Photoshop Can Be Easy to Learn - Start Today

If you are a beginner at digital photography and want to learn how to manipulate your images, I recommend you learn Photoshop. Now, there are plenty of inexpensive Photoshop clone programs available for download, but that’s not what you should be learning. If you are serious about digital photography on any level, you should be learning Photoshop.

It is the industry standard and one of the most powerful image editing applications known to the industry. Aside from just editing digital photos, Photoshop can be used to create logos, design affiliate websites, design eBook covers, design CD covers, convert photos into paintings and much much more. If you are not sure about spending $800 on Photoshop, keep reading this article, you might change your mind.

Back in December of 1982, Adobe Systems Inc. was founded, but probably had no idea of how quickly Photoshop would become such a popular application. Finally in 1989 when Adobe Photoshop was launched on the Macintosh, the beginning of a whole new generation of photography was born. Photoshop has come a long way since version 1.0, and is still being developed and improved every year. It seems that when Photoshop has reached it’s perfection, yet another version is released.

Some of the world’s best photographers and digital artists use Photoshop for every master piece they create. Some artists have used Photoshop to make a living, creating stunning pieces of art and selling them for thousands of dollars. Now, you don’t have to be an artistic genius to make money with Photoshop. The good news is, you can use Photoshop for some of the most basic digital edits and still generate money. It’s just a matter of being creative. If you are a Photographer like me, it is essential to use Photoshop.

Without Photoshop, you’d never be able to fix an imperfect smile, or correct bad lighting, or swap out heads in a photo. (my favorite thing). Seriously, you can do that! Once I was shooting some infant photos and I had shot several dozen photos of infant twins. I could never get both of them to look perfect at the same moment, so I just got their best expressions from all the photos I shot and then merged them into one photo to make the perfect shot.

Adobe has drastically improved the features and usability in Photoshop over the years, but for a complete beginner, it can seem overwhelming. So how do you learn Photoshop? Well, there are dozens of ways to tackle the application, but there is only one way to truly learn anything. Patience and time are the two key elements. Unfortunately, there is no magic method to learning Photoshop, so it will take time. You can’t just plug information into your brain, it’s not that simple.

To really learn Photoshop, you need a step-by-step video course that will help you every step of the way. Similar to learning in a classroom environment, you’ll need an instructor to walk you through the most essential features. Without knowing the most essential features, it’s like walking through the dessert with no water and no shelter. You will be lost and completely hopeless. After some time, you will probably give up and quit. Photoshop is not hard to learn, but you will need instruction and video seems to be the method of choice when it comes to learning Photoshop.

The main thing to realize is that you CAN learn Photoshop It is not so difficult once you learn the basics. Without the basics, you’ll be searching the internet for ever trying to find the perfect tutorial. YouTube and the video sharing sites are loaded with Photoshop tutorials. Yes, I agree, there are some fabulous tutorials out there, but they are just tidbits of information.

You can watch tutorials all day long and learn small bits of Photoshop, but you’ll still be frustrated at the end of the day because you still don’t know where half of the tools and functions are. Doing tutorials are great for experienced users or others who just want to freshen up their skills. To become a Photoshop Master, you must first learn the basics; such as the menus, tools, layer styles, layer adjustments, filters, adobe bridge and more. Without the basic understanding, you’ll only continue to get frustrated. Once you learn everything you need to know about the basics, then you can start watching more free video tutorials. This will help you expand your ability to apply amazing effects and begin to compete with the Pros.

As mentioned previously Digital Photography Pros use Photoshop, as well as many other programs, but Photoshop is always the program of choice. If you want to make money with your photos, design beautiful websites and graphics, or create stunning artwork, Photoshop should be your #1 program of choice.

With patience and good step-by-step instruction, you will learn the application quickly. If you are interested in learning Photoshop, we recommend you start with a Photoshop CS3 Tutorial.

Photoshop Tools Explained

Move tool: Only one tool allows you to move items in the document window, and this is it. It allows you to move several items, including guides, objects and shapes in shape layers,and text objects.

Shape Selection tools: These tools allow you to quickly select areas of the document. Using rectangle, ellipse, row, and column shapes.

Lasso Selection tools: These tools allow you to quickly select areas of the document by using the mouse to draw a lasso around them.

Quick Selection tools: These tools can intelligently select areas of the document by detecting areas that are similar to those selected by the mouse.

