides a resolution-independent method to stroke a shape. (See “Managing layers”on page 292.) You can use the Stroke layer effect when you want to stroke the entire layer. If you want a quick way to create a stroke on the current layer— without necessarily following the edge of the layer—use the Stroke command.

To stroke a selection or layer:

1Specify a foreground color. (See “Choosing foreground and background colors” on page 257.)

2Select the area or layer you want to stroke.

3Choose Edit > Stroke.

4In the Stroke dialog box, specify the width of the hard-edged border.

5For Location, specify whether to place the border inside, outside, or centered over the selection or layer boundaries.

6Specify an opacity and a blending mode. (See “Setting options for painting and editing tools” on page 241.)

7If you’re working in a layer and want to stroke only areas containing pixels, select the Preserve Transparency option. (See “Locking layers” on page 290.)

To stroke a path:

1Select the path in the Paths palette.

2Choose Stroke Path from the palette menu.

3In the Stroke Path dialog box, choose a tool to stroke the path.