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Photo Editing and Retouching Tutorials

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!

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.

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!

An Easy Way To Find Neutral Gray In A Photo With Photoshop

When color correcting photos in Photoshop, it’s pretty easy to find the brightest and darkest areas in the image. But what about those midtones? Is there an easy way to find neutral gray without simply guessing? There sure is, and it’s one of Photoshop’s often overlooked blend modes that makes all the ‘difference’!

Straighten And Crop Images In Photoshop CS5

It took a long time, but with Photoshop CS5, Adobe has finally made straightening crooked images simple, fast and intuitive! In fact, as we learn in this tutorial, Photoshop CS5’s new Straighten feature now lets us straighten and crop images with a single click!

Photoshop CS5 New Features – Content Aware Healing

In this first look at one of the brand new features in Photoshop CS5, we check out the upgraded Spot Healing Brush with its new Content Aware Healing option and how an already great photo retouching tool just got a whole lot better!

Reducing Noise In Images With Photoshop

Whenever we shoot in low light, use high ISO settings or leave the dSLR at home because the compact camera is easier to carry, we often end up with noise in our images. Fortunately, Photoshop’s Reduce Noise filter can reduce its appearance without sacrificing image detail!

Photoshop Color Replacement Tool Tutorial

Photoshop’s Color Replacement Tool makes it easy to change the color of an object in an image without a lot of fuss or hassle. In this tutorial, we look at how it works (and why it sometimes doesn’t), the options that control how it works, and why learning about the Color Replacement Tool may seem like déjà vu!

Photoshop Background Eraser Tool

Learn all about the Background Eraser Tool in Photoshop and how to use it to easily remove unwanted background areas in your photos!

Photoshop Black and White Conversions – Channel Mixer

Learn how to mix the RGB (Red, Green and Blue) color channels together using a Channel Mixer adjustment to create custom black and white images! Part seven in our complete series of Photoshop black and white conversions tutorials.

Photoshop Black and White Conversions – Color Channels Tutorial

This is the sixth tutorial in our series on Photoshop black and white conversions. In this tutorial, learn how we can select an individual color channel from the Channels palette to use as the black and white version of our image, then how to quickly improve the tone and contrast of the image with a simple Levels adjustment!

Photoshop Black and White Conversions – Gradient Map Tutorial

In this third in our series of black and white conversions in Photoshop, learn how to quickly convert a color photo to black and white in Photoshop using a Gradient Map, which replaces the original colors in the image with black, white and all the shades of gray in between!

Converting Color Photos To Black And White In Photoshop

In this series of tutorials, learn the many ways of converting color photos to black and white in Photoshop. With few exceptions, the tools and techniques we cover here have been around in Photoshop for years and are available to anyone using any recent (and even not-so-recent) version of Photoshop!

Dual View Photo Editing In Photoshop

If it’s true that two heads are better than one, it’s also true that two views of the same image are better than one, especially when it comes to photo editing. Learn how to keep a constant eye on your overall image in Photoshop no matter how far you’ve zoomed in with this dual view editing technique!

Perspective Correction In Photoshop – Repairing Keystoning

Tired of the buildings in your photos looking like they’re leaning backwards? That’s a common perspective problem known as keystoning, but Photoshop’s powerful Lens Correction filter, first introduced in Photoshop CS2, makes it easy to fix! We can even take care of a few other potential image problems along the way, all with the same filter!

New And Improved Curves In Photoshop CS3

The Curves image adjustment is widely considered to be the most powerful and versatile photo editing tool in the entire program. While the basics of Curves may not have changed in Photoshop CS3, the Curves dialog box has received a major upgrade with new features and some welcome improvements!

Comparing The Levels And Curves Adjustments In Photoshop

Photoshop’s Curves adjustment can seem less like an image editing tool and more like something from a science lab, but in this tutorial, we compare it with the Levels adjustment to see just how simple Curves really is, and why Curves goes far beyond anything you could hope for with Levels!