Top 10 Quick and Easy Photoshop Tricks Tips and Hints You’ll Actually Use
Adobe continually improves, upgrades and changes Photoshop and I’m no guru but I’m able to do a fair amount with Photoshop myself. My wife, the Photoshop Guru, can do things with Photoshop that continually blow me away. My wife uses the newest version of Photoshop at her job as a Digital Designer, but I’m still on Photoshop 7, so please bare with me if my tips are old or outdated.
I have tried here to compile 10 tips that will help you use Photoshop in ways you never thought of before or maybe just to use it more quickly to do the things you do now.
1- Edge Burn-in Technique
Try using the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and select the area slightly smaller than the outer edge of the image (50-100 pixels, your preference). Next you will invert your selection (Select-Inverse) and change the Curves to make the edge darker then hit OK. Now apply the Gaussian Blurr (click on Filter, Blur, Gaussian Blur) to the mask and set the Radius to about 100 pix, depending upon your preferences. To make this more custom use the Brush tool or the Opacity slider.
2- Make Image Midtones Pop
To avoid sharp shadows or highlights while bringing out the midtones try this technique. Make a duplicate of the Background layer and then choose Filter-Sharpen-Unsharp Mask, and then set the Amount, Radius and Threshold to 50/20/20 respectively. Now from the Layers palette menu select Blending Options and in the This Layer section move the Shadow slider to 70 and Highlight to 185. Now press Alt (Option) then move the sliders apart to move the Shadow to 0 and Highlight to 255, now click on OK.
3- Make Fancy Edges for Images With Filters
Open a copy of your image so you keep your original intact and double click on the Background layer in the Layers palette. Next click OK so that the later is a Layer 0, or ‘normal’ layer. Use the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and create a selection slightly smaller than the outer edge of the image same as in the edge burn-in technique above. Enter Quick Mask mode (Q) and click Filter-Filter Gallery and apply any filters you prefer and click OK. Exit Quick Mask mode (Q again) and then click the Add Layer Mask icon in the Layers palette to mask the image in the shape you created.
4- Quick Layer Tip
When you add a new layer it appears at the top of the Layers palette. To make your new layer below the active layer and not the background layer press Ctrl (Command) when you click the Create a New Layer icon!
5- Make Cropped Images Match
With both images already opened, start by clicking on the image that is the correct size. Now select the Crop tool (C) and click on the Front Image button in the Options bar and the Width, Height and Resolution properties in the Options Bar are filled in for the front image. Next drag the crop area in the 2nd image and hit Enter (Return) and your 2nd image becomes the same size as the 1st.
6- Take Control of Sliders
When you move your cursor over a numeric option in most Option or dialog boxes a slider bar appears. If you want more control over the slider, pressing Alt (Option) and dragging the cursor makes the values move 10 times more slowly and holding the Shift key makes them move 10 times faster!
7- Is Your Histogram Accurate?
Make sure that the Histogram is updated and not an older verion showing your previous edits. If a small triangle appears on the Histogram you can click on it and it will update your version to the current one.
8- Reapply the Last Filter
If you want to use the same filter again with the same settings hold down Alt (Option) as you select the filter and it will open with the last-used settings. You can also use the shortcut Shift-Alt-F (Shift-Option-F) to reapply the filter.
9- Easy Crop Tool
When Cropping (C) click and drag outside the bounding box and this will allow the crop box to rotate any way you like to change the angle of your image or get it nice and straight. Doubleclick anywhere inside the box to complete the crop. We use this all the time in our camera repair shop when taking pictures of parts to be placed on the website, works great!
10- Make Crisp-Edged Shapes
When using the rectangular Shape tool, click on the down arrow to the right of the shapes in the Options Bar and turn on Snap to Pixels checkbox!
I hope you are able to find one or two items that will help with your Photoshop use, and as soon as I can find time to take a break from my Canon digital camera repair I will have more tips for you.
