Learn an awesome new trick on how to Dehaze your photo with way better results. The Dehaze adjustment in the Camera Raw Filter helps reduce haze and restore the contrast in your photo but a lot of times, it doesn’t look that great. In this tutorial, I’ll show how you can trick Photoshop into giving you better results with the Dehaze adjustment.
Read MoreLearn what Photoshop’s Smart Objects are and why you should use them. In simple terms, Smart Objects are the evolution of a layer. Unlike a normal dumb layer, you can resize Smart Objects up and down as many times as you like and they won’t lose any image quality. Smart Objects can have layers inside of them – so they’re essentially a Photoshop document inside your Photoshop document. You also can apply filters to Smart Objects and they’ll will turn to Smart Filters which lets you go back and edit the settings at any time. There’s a lot of benefits to using Smart Objects and if you’re not using it, well you’re definitely not getting your money’s worth. So if you want to make the most out of Photoshop, then keep watching and you’ll learn 5 ways to improve your workflow with Smart Objects.
Read MoreAffinity Photo is a great alternative to Photoshop but it was only available on Macs. It’s finally available on Windows and I’ll be testing out the public beta. I spent the entire day playing around with Affinity Photo and today, you and I will be exploring the features, comparing the pros and cons between Photoshop, and finding out if it’s worth the switch from Photoshop to Affinity Photo. So if you’re interested, keep watching and let’s find out more this Photoshop competitor.
Read MoreHave you ever wondered why the font size is always so inconsistent in Photoshop? Sometimes you type in some text and then you set the font size to 12 pt or points. But it’s not even close to being 12 points and the text so tiny that you can barely read it. Other times, 12 points is gigantic. So why isn’t a 12 point text in Photoshop the same size as a 12 point text would be in other software like Microsoft Word? In this Photoshop tutorial, I’ll explain to you why that’s happening and how you can fix it.
Read MoreDid you know that Photoshop has a lot of photographic toning presets made for you already? Adobe hired a photographer to create 39 gradient map presets specifically for photographs. And just a note, you need to have either Photoshop CS6 or Photoshop CC to find these.
Read MoreIn this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn one of the most popular retouching technique that can be used in landscape photography, portrait photography, architecture and more. It’s called dodging and burning. With this technique you selectively choose which areas of your photos should be brighter or darker. When used correctly, you can completely transform your photos. Photographers use this technique to give their landscape photos the dramatic look. You can even use it to contour a person’s face simply by changing the lighting. There’s a lot more you can do with this technique and in this tutorial, you’ll learn how to dodge and burn nondestructively and you’ll also learn how to combine it with another technique called luminosity masking for even better results. So if you’re interested, keep reading to find out how it’s done.
Read MoreThis week I spent the entire time making some really cool Photoshop actions based on my favorite camera. This here is the Yashica EZ F521. It’s cheap, plasticy, and only 5 megapixels. But the photos that come out of this are really nice. Unlike most other digital lomography cameras which are really just cheap cameras rebranded as something stylish and retro, the Yashica has a nice color characteristic that’s similar to film. I like it so much that I wanted to buy a second one as a backup. But it’s no longer being produced and I can’t find it anyone selling it for a reasonable price. So as a personal project, I created a set of Photoshop actions to emulate everything from this camera; from the film-like color characteristics, to all of the in-camera effects, and even the sharpness and noise pattern. I spent so much time making these Photoshop actions to get them to look at authentic as possible. And I wasn’t even sure if this was something that people wanted, but I figured I might as well make it into a proper product that other people can use and if people like it, they like it. If not at least it’s something that I’ll still use.
Read MoreLuminosity masking – one of my favorite Photoshop techniques. Luminosity masking lets you make a layer visible according to the brightness value of your photo. For example, you can brighten your photo and then apply luminosity masking so that it doesn’t overexpose the areas that are already bright to begin with. You can also apply color grading effects to different tonal areas. You can do HDR tone mapping with it and a lot more. Luminosity masking is one of the oldest and most useful retouching techniques. I’ve been teaching this since the beginning of my first Photoshop website which was over 12 years ago and I’ve seen others teaching it even earlier – over 15 years ago. But despite it being old, it’s still being used today in pretty much the same way. In this Photoshop tutorial you’ll learn the 2 of the most useful and common methods for luminosity masking. So if you’re ready, let’s get started.
Read MoreToday I want to teach you a retouching technique that not a lot of people pay attention to. I’ll be teaching you how to enhance the eyes by enlarging the pupils in Photoshop. The pupil size can apparently make your subject more appealing. In some places like Korea and Japan, it’s quite common to find people buying fake contacts that make their pupils look bigger. There was also a study a long time ago where they showed two sets of photo. They both are the same except that one had the pupils dilated. People prefer the photo with the dilated pupils… and when they’re asked why, they can’t explain it. There are a lot of ways to retouch portraits. Enlarging the pupils is just one of them. But sometimes the smallest part of your photo will have the biggest impact. So if you’re interested, read this Photoshop tutorial and I’ll show you how to dilate the pupils.
Read MoreColor grading your photos in Photoshop using the curves and hue/saturation adjustments is doable but sometimes it’s hard to see what’s happening. So I made for you a reference chart that you can import into your photos and it will let you see exactly how your adjustment layers are affecting the tones and colors in your photo. The reference charts are intended for people who already have some experience color grading their photos. It’s not really made for beginners… and I’m not going to be going into too much details about how to use the tone curve. So if this is something that might interest you, keep reading and you’ll see how it works.
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