Crop and Slice tools: The Crop tool lets you select an area of the document to keep and remove the area around it.The Slice tools are used for creating clickable hot areas for Web images

Eye Dropper/Ruler/Note/Count tools: This tool set is a catchall. The Eyedropper tool is used to select foreground colors directly from pixels in the image.. The Ruler tool is used to measure areas in an image. The Note tool allows you to add notes to an image that help you retain things such as to-do editing lists with the image. The Count tool allows you to count and log items in the image, which can be useful if you are working with medical images.

Healing tools: The Healing tools provide quick ways to apply brush strokes that can heal areas of an image, from removing dust and scratches to removing red eye.

Brush tools: The Brush tools allow you to apply painting techniques to repair, enhance, and create images

Stamp tools: The Clone Stamp tool allows you to select an area of the image and then stamp or brush that area into other parts of the image or even other documents. The Pattern Stamp tool allows you to apply a style pattern to an image using brush strokes.

Eraser tools: The Eraser tools allow you to quickly remove pixel data from an image.

History Brush tools: The History Brush tools are used to repair and enhance areas of an image by painting data from previous editing states of the image. For example, you could change the image to grayscale and then use brush strokes to add color to specific areas.

Blur/Sharpen/Smudge tools: The Blur and Sharpen tools allow you to use brush strokes to blur or sharpen specific areas of an image. The Smudge tool allows you to use brush strokes to smudge existing pixels into each other.

Gradient/Paint Bucket tools: The Gradient tool allows you to paint a gradient pattern onto an image. The Paint Bucket tool allows you to apply a paint color to sections of an image.

Dodge/Burn/Sponge tools: The Dodge and Burn tools allow you to use brush strokes to lighten or darken areas of an image. The Sponge tool allows you to use brush strokes to remove or add color saturation in areas of an image.

Path Creation tools: The Path Creation tools allow you to create vector paths by creating lines between anchor points.

Path Selection tools: The Path Selection tools allow you to select and manipulate vector paths by adjusting the anchor points.

Text tools: The Text tools allow you to add textual elements to images.

Shape tools: With the Shape tools, you can easily create and manipulate simple geometric vector shapes and lines as well as custom vector shapes.

3D Object tools: These tools allow you to create and manipulate 3D objects.

3D Camera tools: These tools let you to manipulate camera views when working with 3D elements Hand/Rotate View tools: Using the Hand tool, you can grab onto the image and pan by dragging the mouse. This is available only when you are zoomed in on the image, but it’s very useful for navigating around your image. The Rotate View tool allows you to rotate the canvas in the document window by dragging with the mouse. If you hold down the Shift key while rotating the canvas, the rotation occurs in 15-degree increments. Rotating the canvas can be useful if you need to align elements in the image with the vertical or horizontal axis of the display screen for editing.

Zoom tool: The Zoom tool allows you to use the mouse to drag a specific rectangle to zoom in on the image. You also can zoom in at 100 percent increments by simply clicking the document with the mouse. You can zoom out at 100 percent increments by holding down the Shift key while clicking the document. The options menu for the Zoom tool provides several buttons to resize the document view based on actual pixels, print size, and screen size.

If you have OpenGL Drawing enabled then you can use the Scrubby Zoom option in the Zoom tool options menu. When you enable Scrubby Zoom, then you can click and drag the mouse to the left and right on the image to zoom in and out.

Background/Foreground: The background/foreground area of the Toolbox allows you to see and modify the current background and foreground colors. The foreground color is used by several tools to paint onto the image. The background color is used by several tools when removing pixels from the image. Pressing D on the keyboard resets the foeground and background colors to Black and White, respectively.

Edit in Quick Mask mode: This toggles between Normal and Quick Mask mode. The Edit in Quick Mask mode option allows you to tweak selections using the brush tool to paint the exact shape.

The Truth About Scraper Pro Gold Lead Generation Software

Scraper Pro basic and Scraper Pro Gold is premiere lead generation software designed to get sales leads from the internet. There are two basic ways the software locates these leads. It can run a search for the information it is seeking by any keyword that is submitted. So, when looking for those who are interested in “weight loss” for example, this keyword can be inserted and the search begins. In a very short time it reveals hundreds of names, addresses, URLs, emails, fax and telephone numbers. Scraper Pro could also use a URL such as (an Example URL but are not allowed) to find leads as well. For URLs to work well they normally need to have a login name and password submitted, to get to the information, in the desired database.

The intention of the software is to locate and find the information readily available on the internet now. The information is obtained from some of these reputable locations: Google.com Yahoo.com Bing.com AltaVista.com

The software never hacks or steals the information obtained. It scraps the information already available on the internet.

