Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts Being able to quickly complete tasks in Photoshop is essential to maximize your efficiency. When you can work faster and do things more quickly, your hourly rate will increase. This is a no-brainer, considering that the faster you work,...
Using the Sponge Tool in Photoshop Just as a carpenter has a hammer, a drill, saws, and many other tools, designers also have many different tools of the trade. Photoshop is out tool bag, and within it are many different tools for getting the job done. Some tools are...
Duotones in Photoshop Duotones are very cool, but they aren't used as often as they could be. Personally, I like to use duotones, tritones, etc., to precisely color an image to match the colors I use in a design. Also, another practical use for duotones in Photoshop...
Diffusion Glow Effect in Photoshop Some hardcore photographers will say that enhancing your photos in Photoshop is cheating. However, most photographers do a little retouching or image enhancement to give their portraits a little extra pizazz. Being able to create...
Background Textures in Photoshop This is a really cool way to create custom background textures in Photoshop. I have to let you know first, that if you are working in Photoshop CS6 in 64 bit mode, you will have to drop drop to 32-bit mode in order to enable the...
Creating a Sunburst Effect In Photoshop Sunburst effects have been around for a while. They are used to call attention to a subject and create a key area of focus. You can also use them to create a sense of action. There are many different methods to creating a...
Yesterday, I covered some basics regarding glow effects and how to use them to your advantage. Today, I will cover some more advanced techniques that will help you to achieve some really cool effects. I created a new document with the dimensions 1024 x 768 and filled...
Glow effects can really add drama to your designs and really make them stand out. Contrast is key here, so it is always a good idea to use a really dark, or even black background. You can add these types of effects to anything such as text, lines, shapes, etc.To do...
Sometimes when we are editing and color correcting a photograph, we realize that a photo could use a little something, or that a color is off, but we can't figure out where we need to make the adjustment to get the look that we want. Photoshop has a tool built in that...
In Photoshop CS5, the new Repousse Panel is fantastic, in that you can create 3D from almost anything. You can create a 3D object from a selection, a path, text, a mask, etc. What is really cool is that you can create your own textures, or you can use images as...
This tool is a very handy tool for replacing color in a photo inside of Photoshop. It is found behind the brush tool and goes as far back as CS3. This sort of works like making a new layer and setting it to color in the layers panel. That is an old trick from before...
Image size really makes a difference in the look of your documents. The size of your document and its resolution are determined by where your image is going to be viewed. Print This includes magazines, flyers, posters, and anything else that is printed. The higher the...
This tutorial is just in time for Halloween, with an eerie background and 3D text with textures. In Photoshop CS5 the Repousse abilities give you a lot of flexibility, especially with textures, so you can create some really interesting work. This is only available in...
This is a great method to get great masks in Photoshop. You can actually have 2 masks on an image at the same time. You can use a vector mask and use a custom shape to mask out an image, creating a clean mask for sharp edges. The pixel mask is great for creating...
First, take your image and duplicate the background layer, so you can go back to your original if you need to. Hide the background layer and work from your copy. Go into the channels panel and hold down the command key (CTRL on the PC) and click on the RGB channel to...
Create a Psychedelic image in Photoshop This is a neat trick that will give you some really interesting and extremely colorful results. To start off, create a new document. It can be any dimension that you want, and click ok. Mine is set at 1024 x 768. Then, create a...
When creating type in Photoshop, and you are looking for just the right display face, it helps to use the key commands to get things just how you want them. If you double click your text icon next to the layer, it will highlight your text. Then, simply go up to the...
The masks panel is a big help, because you can easily edit and refine your masks via a handy panel. From the masks panel, you can define the density of your mask, which is very handy. Instead of having a black and white mask, the density setting lessens the affect, as...
Sometimes it is difficult to find that perfect shot that you need for a project. Sometimes you find the right image, but it has other things going on within it that are undesirable for your purposes. In this tutorial, I am going to show you how to take an image with...
This is a neat trick that is easy and creates a subtle painterly effect with just two filters. First, find an image and open it inside of Photoshop. Then, hit Command +J (Ctrl + J on the PC) to duplicate your background layer. Do this twice, because we are going to...