Is there an alternative to the five-finger swipe out gesture, allowing me to copy things to/from the desktop? On my MacBook, I frequently end up with lots of overlapping windows on the screen, obscuring the desktop. I recently discovered the five finger 'swipe outwards' gesture that displays the desktop. Unfortunately this doesn't do exactly what I want; as soon as I select an application (typically a Finder window) from the dock, all the windows swipe back into place. Normally I am wanting to copy a file to/from a Finder window that's already open, via drag-and-drop, to the desktop - but I can't do this as the desktop is once again obscured.

Are there any other shortcuts which could help me? For example, minimize/hide all windows to show the desktop?

I should add I'm using OS X 10.8, if it's relevant.
I would suggest you set up a hot corner to show the desktop (this is what I do):


Open System Preferences
Click Mission Control
Click the "Hot Corners..." button at the bottom
Set the corner you want to use for "Desktop" (I use the top right)
Click OK


Now you can move a file from a Finder window to the desktop with just the mouse:


Click and drag the file you want to move to the hot corner you set up, which will show the desktop
Drop the file on the desktop