Useful Tips and Tools for Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop at first looks like quite a complex tool however once learning the basics and practise it can be quite the opposite. Photoshop is a raster based programme created for photo editing and manipulating. It does this by making use of individual pixels in order to make the compound of an image. Each individual pixel can be edited making it the world’s best programme for photo manipulation. Unlike Illustrator, Photoshop is not used for making logos and nitrated drawings.

Magnetic Lasso Tool

When it comes to photo editing, the magnetic lasso tool is an easy selection tool which helps trace and outlines certain parts of an image which you wish to edit. This amazing tool detects the outline or the border of the image and works best when you have a contrast between the image and its background. The better the contrast the more well-defined edges that your image will produce. This will be used over other tools such as the magic wand tool when the image is more intricate.

Magic wand tool

The magic wand tool is another selection tool which is ideal for selecting a background of an image which all consists of the same consistency of colour. For example, the colour of a clear blue sky would be a good example of something that would be all the same colour. The main purpose of this is to either get rid of a background or change the colours and tone. This, when the image is right, is the quickest in all the selection tools to manipulate the background.

FX Tool

This can be a very useful tool for anyone starting out in Photoshop. It allows you to put effects om images of text which could add something to a design. It allows you to change colours, add drop shadows and makes use of bevel and emboss which can create depth to a design. This tool is best learnt through a trial and error technique, picking a choosing what looks best on a certain design. Overall it’s a simple and easy way to give your images a bit of pizazz.

Dodge and Blur Tool

These two tools can be very good for the fine little details within an image. The dodge tools main usage is to lighten pixels wherever it is used. The blur tool is pretty self – explanatory and that its main usage is to blur certain parts of an image. Again with the dodge tool, this will be used on small parts of the image where certain areas need tweaking.

Adjustment tool

This tool can help a lot of designers create stunning and eye-catching images. This tool will apply effects to an image making small adjustments by adding layers on top of the existing image. For example, hue/saturation can be adjusted through a slider provided in Photoshop. The use of layers allows us to take certain layers out without getting rid of all the effects already used.

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