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Latest Photoshop tutorials

Welcome to Photoshop Essentials, where everyone can learn Photoshop! We offer fun, exclusive, step-by-step tutorials for all skill levels, and all written with beginners in mind. From Photoshop Basics to Photo Editing and Retouching, Photo Effects, Text Effects and more!

Check out our latest Photoshop tutorials below. Or download our tutorials as PDFs and get exclusive bonus content!

Photoshop Image Navigation Tips, Tricks And Shortcuts

In the previous tutorial, we learned the basics of zooming, panning and navigating around images in Photoshop. This follow-up tutorial offers a complete collection of all the essential tips, tricks and shortcuts you need to navigate your images like the pros!

How To Create A Diptych With Photoshop CS6

In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to easily create a diptych from two separate images, even images of different sizes and orientations, using a few simple tools in Photoshop CS6!

Radial Blur Action Effect In Photoshop

In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to bring more action and excitement to an image with an easy to create radial blur effect! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC (Creative Cloud)!

Starry Night Sky Effect With Photoshop CS6

In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to add a sea of stars to your night time photos! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and compatible with Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud)!

Ghosting An Image With Photoshop CS6

Whether you’re a fan or horror movies or looking for a fun effect for Halloween, learn how to give your photo a more ghostly, supernatural look with this fully re-written and updated tutorial for Photoshop CS6! Also compatible with Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud)!

Boosting Contrast And Color With The Luminosity Mask In Photoshop

In this photo retouch tutorial, learn a little-known trick for selecting pixels in a photo based on their lightness values, then how to use them to boost contrast and color saturation to give your image more visual punch! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6!

Creative Vignette Effects With The Radial Filter In Photoshop CC

Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud) and its new Camera Raw Filter bring with them lots of new and exciting features, including the amazing Radial Filter. Learn how the Radial Filter can be used to add creative, highly customizable and fully non-destructive vignette effects to your images!

CS6 Camera Raw – How To Open Raw, JPEG And TIFF Files

Adobe Camera Raw lets us process and edit not only raw files directly from our digital camera but also JPEG and TIFF images. In this tutorial, learn how to open all three files types in Camera Raw, including a look at some potentially confusing options for JPEG and TIFF images in the Camera Raw Preferences.

Working With Camera Raw In Adobe Bridge vs Photoshop

Did you know that Camera Raw works in both Photoshop and in Adobe Bridge? In fact, running it in Bridge offers certain advantages. Learn what those advantages are, and how to open images in Camera Raw without opening Photoshop!

Camera Raw vs Photoshop – Which Should I Use?

With raw files and raw image processing being all the rage these days, many people wonder which application they should be using to edit their photos – Photoshop or Camera Raw. Learn what Camera Raw is, where it fits within your editing workflow, and why the answer to which one you should be using is… both!

CS6 Camera Raw – Interface Essentials

Adobe Camera Raw is like a streamlined version of Photoshop built specifically for photo editing and retouching. In this Photoshop CS6 tutorial, take a whirlwind tour of the Camera Raw interface and learn about its tools, panels and other photo editing features!

Raw vs JPEG For Photo Editing

In this first in a series of tutorials on working with Adobe Camera Raw, we take a look at the big advantage raw files have over JPEGs for capturing and editing our digital photos.

Painted Edges Photo Border With Photoshop CS6

In this Photo Effects tutorial, learn how make an image look like it was painted on canvas with this simple painted edges photo border effect. Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6!

Photo Effects Tip: Restore Missing Filters In Photoshop CS6

Adobe removed many of the more creative and artistic filters from the Filter menu in Photoshop CS6, but they’re not gone. In this quick tip, learn where to find the missing filters, how this change impacts Smart Filters, and how to restore the Filter menu to the way it looked in CS5 and earlier.

Get More Accurate Print Size Previews In Photoshop

Photoshop’s Print Size view mode is supposed to give us an accurate on-screen preview of how an image will look when printed, but by default, it doesn’t work. In this tutorial, we learn why it’s not working and more importantly, how to easily fix it!

The 72 PPI Web Resolution Myth

Many Photoshop users believe they need to set the image resolution of their photos to 72 ppi before uploading them to the web or viewing them on screen, but is there really any point to it? We put it to the test and learn why computer screens don’t actually care about image resolution at all!

Saving And Switching Workspaces In Photoshop CS6

Workspaces in Photoshop let us easily switch between different panel layouts for different tasks. In this tutorial, learn all about the built-in workspaces that ship with Photoshop, and how to save your own panel layouts as custom workspaces!

Managing Panels In Photoshop CS6

Much of what we do in Photoshop involves the use of panels, and with so many panels to work with in Photoshop CS6, things can seem a bit overwhelming. In this tutorial, we learn how to manage and arrange the panels to optimize your work space and keep it all organized!

Photo Within A Photo In Photoshop CS6

In this Photo Effects tutorial, learn how to create a smaller, full color version of your photo inside a black and white version of the original full size image! Fully compatible with Photoshop CS6.

3D Pop Up Effect In Photoshop

Learn how to create a simple and fun 3D pop up effect in Photoshop where the main subject of your photo appears to be standing up and popping right out of the image!

How To Use Blend Modes With Color Channels In Photoshop

Blend modes in Photoshop are a great way to change how a layer interacts, or blends, with the layers below it, but in this tutorial, we get more creative by learning how to apply blend modes to individual color channels using the Apply Image command!

Photoshop CS6 Blur Gallery – Iris Blur

Learn how to create highly customized blur effects with an image using the new Iris Blur filter in Photoshop CS6, which takes everything Field Blur offers and adds even more fine-tune control!

Photoshop CS6 Blur Gallery – Field Blur

Learn how to easily apply different amounts of blurring to specific areas of an image without the need for layer masks using the new Field Blur filter in Photoshop CS6!

Cropping Images In Photoshop CS6

Photoshop CS6 brings with it a completely redesigned and enhanced Crop Tool that makes cropping and straightening images easier than ever! In this tutorial, we learn how it works!

Selecting Hair with Refine Edge in Photoshop CS5

Selecting hair in a photo was once strictly for the pros, but in this tutorial, learn how the improved and powerful Refine Edge command in Photoshop CS5 makes selecting hair easier than ever!

How To Replace The Sky In A Photo With Photoshop

In this Photo Retouch tutorial, learn how to easily replace the original sky in a photo with the sky from a different image using a simple selection, a layer mask, and the power of Photoshop’s Advanced Blending sliders!

Boost Color Contrast With A Black And White Adjustment In Photoshop

It may be called a Black & White image adjustment, but don’t let the name fool you. In this Photo Retouch tutorial, we learn how to combine it with one of Photoshop’s layer blend modes to easily control the brightness and contrast of different areas in a full color photo!

How To Lighten And Brighten Eyes In Photoshop

In this Photoshop tutorial, learn a fast and easy way to lighten and brighten someone’s eyes in a photo using nothing more than a simple adjustment layer, a layer blend mode and a brush!