2022-10-01 Practical Photoshop

LEARN PHOTOSHOP CC & LIGHTROOM THE EASY WAY!

Issue 139 October 2022

HISTORY
IN THE MAKING

CREATE NEW ART FROM OLD PHOTOS WITH
CUTTING EDGE AI TOOLS

FILTER TRICKS | LANDSCAPE EFFECTS | PORTRAIT PROJECTS

Editor
James Paterson

Art Editor
Rosie Webber

Production Editor
Richard Hill

Content Director
Chris George

Senior Art Editor
Warren Brown

Welcome to issue 139 of Practical Photoshop! DOWNLOAD THE
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Even though it’s still in Beta mode, the Photo issue's files, type
Restoration Filter is a true marvel. This issue we the following link
show you how to use it, and all the other amazing
Neural Filters in Photoshop’s arsenal. From mixing into your web
landscapes to creating shallow focus effects, these browser on your
filters are the start of a Photoshop AI revolution.
PC or Mac:
James Paterson, Editor • [email protected]
https://bit.ly/pho_139
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HIGHLIGHTS: WHAT’S INSIDE…

NEURAL PHOTO MIX YOUR SHOESTRING LIGHTROOM

FILTERS RANKED RESTORATION LANDSCAPES STUDIO SKILLS

Q Best and worst Q Learn how to Q Get to grips with Q Shoot and Q Organise your
of Photoshop’s AI- install and use this the impressive edit professional photos with Smart
powered filters amazing tool landscape mixer portraits on a budget Collections

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

Create a new take on fine art with cutting-
edge, AI-powered Photoshop filters

Neural Filters have transformed the way many of us edit our photos, from
automated hand-coloring to AI-assisted upscaling. Over the next few pages
we’ll explore all the Neural Filters currently on offer, as well as those in the pipeline,
ranked in order from best to worst. (Bear in mind that some of these filters are still
in beta mode, so they’re not the finished article.) Intriguingly, the cutting-edge AI
technology in Photoshop is at its most impressive when used with very old images…

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01 THE PHOTO RESTORATION FILTER

Enhance old damaged prints and improve facial details

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3xF1BBX

Photo Restoration has to be the most impressive Neural Filter yet from Adobe.
It will automatically restore old photos by sharpening faces and it even rebuilds facial
features. What’s more, it can automatically detect and remove scratches. At the moment
it’s available in Photoshop Beta, which will need to be downloaded – but it’s worth it for
the jaw-dropping enhancements it can make to old photos.

REMOVE SCRATCHES

While the facial enhancements grab the
attention, the Photo Restoration Filter is
equally effective at removing scratches
and dust, and it’s perhaps this feature that
will prove most useful for retouching. After
initiating the filter, turn off the Enhance
Face box and enable Scratch Removal,
then use the slider to control the strength
(a high value tends to work better).

01 INSTALL
PHOTOSHOP BETA

At the time of writing, the
Photo Restoration Filter is
only available in Photoshop
Beta. Go to your Creative
Cloud App, click on the
Beta tab on the left, then
download Photoshop Beta.
Once it’s downloaded, open
the application, open your
vintage image, and go to
Filter > Neural Filters.

02 APPLY PHOTO
RESTORATION

Turn on Photo Restoration
(you’ll need to download
the filter if it’s your first
time). Once done, use
the sliders on the right to
fine-tune the strength of
the enhanced face effect,
or apply heavier scratch
removal. The results
can vary, so experiment
with the controls and try
different images.

03 TRY COLORIZE
Found alongside the
Photo Restoration Filter in
the Neural Filters dialog,
the Colorize Filter adds
a hand-colored effect to
old photos. Try turning it
on, then use the sliders to
fine-tune the colors. If you
want to change the colors
in an area, click on the small
preview of the image, then
choose a different color for
that area.

04 OUTPUT AND TIDY
When you’re happy
with the results, set Output
to New Layer and click
OK. You might need to
go on and tidy any rough
patches manually. Make a
new layer and paint with
the Spot Healing Brush,
set to Sample All Layers,
to get rid of any remaining
dust, scratches or small
imperfections.