There are many other locations available for search with the premium version, Scraper Pro Gold. It is very fast and easy to use. When information is received from Scraper Pro, it can be saved in an Excel.csv file format, to use as required. There are various filter settings available to use for drilling down to the exact nature of the search. The software is very easy to use and quick.

The leads that are generated can be kept permanently. Leads can be generated as often as required; there is no limit on the amount that can be created.

The price is very attractive, since it is a onetime amount of $197 for the basic level Scraper Pro and $297 for the Gold version. There is never a monthly charge. Updates are free as they become available. The real value in the software is the unlimited usage and the frequency of usage. There is also an affiliate program available to resale the product which is very lucrative.

Should I Upgrade to Adobe Photoshop CS4?

For the best in graphic ability and versatility,  Photoshop  cannot be beat.  Photoshop  provides a lot more non-destructive methods of functioning compared to all the other image editors, and Adobe is constantly introducing enhancements to aid work being carried out quicker with much less stress.

 Photoshop  CS4 provides much more interface features and, as expected, a number of new productive functions. Overall efficiency received great deal of consideration in this edition, and for the very first time,  Photoshop  can capitalize on your computer’s graphics chip, permitting smoother display drawing, enhanced zooming, plus a new canvas rotation device.

The new Adjustments and layer masks Sections lead customers to much better, non-destructive methods of functioning, whilst producing changes simpler and a lot more accessible for customers who’re currently comfortable with them. The older burn and dodge methods are also recreated in  Photoshop  CS4. These methods now run significantly more intelegent, protecting the sculpt of the picture you’re modifying. An extraordinary new function in  Photoshop  CS4 certainly is the content aware scaling, which could discover detailed locations of a picture and leave individuals places un-tampered with when scaling pictures up and down or various proportions. Adobe Bridge, the data browser incorporated with all Creative Suite software, is really an adequate and adult application today.

Even though the price of  Photoshop  might be beyond reach for a few, the expenditure can pay off through elevated efficiency and optimum versatility. College students and teachers can consider educational pricing to get the price lower. The modifications from  Photoshop  CS3 to CS4 are absolutely evolutionary. People who work when using the program each day will certainly discover an advantage to upgrading.

Enlarging Photos - Four Steps to a Sharp, Detailed Image

In every photographers life there comes a time when you must enlarge your images. I know that with the newer ten plus megapixel cameras that are being sold today they product fairly large images when shot at the highest RAW or JPG settings. But, now I see more and more opportunities to enlarge my images to 20″ by 30″ and beyond. It seems that a lot of photo customers want larger images to display in the homes and offices.

I shoot my photos with a 15 megapixel Canon Digital Rebel T1i. It creates a file that is 13.2″ by 19.8″ (3168 x 4752 pixels). Complicating the matter further is the onslaught of camera phones. I own an Apple iPhone 3G which has a 2 megapixel camera. My friend has an iPhone 3GS with an upgraded camera to an earth shattering 3 megapixels. Now I find that I have to enlarge cell phone pictures for me and my friend before I can think about manipulating them in Photoshop or any other image editor.

Photoshop has some fairly sophisticated image enlarging functions built in. I have been using their bicubic algorithm for several years and was reasonable happy with the results, unless I got too greedy and tried to enlarge more than 200%

The enlarging process in Photoshop CS4

Step 1 Open your image in Photoshop CS4 >Choose Image > Image Size

Step 2 In Pixel Dimensions, change the Width or Height to the size you want, or In Document Size change the Width, Height, and/or Resolution to the size you want,

Step 3 In the Image Size Dialog box Check the following boxes: Scale Styles, Constrain Proportions, Resample Image; In the pull down box at the bottom choose from one of the following:Nearest Neighbor (preserve hard edges), Bilinear, Bicubic (best for smooth gradients), Bicubic Smoother (best for enlargement), or Bicubic Sharper (best for reduction)

Step 4 Press OK

The image will be transformed into a larger one, while keeping the same proportions. If you have enlarged less than 200% you will find very acceptable quality. Zoom in to the image to about 300% and you will start seeing the raw pixels (look at the edges for clues to problems). The most important options in enlarging in Photoshop is the Bicubic options and I always choose Bicubic Smoother, as noted, for enlargements. This means Photoshop uses bicubic interpolation (a mystical math algorithm that is way beyond my understanding) to produce smooth tonal gradations in the process of adding pixels.

