10 Must Learn Photoshop Techniques

by Matt Voran

Photoshop gives you the ability to do some amazing things.  I have compiled a list here of what I consider to be some of the most useful and important techniques for photographers.  Enjoy!

1. Sharpening Photos

The “unsharp mask” is an often overlooked but very powerful way to sharpen photos.

OriginalOver sharpened

2. The Pen Tool

The pen tool is a very feared tool, but a little time working through this EXCELLENT tutorial will have you clipping and making selections like a pro.  If you learn one technique here, make it this one. You may also want to check out this video tutorial as well!

image

3. Color Correction

There are many ways to fix the color of  your photos, I think this is a good beginner example.

4. Batch Processing Images

I use this almost daily to take large amounts of images and convert to smaller jpegs. This one is a MUST learn, a huge time saver.

http://www.sns.ias.edu/~jns/images/image_processor_first

5. Clone Stamp Tool

Learn how to remove unwanted items in this simple tutorial.  The clone stamp tool will become your favorite tool once you learn how it works.

6. Dodge and Burn

Photoshop does its best impression of a classic darkroom technique….. this one is really important.

7. Red Eye Removal

Pretty self explanatory. This is an easy and useful trick.

Adobe Photoshop tutorial

8.  Overall Image Enhancement

I like this tutorial because it combines several great techniques into one workflow that you can use on all your images.

photo_basics7

9. Straighten Images

We all do it – take crooked photos.  This is a very easy and fool proof way to get perfectly straight photos, a mark of a true professional.

Adobe Photoshop photo editing and photo retouching tutorial image

10. Makeup

This technique is a bit more advanced, and not as much of a “MUST” as the others, but still a great way to round off this list, I love this one.

Ultimate makeup

That’s the list, hope you find it useful.  If you did, please Digg or Tweet!

-Matt

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{ 1 trackback }

Learn the Pen Tool – A Video Tutorial | Almost Pro Foto
July 21, 2009 at 2:44 pm

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Nikki August 31, 2009 at 3:16 pm

The overall enhancement tricks are the best! Thanks for this post. I’m an ametuer and these hints really helped.

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