05 PERFECT THE
COLORS

If you want to refine the
hand-colored look created
by the Colorize Filter, you
can manually paint colors
of your own. Make a new
layer and set the layer’s
Blending Mode to Color.
Grab the Brush Tool and
choose a color (or Alt-click
to sample a color from
the image) then paint
to recolor areas.

06 INCREASE THE
RESOLUTION

Old photos can be quite
low-resolution. If you want
to improve the resolution,
try the Super Zoom Neural
Filter (see tip 5). Press Cmd/
Ctrl+Shift+Alt+E to merge
a new layer. Go to Filter >
Neural Filters and turn on
Super Zoom. Set Output to
New Document, then click
the plus icon to intelligently
double the resolution.

02 THE COLORIZE FILTER

Add color to monochrome images with a couple of clicks

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3LvHvzG

BEFORE AFTER

Colorize was one of
the first Neural Filters
to truly bring home the
power of AI image editing.
Open any monochrome
image, turn on Colorize and
it will be colored. The filter
is adept at recognizing
different faces, objects and
scenery, then adding
suitable colors to each. It can
even detect skin tones and
ethnicity fairly accurately.
If the colors chosen aren’t
to your liking, click on the
preview and change the
color in areas of the frame.

03 THE LANDSCAPE MIXER

Automatically mix together elements from different landscapes

The Landscape Mixer AFTER WATCH THE VIDEO
takes elements from
other landscape photos are integral to the scene. https://bit.ly/3Uo2VCW
and mixes them in with With a few simple layer
yours. Here it results in a editing skills, however, it’s BEFORE
completely transformed fairly easy to take the best parts from the filter effect
scene: the filter has mixed and mix them in with
in a sunset mood from manual enhancements
another photo and added of your own.
a long-exposure look to
the sea to give the choppy
waters a misty quality.
Like most automated
AI tools, the results are
simultaneously impressive
and far from perfect. The
leap in technology here
is truly staggering. The
ability to automatically
recognise the different
parts of a photo and
splice another landscape
into the mix is genuinely
impressive, and something
that we wouldn’t have
dreamt of a few years ago.
But while you marvel
at the technology, you’re
also likely to notice plenty
of dodgy patches in the
image it’s created. Aside
from the image looking
very low-res and low-
quality, the Landscape
Mixer can also often have
an adverse effect on
important details. Here,
for example, it changes
the rock formations that

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2
1

1 2 3

LANDSCAPE MIXER CHOOSE A LANDSCAPE CUSTOM IMAGES

This AI-powered Neural Here, you’ll find 15 As an alternative to the
Filter splices elements from thumbnails of preset preset scenes supplied by
other landscapes into your landscape scenes. The Adobe, you can load your
own by adding textures like results can differ, so click own landscapes into the mix
through them to find one that using the Custom tab. This
snow, foliage or rocks to works for you. Here, we’ve means that you can splice
the surfaces in your original used the bottom-left preset, all sorts of scenes together.
photo. Open your landscape, which – as a similarly watery From the dropdown, either
go to Filter > Neural Filters scene – recognizes the choose from other open
sea in our original photo
and turn on Landscape and adds a long-exposure images in Photoshop or
Mixer (if it’s your first time effect. You can fine-tune search your computer for
using this filter, you’ll need the results of the filter with a≈different image. You can
to download it at this point). the Strength slider below drag a box over the preset
Landscape Mixer is in beta window to target specific
mode at the time of writing, the presets.
so it’s not the finished article. parts of the scene.

4

5
6

4 5 6

CHANGE THE MOOD PRESERVE AND HARMONIZE REWORK THE EFFECT

These mood-changing You can check Preserve Once you’re done, set
sliders can be used solo or in Subject to exclude the Output to New Layer and click
combination with the preset subject from the effect. This OK. The effect may still need
images. The Sunset slider is can be useful if your subject
the best, giving us an intense becomes overly ‘mixed’ along tidying. Here we selected
sunset color. The Night slider with the rest of the scene. the rock formation from
works well, too, while Day is It may leave the subject the original image with the
less impressive. The Seasons looking out of place, though, Object Selection Tool, copied
so try checking Harmonize to it to a new layer and blended
sliders are rather poor at balance the colors and tones. the rocks with the sunset
present. Spring tends to add This only works if the subject using the Harmonization
green edges; Summer a rough can be successfully detected. Filter. We’ve recovered the
Here, the rock formation is grass texture by copying the
yellow texture; Autumn is not detected, so we need original layer, changing the
like summer, but more brown, to fix it manually later. Blending Mode to Luminosity
and masking out the grass.
and Winter covers things
with snow.

