Photoshop on your iPad gives you access to Photoshop´s core tools and features in a modern interface designed for a touch screen.

Let's take a look at where the essential features are and learn some of the touch gestures that you'll use as you work in Photoshop on your iPad.

On the left side of the screen is the Toolbar It contains some of the commonly used tools found in Photoshop on the computer.

Tap a tool to activate it.

If that tool has options, it opens the Tool Options bar.

In the Tool Options bar, you have an icon for each option.

For example, here's an icon for Brush size.

When I tap that I can adjust the brush size.

You can move the Tool Options bar anywhere else on the screen by pressing on its handle and dragging.

You can even drag it onto the Toolbar, and it docks itself there.

If a tool has a small caret at the bottom right like this Selection Tool, that means it has alternate tools behind it and you can access those by long pressing on the tool or double tapping the tool and then select the tool that you want.

At the bottom of the screen are the foreground and background color chips.

The foreground colour chip controls the color used by any tool that applies color, like the Brush Tool.

You can switch these two chips by just swiping down or up on the color chips.

And you can select the color by tapping the foreground color chip and selecting a color in the color Picker or you can use the Eyedropper Tool located above the color chips.

You may have noticed that there's no Zoom Tool or Hand Tool like there is in Photoshop on a computer.

That's because on a touch screen you use gestures to zoom and pan around an image.

To zoom use a two-finger pinch or a two fingers spread.

If you want to put the image back to Fit On Screen view, then tap the Move Tool and with one finger double tap the image.

Another way to zoom is to scrub over the Zoom Indicator in the Title bar.

Down at the bottom left of the screen is the innovative touch shortcut which is a great shortcut for quickly accessing additional tool functions.

For example, I have the Move Tool selected and if I select the layer that contains the dino bird I can just click and drag and move the dino bird freely.

But what if I want to move the dino bird only left to right in a straight line.

Then I'll press and hold on the touch shortcut and I'll drag and now the movement of the dino bird is constrained.

And up at the top right you can see a blue tooltip that tells you what the touch shortcut is doing.

If I slide my finger to the outer ring of the touch shortcut, now the function changes to Duplicate layer.

And so, if I drag the dino bird that gives me a second dino bird.

Now let's take a look at the Layers panel.

Layers of course are an essential feature in Photoshop on any device.

On the iPad you have two views of the Layers panel.

Right now, you're looking at the Compact view which is that vertical line of thumbnails.

Each thumbnail is a separate layer in the file.

To see the more detailed view, go to the bar on the far right which is the Taskbar and tap the second icon there.

The detailed view is useful when you're working with layer masks or when you need to see layer names.

To switch back to Compact view, tap the top button in the Taskbar.

If you want to see the properties of a layer, make sure the layer you want to affect is selected and then tap the third icon in the Taskbar.

And here in the Layer Properties you can impact the Opacity of the layer, the Blend Mode of a layer which affects the way that layer blends with the layers below it.

And more.

There are more icons in the center of the Taskbar that are related to layers.

For example, to add a new layer or a new adjustment layer, long press the plus icon in the Taskbar.

And there's a three-dot menu with many other layer related options for you to explore.

I'll tap the Layer Properties icon again to close the Layer Properties panel.

Let's take a quick look at the top right where you'll find an undo button and a redo button.

Each time you tap one of those you go back or forward one step in time.

If you want to export or share your document to another location, tap the Share icon at the top right and tap the Question mark icon at the top right.

If you have questions about how Photoshop on your iPad works.

There you'll find a list of gestures that you can use with Photoshop on your iPad, a list of shortcuts you can use with the touch shortcut feature and a list of shortcuts you can use if you have a keyboard attached to your iPad.

So, that's an overview of the basic layout of Photoshop in your iPad.

Great new features are being added all the time.

So, continue to explore the interface to find even more.