Although the title says Photoshop tools, some of these tools are used in other editing softwares too. Before you start making graphics you need to understand the basics and one of the most important things to learn first are the tools.

1) Rectangular Marquee Tool: Use this tool to make selections on your image, in a rectangular shape. This changes the area of your image that is affected by other tools or actions to be within the defined shape.

2) Move Tool: Use this tool to, well, move things. Usually you use it to move a Layer around after it has been placed. Hold the [Shift] key to limit the movements to vertical/horizontal.

3) Polygon Lasso Tool: Use this to draw selections in whatever shape you would like. To close the selection, either click on the beginning point (you'll see the cursor change when you're on it), or just double-click.

4) Magic Wand Tool: Use this to select a color range. It will select the block of color, or transparency, based on wherever you click.

5) Crop Tool: The Crop Tool works similarly to the Rectangular Marquee tool (see above if you have no short-term memory). The difference is when you press the [Enter/Return] key, it crops your image to the size of the box. Any information that was on the outside of the box is now gone. Not permanently, you can still undo.

6) Healing Brush Tool: This is a really useful tool. Mildly advanced. You can use this tool to repair scratches and specs and stuff like that on images.

7) Brush Tool: It paints one your image, in whatever color you have selected, and whatever size you have selected.

8) Clone Stamp Tool: This is very similar to the Healing Brush Tool (see above). You use it the exact same way, except this tool doesn't blend at the end. It's a direct copy of the information from the first selected area to the second.

9) History Brush Tool: This tool works just like the Brush Tool (see above) except the information that it paints with is from the original state of your image. If you go Window>History, you can see the History Palette. The History Brush tool paints with the information from whatever History state is selected.

10) Eraser Tool: This is the anti-Brush tool. It works like an eraser and erases whatever information wherever you click and drag it. If you're on a Layer, it will erase the information transparent. If you are on the background layer, it erases with whatever secondary color you have selected.

11) Gradient Tool: You can use this to make a gradiation of colors. Gradiation doesn't appear to be a word, but it makes sense anyway. It creates a blending of your foreground color and background color when you click and drag it.

12) Blur Tool: The Blur tool is cool. It makes things blurry. Click and drag to make things blurry. The more you click and drag, the blurrier things get.

13) Dodge Tool: It's actually used to lighten whatever area you use it on. As long as it is not absolute black. Absolute black won't lighten.

14) Horizontal Type Tool: It creates a text box/dot you can write on

15) Pen Tool: It's for creating paths, in which you would use the Path Selection Tool to select the path. Paths can be used in a few different ways, mostly to create clipping paths, or to create selections. You use the tool by clicking to add a point. If you click and drag, it will change the shape of your path, allowing you to bend and shape the path for accurate selections and such.

16) Rectangle Tool: By default it draws a Shape Layer in the form of a rectangle. It fills the rectangle with whatever foreground color you have selected.

17) Eyedropper Tool: This tool works by changing your foreground color to whatever color you click on.

18) Foreground (in the front) and Background (in the back). Click on either one to bring up the color select dialog box.