04 THE SKIN SMOOTHING FILTER

Enhance skin with ease for natural-looking results

BEFORE AFTER

This command can automatically recognise people and faces in your photos, isolate
the skin and let you apply a softening effect. Spots, wrinkles and rough skin can all be
eradicated with ease. Crucially, the filter retains texture in the skin pores while smoothing
out the skin, which helps to keep the effect from looking too fake and unnatural.

01 START SMOOTHING
Toggle the switch to
enable the filter. If it’s your
first time, you may need to
download it. The command
will analyze the image and
recognize any faces within.
So if your photo has more
than one person, the tool
can differentiate between
each face and allow you
to make different edits
to each one.

02 ADJUST THE
STRENGTH

The Blur slider affects the
finer details of the skin
surface, so it’s good for
softening pimples and
spots; while Smoothness
has more of an impact on
uneven tones and patchy
skin. The Before/After icon
at the bottom can be useful
when judging the strength
of the sliders: toggle it to
assess your progress.

03 CHOOSE YOUR
OUTPUT

Once you’re happy, choose
between the output
options. Duplicate Layer
makes a copy of your
current layer and applies
the effect to it. Smart
Filter turns your layer into
a Smart Object, which
means you can re-enter the
settings by double-clicking
the Smart Filter name in the
Layers Panel.

05 THE SUPER ZOOM FILTER

Double your resolution with intelligent upscaling

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3dqHUa8

Super Zoom is a rather than a portion of it. image. You could try the
wonderful tool for The latter is perhaps more Super Resolution command
upscaling images if you want useful for most purposes, in Camera Raw/Lightroom
to give them a boost in as it lets you increase the (right-click and Enhance),
resolution. Simply go to Filter resolution of the whole which works on raw files.
> Neural Filters and turn on
Super Zoom. Click the Zoom
button to upscale the image
by 2x, 3x or more.
Your chosen Output is
important here. If it’s set to
New Layer, the command
will zoom in to a part of the
original image, as if cropping
in (you can drag the preview
to change the cropped area).
But if the Output is set to
New Document, the entire
image will be upscaled,

06 THE HARMONIZATION FILTER

Match colors between different parts of your composites

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3qPNrub

AFTER

Harmonization BEFORE
automatically matches
the color and feel of one
layer to match another. As
such it can be hugely useful
when you’re creating photo
composites, because if you
cut out and copy part of one
image into another then the
colors may not initially match
up. But by running the
cut-out layer through the
Harmonization Filter, you
may be able to come up
with more realistic results.
Here’s how it works…

01 MAKE A CUTOUT
Open the image of
your subject and go to
Select > Subject. Improve
the selection if necessary,
then click the Add Layer
Mask icon to convert the
selection to a Layer Mask,
thereby hiding everything
else. Grab the Move Tool
and drag the layer across to
the image you’d like to use
for the backdrop.

02 HARMONIZE
THE COLORS

Go to Filter > Neural Filters
and turn on Harmonization.
Select a target layer from
the dropdown on the
right, and the cut-out
will be colored in a similar
way to that layer. Use the
sliders below to fine-tune
the resulting colors. Here
it’s too bright, so we’ve
darkened the cut-out.
Once you’re happy, click OK.

03 TWEAK THE
BACKDROP

The background image
here looks a bit too sharp,
so we’ve used the Field
Blur Filter to soften it (go
to Filter > Blur Gallery >
Field Blur). This filter lets
us create transitional blur,
so we can make it stronger
in the distance. Click to add
two blur points, and use the
circular control to set the
strength of blur.

