“Photoshop is an art and you can do a lot with it. Change the atmosphere through different lighting and make the pictures look more interesting”

Crystal Renn

It’s been 28 years since the Photoshop was introduced to our lives. Way back, this complicated weapon was used by graphic designers only. Now, anyone with computer access and the right guide can master this editing program easily. 

I started using Photoshop when I was in 9th grade. It was introduced to me by my father. Since then, during my past time, I watch photoshop tutorials on Youtube or read some blogs teaching some techniques. This photo editing tool helped me in various ways. I have tried designing a shirt for our class and school, posters for election and events, invitation cars, newspaper, etc. Having knowledge in Adobe programs is a must-have nowadays, so let me help you begin your journey.

I’ll start from the basic tools usually used in Photoshop. If you want to learn more techniques, subscribe and wait for more updates.

Note: The shortcuts for in this article are applicable for PC users only.

How Transform a Picture

Resize it, rotate it, flip it, distort it!

Click Edit > Transform > and select the the action you want to do

To make it quicker and easier, you can use these shortcuts:

Press Ctrl + T on your keyboard. A bounding box will now appear around your image, a sign that it’s ready for transformation. You can now resize your image. Tip: Hold the shift key while dragging the corners so that the proportion of your picture will stay the same. Then press Enter when you’re done.

To flip your image vertically or horizontally, again, press Ctrl + T and then right click your mouse. A selection of actions will now appear containing the options for rotating and flipping the image. You can now select the action you desire then press Enter when you’re done.

Using this method, you can also skew, distort, warp or change the perspective of an image. Try it for yourself! 🙂

Choose the Unit of Measurement

Changing or choosing the units of measurements of your images is also possible, press Ctrl + R to show or hide the rulers in your grid then place the cursor on the ruler and right click on it. You can now choose a new unit from the context menu. You can find varietyof units there such as pixels, centimeters, millimeters, points, picas, etc.

The Magnetic Lasso Tool

The Lasso tool, a very helpful tool in photo editing is used to 
trace and outline the exact part of an image that you’re looking to edit. Afterwards, you can now separate it from the original image and perform certain actions. This works best when you have a bold contrast between the object and its background with well-defined edges.

To access the Magnetic Lasso:

1. Right click on the Lasso tool until a fly-out menu appears
2. When the fly-out menu appears, choose the last one with a small magnet on it’s icon
3. Select the icon then go back to your image layer
4. Click your mouse once, release and just go over the edges of the object you want to select. Imagine you’re using a scissor and you’re cutting something.

The Magic Wand!!!

Oftenly used to change or tweak the backgrounds of an image. It is ideal to use with a monotone and consistent background.

How to use it:

Choose the Magic Wand tool from the tools panel (the one that looks like a magician’s wand) then click on the part of the image you want to modify. Make sure that the “add to selection” is the one clicked on the options on the top bar so that you can go and switch up the colors and tones of the selected area. ^_^

How to Add Shapes

You can easily add shapes and design elements such as square, line, circle, ellipse etc. using the Custom Shape tool. You can easily find it in the tool panel, represented by an icon that kind of looks like a blob or a puzzle piece.

More shapes are accessed by clicking on the small arrow on the right side of the panel. You can find boarders, banners, speech bubbles, arrows and more. See for yourself 😀

Adjustment Layers

If you are finding a way to apply color or tone alterations to an image, while keeping the original photo in tact, the Adjustment Layer tool is the one for you. This feature adds an extra layer so that you can quickly reverse your changes. You can locate Adjustment Layers in the bottom of the the Layers Panel, the one with a black and white circle icon. It is useful to those who wants to improve the color, brightness, contrast and vibrance of their raw pictures.

Layer Styles

Layer Styles are special effects that can be quickly applied to individual layers of your image. All you have to do is double click on a layer and then choose the effect you like.

You can select from a whole variety of features, add a stroke or a glow, drop a shadow, and much more with just a click of the mouse. However we must be cautious on using it because if we overdo these effects, your image might have a tendency to look cheap or jejemon.

The Famous “Healing Brush”

The most famous tool of Photoshop. It was made to remove life’s little imperfections such as pimples, scars or blemishes. If you want to remove that annoying pimple, this is the tool for you! All you have to do is place the brush over the area, make sure the brush is a bit bigger than the blemish
(you can use the square brackets to adjust your brush size) then click. Voila! Pimple gone! How does it work? Well Photoshop automatically matches the color of the area to it’s surroundings to achieve natural look.

“Don’t practice until you get it right.

Practice until you can’t get it wrong”

Anonymous