10 Awesome Photoshop Tips and Tricks

Photoshop is the Lamborghini of photo editing software. It’s an amazing tool that can help you do magical things to images using a variety of tools. It’s great for creative expression and also for touch ups and edits. It is a complex piece of software, however, and many users run into difficulty finding their way around the many different tools and functions. Here are ten quick tips and tricks that can help.

Install Free Instagram Filters

Ever want to make your photos look retro without using a mobile app? Click here to install a set of Photoshop actions that give you cool, Instagram-like filters for your photos!

Brighten Photos

If you have a photo that is a bit dark, open it up and press Shift+Control+N to make a new layer. Title it Light or whatever you wish, change the Mode to Overlay and check the box for “Fill with Overlay-neutral color 50% gray.” Then turn on the Dodge Tool and set the exposure to around 25% and then select highlights, midtones or shadows in order to influence the range of light on your picture. You can also use the Burn Tool to intensify shadows.

Batch Editing

If you have a bunch of photos to edit at once, make sure they are all in the same folder on your computer then open an image and record an action (Window > Actions). After creating an action, go to File > Automate > Batch then select the action that you just recorded. Click OK and Photoshop will open and play your action on all the images.

Get Rid of Shiny Skin

If you’re editing portraits, use the eyedropper to select a non-shiny area of the skin and then paint over the shiny areas with a normal brush set on 15% opacity. It will turn the shiny parts to matte.

Enhance the Color Palette

If you have a photo that’s a little dull in color, you can cross it with a masterpiece, like the Mona Lisa or a Hopper painting, in order to get a cool result! Just select Image>Adjustments>Match Color and then select the famous painting or photo you’ve chosen. Hit OK and see how it turns out!

Draw Straight Lines with the Paintbrush

Unless you have the steady stroke of a surgeon, it can be hard to draw straight lines across a photo. To do so, just hold down shift while using the brush and it will automatically straighten your line for you.

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