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!
In this second tutorial on understanding histograms in Photoshop, we look at different types of images with their naturally darker (low-key) and lighter (high-key) tonal characteristics and learn why there’s no such thing as a standard, typical or ideal histogram.
Learn how to easily read and evaluate an image histogram, one of the most important and essential skills for retouching and restoring images!
Learn how to take the normally sharp, straight edges of a photo and make them look worn, torn and faded. Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC!
No Shadows/Highlights adjustment layer in Photoshop? No problem! In this tutorial, learn how to get all the benefits of an adjustment layer by applying Shadows/Highlights as a fully editable Smart Filter!
Too much contrast in an image? Learn how a Shadows/Highlights adjustment in Photoshop can easily fix it by bringing out hidden detail in the darkest and lightest areas! Part 5 in our tone and color correction series.
In this tutorial, the fourth in our tone and color correction series, we take everything we’ve learned so far about how Photoshop’s Brightness/Contrast command works and learn how to apply it as a fully editable adjustment layer!
In this third tutorial in our series on tone and color correction in Photoshop, learn how a simple Brightness/Contrast image adjustment can quickly improve the overall brightness and contrast in your photos!
Trying to merge multiple layers set to different blend modes and getting strange results? In this tutorial, we look at the problem, explain why it happens, and learn a secret, hidden trick to get around it!
In this photo effects tutorial, learn how to easily add rays of light to an image and make a beautiful sunset photo even more magical!
Need to merge two photos together to create that perfect shot? Learn how Photoshop’s Auto-Align Layers command and a layer mask make it easy to composite images!
Take Photoshop’s Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color image adjustments to the next level by learning how to apply them as flexible, non-destructive adjustment layers!
Learn how to easily add a selective color, or splash of color, effect to an image in Photoshop with no selection tools needed! Convert your photo to black and white, and then bring back the color in your main subject!
In this Photo Retouching tutorial, learn how Photoshop’s three Auto image adjustments – Auto Contrast, Auto Tone and Auto Color – can instantly fix contrast and color cast problems in your images!
Learn how to surround an image with an easy to create snowflakes border, a fun finishing touch for photos of family and friends during the holidays or for any wintry scene! Now for Photoshop CS6 and CC!
In this Photo Effects tutorial, learn how to display a photo in a grid of randomly colored squares! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC (Creative Cloud)!
In this second tutorial in our series on creating photo borders and frames, learn how to add a matted picture frame around an image using Photoshop’s layer styles!
Learn how to make Adobe Photoshop the default program for viewing and editing popular image file formats like JPEG, PNG and TIFF in Windows 8 and 8.1!
Give someone’s eyes an almost otherworldly look, with bright, colorful blur streaks that zoom out from their centers. Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC (Creative Cloud)!
Learn how to make simple image composites using Photoshop’s Paste Into command which lets us easily place a photo into a selection! Now fully updated for CS6 and CC (Creative Cloud)!
In this Photo Effects tutorial, learn how to display a single image as a series of vertical panels! Now fully re-written and updated for Photoshop CS6!
Learn how to easily add folds and creases to a photo as if it had been folded and unfolded like a map! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6!
Learn all about the new Before and After previews in Adobe Camera Raw and how they make it easy to compare the edited and original versions of an image as we’re working!
Tired of always needing to open the Color Picker to change colors in Photoshop? With the Creative Cloud 2014 updates, you don’t have to! Learn all about the newly-enhanced Color panel and its great new features that make choosing colors easier than ever!
In this second part of our tutorial on the new Focus Area selection tool in Photoshop CC 2014, learn how to improve and fine-tune your initial focus-based selections with Photoshop’s powerful Refine Edge command!
Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud) has been updated with exciting new features for 2014! In this first tutorial, learn how Focus Area lets us make selections based on the in-focus areas of an image!
Planning to email an image or upload it to the web? Learn how to protect your work by adding your copyright information as a watermark pattern!
In this Photo Effects tutorial, learn how to turn any image into a polaroid collage! Now fully updated for both Photoshop CS6 and CC (Creative Cloud)!
Learn how to quickly rename multiple image files at once using the simple yet powerful Batch Rename feature in Adobe Bridge.
Learn some simple tips for customizing your Layers panel in Photoshop to keep it free of unwanted clutter and create a cleaner, more efficient workspace.
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!
In this Photoshop Basics tutorial, learn the essential tools and options you need to zoom, scroll and navigate your way around your images quickly and easily!
Learn how to turn any portrait image into either a black and white or color pencil sketch using Photoshop CS6. Now fully updated!
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!
In this tutorial, learn how the new Camera Raw Filter in Photoshop CC lets us easily apply a sepia tone to an image in a way that’s fully editable and non-destructive!
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)!
Can’t get your prints to fit properly in your picture frames because the aspect ratios are different? Learn how to easily resize and reshape images in Photoshop to match any frame size you need!
Learn how to quickly remove pimples and other minor skin blemishes with the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop. For Photoshop CS5 and earlier.
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)!
In this first tutorial on resizing images in Photoshop CC (Creative Cloud), we take a quick tour of the features and improvements in the newly redesigned Image Size dialog box!
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)!
Learn how the Straighten Tool and the Crop Tool in Adobe Camera Raw 8 work seamlessly together to both crop and straighten your photos at once!
In the previous tutorial in our Adobe Camera Raw 8 series, we learned the basics of cropping images using the Crop Tool. In this related tutorial, learn how the Crop Tool can be used to easily rotate and straighten an image.
Learn how to easily crop your photos non-destructively, and to any aspect ratio you need, using the Crop Tool in Adobe Camera Raw 8!
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!
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!
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.
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!
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!
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!
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.