Now, what would happen if you have to take that 2 megapixel picture you created on your iPhone, and needed to blow it up for an 8″ by 10″ photo? It will be a fairly low quality when done in Photoshop. You will need to look for another option. There are several companies that make image enlargement software.

One of those is Genuine Fractals, version 6. This is a program is part of the Plug-In Suite family from OnOne Software. Vincent Versace, an Award Winning Photographer has said “Genuine Fractals 6 was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos.” Like Versace, I have been using Genuine Fractals since version 5.

Genuine Fractals can increase the image size of a photograph over 1,000% without the loss of sharpness or detail. It uses a patented, fractal based interpolation algorithm to perform the magic inside the computer. I am going to describe the use of the Genuine Fractals plug-in for Photoshop CS4, but you can also install it as a plug-in for Lightroom and Aperture.

Using Genuine Fractals

Step 1 Open an image in Photoshop.

Step 2 Edit your image for all parts except sharpening. You will want to sharpen after you enlarge the photo.

Step 3 Choose File > Automate > Genuine Fractals Professional 6.0 Edition.This loads the Fractals window. From the right hand panel I usually choose a preset (it is “none” by default).a. Presets include the following media types: SQUARE, for sizes like 8″ by 8″, 20″ by 20″, PHOTOGRAPHIC, for common photo sizes like 8″ by 10″, 11″ by 14″, 24″ by 30″ and more, PAPER for sizes common to laser and ink jet printers, 8 ½ by 11 Letter, 11″ by 17″ Tabloid, VIDEO, for common video windows like 640 by 480, 1024 by 768, CUSTOM to create your own beyond the over 60 built-in sizes.

After selecting a preset or custom a red mask will be placed over the image to show how your image will be cropped. After moving the crop window to where you want it (you may have uncheck the “lock Crop” box to be able to move the window around. If you uncheck the constrain proportions box you can create a brand new custom size. Once you have the crop where you want it there are several other option such as Texture Control, Sharpening, Film Grain, Tiling and Gallery wrap.

Step 4 Press Apply when satisfied with your selections.

The program displays a progress bar and when finished returns you to Photoshop. You can now perform your sharpening, if you did not do it in the Fractals box.

Photoshop and Genuine Fractals have good functions to enlarge your photos. Genuine Fractals can take the size much larger with less degradation of the image. Either solution will meet your needs in a marketplace that desires giant sized prints.

The Inevitability of Image Cut Outs in Photoshop

As you flip through the pages of a glossy magazine or surf through any website, the most important element holding you to the page is, undoubtedly, the photographs or images on that page. The importance of pictures or images as an integral part of any collateral cannot be undermined; rather photographs provide the much needed depth to convey any thought.

Cut out images are photos where the object has been cut out from its original background and placed onto a clean, white background or on any other background. The process of image cut outs in Photoshop is a tricky job, which if done professionally, makes the image look cleaner, highlighting all its finer points.

Why Image Cut-Outs?

It is rightly said that pictures speak louder than words. But if the pictures you see in any medium are poor in quality, the impact of the entire exercise will be lost. Hence it becomes imperative to edit and enhance the quality of each and every image which has to be published in any medium – whether print or digital.

No matter what image you are editing, you can be sure that almost every image will require an image to be removed from its background for providing some effect or the other. Although this can be done through many software programs but in most of the cases image cut outs in Photoshop provide the best quality and the needed impact.

Image Cut-outs for Businesses

In today’s times of e-commerce portals, putting your products in the best light is the most important task, because the buyer gets to know your product only by seeing its image. The more detailed and impressive is the picture, the more inclined will the buyer will be towards buying that product.

While looking at the majority of products featured in magazines and blogs you’ll usually find them as part of “trends” or “style” features. But as most of the photos are shot without giving much attention to the background, image cut outs in Photoshop is the most effective solution to get rid of the unwanted elements of the background, or to altogether change the background.

Some products, especially women’s apparel, jewelry and other accessories often look good and explicit without any background. The process of image cut outs in Photoshop is applied to such pictures to make them look exclusive and elegant, thus helping in increasing their appeal, and ultimately sales.

Although images of most of the products need to be edited, but not all products require cut-out images. Wallpaper, flooring, interior designs etc are often displayed best in lifestyle shots. Some photos might need cleaning of the picture or the background, but do not need an image cut out in Photoshop.

The surging demand of cleaner, expressive and catchy photographs in the fast growing digital media has rendered Image Cut Outs in Photoshop an inevitable process for enhancing the image quality for grabbing the attention of the viewer and making him/her stay to see the product for longer periods.

