In this post, I've pieced together 12 excellent Photoshop tutorials
geared toward beginners. If you're a complete novice or a casual user of
this software, you've stopped by the right place.
Because this is specifically for beginners — and because Photoshop's
robust set of features is near-bottomless — I've skipped intermediate
and advanced topics such as drawing with the Pen tool and working with
3D effects.
If you have tips for aspiring Photoshoppers, share them in the comments below.
1. Getting Started with Photoshop
This
tutorial on SitePoint, a popular site for web professionals, will guide
you through the Photoshop fundamentals and the basic tools available at
your disposal. It's an excellent jump-off point that will give you an
understanding of what you're up against.
The
tutorial starts with a bird's-eye view of Photoshop's workspace to get
the reader familiarized with the lay of the land. Then it goes on to
cover essential concepts such as saving files (and the various popular
formats for the web), an introduction to shortcuts that all
Photoshoppers should know, how to choose colors, and much more.
2. Photoshop's Toolbox
If you're just starting out with Photoshop, you will no doubt be
spending plenty of your time using the Tools panel, which contains
various tools for working with type, painting, drawing, moving objects,
and so forth.
In this Photoshop tutorial, you will get a beginner's overview of
the various tools contained within the Tools panel. From the selection
tools to the retouching tools, you'll learn all about them and their
uses.
3. Photoshop For Beginners: The Power of Layers
The
most important concept you should understand about Photoshop is its
layering system. Layers allow you to stack different objects and images
to keep your work separated, ordered, and easily editable.
This
guide will walk you through the utility of layers using a hands-on,
step-by-step approach (so fire up Photoshop and get ready to get your
hands dirty before diving in).
4. Photoshop's Filters
In
photography, filters are camera accessories that you place on your lens
to capture photos that will have fascinating effects. This concept is
digitally incorporated into Photoshop and is a convenient way of editing
your images quickly. Filters can be functional (such as the Sharpen
filters to help you correct blurry photos) or stylistic (such as the
Texture filters that give your images unique texture effects).
By reading through this tutorial, you will uncover the power of filters in Photoshop.
5. Layer Styles in Photoshop
Layer
styles are one or more effects that alter a layer. For example, if you
wanted to make a layer semitransparent or if you wanted to give your
text one of those slick "Web 2.0" gradient effects, you can do so by
applying and adjusting layer styles.
Adding
layer styles, using layer style presets that come with Photoshop, what
the various layer effects do, and more are covered in this tutorial.
6. Photoshop 101 – Adjustment Layers
Adjustment
layers are Photoshop layers that affect all other layers beneath them
(unless you use an adjustment layer as a clipping mask — but that's an
advanced topic for another day). It's typically used to enhance a
graphic, such as if you want to adjust the colors of an image (which you
can do with the Color Balance adjustment layer).
This crash course in adjustment layers shows you what you can do with them in Photoshop.
7. Retouch and Healing Tools
For
most casual Photoshop users, the most enticing and important utility is
the software's ability to correct, digitally enhance, and fix photos.
This
Photoshop tutorial covers the various tools and commands that you can
use to retouch and enhance your image, including a run-down of the Patch
tool, sharpening tools, and more.
8. A Comprehensive Introduction to the Type Tool
Whether
you want to add a text caption on a photograph, lay out a brochure's
copy, or create your typographical poster masterpiece, the tool that
will help you get the work accomplished is the humble, but powerful,
Type tool.
Creating
text layers, resizing and modifying text, and adjusting text
characteristics, such as tracking and line-height, are a few of the
topics covered in this tutorial.
9. Photoshop 101: How To Use The Free Transform Tool
The
Free Transform command is going to be your go-to tool for resizing,
rotating, and modifying your graphics. This Photoshop tutorial will show
you just how handy Free Transform is in your image editing workflow.
10. Master Photoshops Selection Tools in Under 30 Minutes
Maybe
you want to remove the background from a photo, or select just a
certain object in an image and use it in another Photoshop document.
Whatever the case, selecting things inside your canvas is a task you
should expect to do plenty of times in your 'shopping career.
Set
aside 30 minutes, follow this Photoshop tutorial, and you'll know all
there is to know about the assorted tools and techniques for selecting
areas in your work.
11. Installing And Managing Brushes And Other Presets
If
you'd like to speed up your workflow and extend Photoshop, it's best to
understand how to manage presets. This tutorial specifically covers
installing and managing Photoshop brushes, but will also get you started
into exploring various other presets such as patterns, custom shapes,
and so forth.
12. Photoshop Actions
Do
you find yourself repeating certain tasks in Photoshop over and over
again? Maybe you're constantly resizing your images manually to a
certain width and then saving them as a JPEG for use on your blog. Or
maybe you've unearthed the perfect combination and sequence of filters
and layer styles, and would like a way to automatically apply it to a
batch of images. Check out Photoshop actions, a feature that enables you
to record and save a sequence of actions.
In this 6-part tutorial, you will learn about the built-in Photoshop actions as well as how to record and save an action.
These
12 tutorials will have you on your way to Photoshop mastery. If you've
had success with other tutorials not on this list, let us know about
them in the comments below.
