Photoshop Image Adjustments vs Adjustment Layers
Still using Photoshop’s image adjustments? Here’s why adjustment layers are a better way to edit your photos.
Help your photos and your subjects look their very best with our easy-to-follow, step-by-step Photoshop photo editing and retouching tutorials! Use our Quick Links to jump to popular topics, or scroll through our complete list of Photo Editing and Retouching tutorials.
Still using Photoshop’s image adjustments? Here’s why adjustment layers are a better way to edit your photos.
Change your subject’s appearance using Photoshop’s Smart Portrait filter. Add facial expressions, make them look young or old, adjust hair thickness and more!
Learn how easy it is to change the color of an object in Photoshop, including the fastest way to select an object and two simple ways to change colors!
Learn where to find Photoshop’s hidden color grading presets and how to use them to instantly add great looking color effects to your images!
Learn how the Colorize filter in Photoshop 2022 can auto-color black and white images, and how to add your own colors with a single click!
Give your photos a more cinematic look by learning how to color grade images in Photoshop using gradient maps!
Learn all the reasons why adjustment layers in Photoshop are a better and more flexible way to edit your images than Photoshop’s standard image adjustments.
Learn how Photoshop’s Smart Sharpen filter lets you sharpen images like the pros, and why Smart Sharpen is the better choice over Unsharp Mask.
Learn how to sharpen images with the easiest and most oddly-named sharpening filter in Photoshop, Unsharp Mask!
Learn how to sharpen images fast with Photoshop’s High Pass filter, and how to find the best sharpening settings for your image!
Learn how to quickly add a smile to your subject, or to improve an existing smile, with Photoshop and its easy-to-use Liquify filter!
Get more from the Photo Filter by learning how to sample filter colors directly from your images!
Learn how to boost contrast and bring your images to life using simple blend modes and adjustment layers in Photoshop!
Learn how to remove acne and skin blemishes in Photoshop! This step-by-step guide shows you how to use the Spot Healing Brush to quickly clear up pimples and remove minor blemishes, leaving healthy looking skin in its place!
Learn how to change eye color in Photoshop using a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer! Whether you know which eye color you need or you just want to play around and experiment, Photoshop makes changing eye color easy, fast and fun!
Teeth looking yellow and dull in your photos? Learn step by step how to whiten teeth and brighten smiles with Photoshop!
Learn how to improve your portraits by giving your subject beautifully smooth skin with Photoshop!
Learn how focus stacking in Photoshop can bring your entire scene or subject into sharp focus by blending the depth of field from multiple images!
Too many different colors in a photo can distract the viewer and lessen the impact of your image. Learn how to easily unify colors to fit a mood or theme with Photoshop!
In the previous tutorial, we learned a quick way to brighten underexposed images. This time, learn how the same basic technique can instantly darken an overexposed photo!
Need to brighten dark, underexposed images quickly and without a lot of hassle? Learn how adjustment layers and blend modes in Photoshop can do the job instantly!
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 blend mode and a brush!
Our complete guide to transforming your color photos into stunning black and white images using a Black & White adjustment layer in Photoshop.
Learn all about the Healing Brush in Photoshop and how to use it to reduce the appearance of dark and distracting wrinkles.
Learn how to easily change the color of objects in your photos using the Color Replacement Tool in Photoshop! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC!
Learn all about the Background Eraser Tool in Photoshop, including how it works and how it can easily remove unwanted background areas in your photos! Now fully updated for Photoshop CS6 and CC!
Learn how to reshape a person’s eyes, nose, mouth and more with Face-Aware Liquify in Photoshop CC. Every feature, fully explained! Plastic surgery has never been easier!
In this second of two tutorials, learn how Smart Objects and Smart Filters in Photoshop can help us create the same soft glow effect as in the previous tutorial, but this time, keeping the effect fully editable from start to finish!
In this first of two tutorials, learn how to easily enhance your photos with a soft glow effect that softens skin, boosts contrast and makes colors more vibrant!
Learn how Photoshop’s improved Auto button makes correcting the tonal range of your photos using a Levels image adjustment easier than ever!
Take your first step into the world of professional-level image correction by learning how to easily improve the tonal range of an image, boosting contrast and restoring detail, using a Levels image adjustment in Photoshop!
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!
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!
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!
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 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!
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!
Learn how to quickly remove pimples and other minor skin blemishes with the Spot Healing Brush in Photoshop. For Photoshop CS5 and earlier.
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!
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!