Top 10 Tips For Working With Layers In Photoshop Elements (PSE)

In my opinion, the absolute best feature of photo editing software like  Photoshop ,  Photoshop  Elements (PSE) and Paintshop Pro is the Layers Palette. Working with layers gives you so much flexibilty to try different elements on your layout design without accidentally ruining another area of it.

So for those who are just getting used to layers in their life, here’s Ten Top Tips to help you love your layers (note: this is PSE oriented but the principles are the same for all editing software, you just need to translate the appropriate function names and locations).

10 Top Tips for Working with Layers

1. Always make a copy of your original layer before modifying it. Then if you don’t like the way it’s turned out you can discard it and easily start again on another copy of the original.


2. To create a new empty layer, click on the New Layer icon at the top left of the layers palette. A new layer will appear immediately above the layer you currently have active.


3. To duplicate a layer, activate the layer by clicking on it in the layers palette and drag to the New Layer icon at the top left of the palette


4. View and hide your layers by clicking on the Eye icon beside the layer thumbnail in the layers pallet. This is handy if you’re trying to decide on the merits of different elements on your layout. You can just toggle their visibility and invisibility so you can easily compare the look of different options.


5. Use the Layers Styles and Effects palette (usually above the Layers Palette to apply different styles (eg drop shadow, bevel) or effects (eg. Photographic effects to convert your photo to sepia or to a coloured tint).


6. If you want to rotate a layer but not the entire image make sure you use the layers command section at the bottom of the Image>Rotate menu.


7. Group layers that go together (eg. photo, matt, frame and accent) consecutively in the layers palette (just click on the layers and drag them up and down). Then you can easily select all of them with the Shift key and link them together by clicking on the little chain link icon at the top of the layers palette. If you do this then you can change the position and size of all these elements together and maintain your proportions easily.


8. Keep each individual element on a separate layer. Each time you drag a new element into your layout PSE will automatically put it on a new layer. But if you create your own elements (eg. using the Select tool to make a journal box which you can fill with colour before adding your text) make sure you do so on a new layer. That means you can move them about the page and resize them without affecting other elements.


9. Try creating your own backgrounds by placing two different backgrounds on top of each other in the layers palette. Then with the top one active , click on the blending modes pop up menu (top left of the layers palette) and play with the different options in the menu. You can create some really cool effects this way. Don’t forget you can reduce the opacity as well to control how much of the top layer dominates the overall effect. I am enjoying playing with blending using photos over a background paper such as in my Independence layout.


10. If you’re going to adjust colour and/or contrast use an Adjustment Layer. Activate the layer you want toadjust (click on it in the layers palette), then click on the black and white circle icon next to the New layer icon at the top of the layers palette. Select the type of adjustment you want to make (eg. hue/saturation) then make your adjustment in the adjustment layer. This will take effect on the layer underneath. But the beaut part about doing your adjustments this way is that your adjustment settings are saved and you can easily change them even after you’ve saved and reloaded the file.

So you can see how powerful a tool the layers palette is. There are plenty more wonderful things you can do with your layers once you get started playing. I’m sure that many of you have your own particular favourite tips that I haven’t covered here. Please feel free to add your own favourite Layer tips in the comments section.

And lastly I’d like to talk about flattening layers. Frankly I’m not a big fan of this. I know it reduces the size of the file for storage but it also removes any flexibility to go back and change it later. A perfect example is the Always Best Friends layout that I submitted to Scrapbooking Memories. In a fit of madness I flattened the image before printing (don’t ask me why) and then saved the flattened image. All my beautiful layers were lost forever. Then when I wanted to offer the template that I had made as a freebie I had to recreate it from scratch because the original was buried in the layers of my layout and gone for ever (also breaking Rule No. 1). As everyone knows, there is nothing like consequences to make you learn a lesson.

So what I would suggest is before saving your file for the very last time, you do a bit of housekeeping and drag any layers that you really don’t need into the Trash Can at the top of the Layers Palette. These may be backgound layers and elements that you dragged into your layout to see how they would look and hidden using the Eye icon beside the layer or have placed under another layer so you can’t see them. Cleaning out these unwanted layers will reduce the size of your file for storage. Always save the file in its native format (eg. .PSD for PSE and  Photoshop ). Then you can reduce the size to 72dpi and save another copy for the web or email as a .JPG.

Then if you want to modify your layout at a later date all your lovely layers will be there waiting for you.