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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!

Knock Out Text Effect In Photoshop

Convert text to a shape, then learn how to use one of Photoshop’s more interesting shape options to knock out sections of letters that overlap each other!

How To Resize Images In Photoshop

Let’s look at one of the most popular uses for Photoshop, how to resize your images! We’ll learn how to make photos smaller using the Image Size command, and why making them larger is almost never a good idea.

Photoshop Essential File Formats Quick Guide

Feeling overwhelmed by the number of file formats to choose from when trying to save your images in Photoshop? This quick guide looks at the essential formats we need to know, including the pros and cons of each one and the situations where it makes the most sense to use it!

Seeing The Difference With JPEG Compression In Photoshop

It’s a fact of life with digital photos that sometimes we need to compress them to make our file sizes smaller. Our computer screens don’t always make it easy to see the damage being done to the image, but thanks to one of Photoshop’s rarely-used blending modes, the horrors of jpeg compression become strikingly clear.

The Benefits Of Working With 16-Bit Images In Photoshop

The whole point of editing images in Photoshop is to make them look better, so why risk making them look worse in the process if you don’t have to? If you’ve been editing 8-bit images when you could have been working in 16-bit mode, you’ve been missing out on a world of flexibility.

RGB and Color Channels in Photoshop Explained

If RGB is just a three letter word to you and color channels are something you watch on tv, your Photoshop work is suffering. Learn how Photoshop displays colors in your images and take your skills to the next level.

Difference Between Image Resizing and Resampling in Photoshop

A lot of people use the term “image resizing” whether they’re resizing or resampling an image in Photoshop as if they’re the same thing, which they’re most definitely not, and if you’re concerned about image quality, it’s important to know the difference.

Understanding Image Pixels In Photoshop

Image pixels are the tiny building blocks of every digital image. All Photoshop sees is pixels. It’s these pixels that you’re changing in some way with every edit you make to your image, and it’s these pixels you’re printing when you send your digital photos to the printer.

Image Resolution, Pixel Dimensions and Document Size in Photoshop

In this section, we’ll look at some of the most confusing terms you’ll come across when working in Photoshop: image resolution, pixel dimensions and document size – what it all means, why it’s so important to understand, and why you may not need to understand it at all!

Image Resolution And Print Quality

Learn how image resolution and the number of pixels in your image will affect the quality of your digital photos when you print them, why images you download off the internet usually print with poor quality, and how many megapixels (MP) your camera needs to have in order to print professional quality photos at different sizes.

Selective Coloring Effect In Photoshop

Can’t decide if your photo would look better in color or black and white? Why not try both at once! Learn a fast and easy way to do selective coloring in Photoshop, turning most of your image black and white while keeping your main subject in full color!

Radial Zoom Enhanced Eyes Effect In Photoshop

In this Photoshop Effects tutorial, learn how to give someone’s eyes a fun, easy to create ‘zoom’ effect with blur streaks that zoom out from the center of the eyes. We’ll also enhance the brightness and color of the eyes while we’re at it!

Faded Pixels Photo Border Effect In Photoshop

In this Photoshop Effects tutorial, learn how to create a “faded pixels” photo border, with the image appearing through randomly-sized and scattered square pixel shapes that gradually fade into a solid colored background.

How To Blend Textures With Photos In Photoshop

Learn the essentials of blending textures with photos in Photoshop, including how to quickly cycle through the layer blend modes, how to blend only the brightness values of the texture to keep the photo’s original colors, how to invert textures for different results, and more!

Photo To Colored Dot Pattern With Photoshop

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, learn how to easily turn a photo into a pattern of colored dots, using one of Photoshop’s filters, a layer mask and a simple repeating pattern we’ll create from scratch!

Vertical Photo Panels Effect With Photoshop

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, learn how layer groups and clipping masks make it easy to create the illusion that a photo is being displayed as a series of vertical panels!

Shape Cluster Photo Display Effect With Photoshop

Learn how to display a single photo as a cluster of shapes, similar to larger wall cluster displays where several photos, usually in different frame shapes and sizes, are arranged together on a wall to form a larger design. In this tutorial, we’ll create something similar but on a smaller scale using just a single image!

Classic Vignette Photo Effect With Photoshop

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, learn how to quickly add a timeless, classic vignette border to a photo! Perfect for wedding and engagement photos, anniversaries and other family portraits!

Photo To Sketch With More Detail In Photoshop

In a previous tutorial, we learned a way to convert a photo to a sketch in Photoshop that works great for portraits. In this tutorial, we learn a slightly different way that’s better at bringing out fine details when converting other types of images to a sketch! Plus, learn how to create the entire effect in 60 seconds or less!

Punch Through Image Effect In Photoshop

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, learn how to create a popular “punch through image” effect, often seen in sports and movie ads, as if a person or object has punched a hole right through the page or image!

Color Grid Design In Photoshop

In this Photoshop effects tutorial, learn how to turn a photo in a grid of randomly colorized squares! We’ll use Photoshop’s guides and rulers, a couple of rarely used selection tools, the Magic Wand, adjustment layers, blend modes, and more! Any recent version of Photoshop will work!

Realistic Cast Shadow Effect In Photoshop

Photoshop’s Drop Shadow layer style may be great for adding simple shadows to images or text, but for creating realistic looking shadows of people or objects, it just doesn’t cut it. In this tutorial, learn an easy way to create a realistic cast shadow effect!

Snowflakes Photo Border In Photoshop

Learn how to create a simple snowflakes photo border, a fun finishing touch for photos of family and friends during the holidays or of any snowy winter scene!

Dead Zone Blur Streaks Effect With Photoshop

In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to colorize a photo using a Color Balance adjustment, then how to select and stretch a single column of pixels across the image to create a cool motion blur effect!

Add A Realistic Rainbow To A Photo With Photoshop

In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to brighten your stormy skies by adding a rainbow, or even a double rainbow, to a photo using one of Photoshop’s ready-made gradients. We’ll also learn how to flip the order of the colors in a gradient to create a more realistic double rainbow effect!

Screen Jumping Effect In Photoshop

Sometimes, the action in a movie, sports event or video game can be so intense, it seems to jump right off the screen, especially if you’re using Photoshop! In this tutorial, learn how to create this popular and classic photo effect.

Overlapping Text With An Image In Photoshop

Every month, magazine covers show people or objects overlapping text (usually the name of the magazine along the top). In this tutorial, learn how layers in Photoshop make it easy to recreate the same effect with your own images and text!

Worn, Torn Photo Edges Effect In Photoshop

Learn how to easily combine the Eraser Tool with one of Photoshop’s built-in brushes, along with a few layers and some layer styles, to give a photo a worn, torn edges effect!