07 THE DEPTH BLUR FILTER

Get the shallow depth-of-field look in moments

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3QYSX8b

Depth Blur lets you scene. You can change the command can successfully
blur backgrounds and focus point if necessary by isolate the subject. For more
foregrounds as if using a unchecking Focus Subject precision, cut out the subject
shallow focus. Go to Filter > then clicking on a part of the manually, then add blur
Neural Filter and turn on preview image. The filter to the background and
Depth Blur, then adjust the can work very well, but it foreground with Photoshop’s
blur strength to suit your depends whether the array of blur filters.

BEFORE AFTER

08 THE STYLE TRANSFER FILTER

Style your image like the grand masters

Style Transfer is one style from a painting onto images with the Custom tab.
of the most intriguing our own images. There’s It’s worth playing with the
of the Neural Filters – even if a selection of famous sliders when you use Style
the results can often be a paintings to choose from Transfer, as you can get
muddled mess. The idea here inside the filter, and you can markedly different effects
is that we can transfer the load in your own photos or with a few basic tweaks.

BEFORE AFTER

09 JPEG ARTIFACTS REMOVAL

Detect and remove annoying artifacts in your photos

JPEG artifacts are blocky shapes caused by the compression that JPEGs go through
whenever they’re closed and opened. They’re more apparent when the JPEG quality is
set to Low, which is why you’ll often see artifacts in low-quality web images. This Neural Filter
can help to clear up artifacts. Simply go to Filter > Neural Filters, turn on JPEG Artifacts
Removal and experiment with the strength settings.

BEFORE AFTER

10 THE MAKEUP TRANSFER FILTER

Copy lipstick and eye shadow from one face to another

As the name suggests, Makeup Transfer lets you transfer makeup between portraits.
First open up the two images into Photoshop. Go to Filter > Neural Filters and turn on
Makeup Transfer, then target the other open image in the Reference Image settings. Results
can be hit and miss at this point in the filter’s development.

BEFORE AFTER

11 THE COLOR TRANSFER FILTER

Transport the color style of one photo into another

Color Transfer works by transferring the colors in one photo to another, so if you want
to give one image a certain look, open a target image then run the filter. Initially the
results can be rather too strong, but you can fine-tune things by adjusting the strength and
tweaking the color sliders. It’s best to output the effect as a separate layer, as this gives you
the option to lower the layer opacity or experiment with different Blending Modes.

BEFORE AFTER

12 THE SMART PORTRAIT FILTER

Add freakish smiles, change expressions, and age your subject

Smart Portrait lets you or younger. You can also from decent to downright
change the angle of change the lighting in your scary. Go to Filter > Neural
a head, alter an expression portraits by subtly shifting Filters and turn on Smart
to make someone look the direction of the light Portrait to get started. Low
surprised or angry, and from one side of the face to settings tend to give more
age your subjects older the other. Results can vary successful results.

BEFORE AFTER

WHAT’S NEXT FOR NEURAL FILTERS?

With advancements in AI and tools for machine-generated
images, which Neural Filters will we be seeing soon?

Adobe keeps its Reduction Neural Filter soon. MidJourney and Dall-E, which
updates under wraps, The most exciting filter on enable you to generate art
so we can only predict what the Wait List is Latent based on a line of text. We
Neural Filters it’ll come up Visions. This, as the used MidJourney here with
with next. However, there is description states, may be the prompt ‘half goat half
a Wait List tab in the filter able to “generate abstract tiger’ and this is what
that gives some indication artistic concepts based on we generated. It will be
of what to expect. So you text strings”. It sounds similar fascinating to see how
might be seeing a Portrait to astounding AI-powered Adobe will bring this kind of
Generator or Noise image generators like technology into Photoshop.

WATCH THE VIDEO

https://bit.ly/3Bx0tkW

PRO PORTRAITS FOR PEANUTS

Is it possible to build a home studio with a budget of just £75?

James Paterson takes a DIY approach to portraiture

With inflation and portraits on a shoestring and kitchen foil – to build
an unprecedented budget of £75. This was our DIY home studio.
fall in living standards to enough to buy two cheap
consider, spending money second-hand flashguns The key to studio
on photography kit or a trip and a green sheet for the lighting is in enlarging and
to a portrait studio just isn’t backdrop. A chroma key softening the light source
a priority at the moment sheet costs as little as so that it becomes gentle
for many of us. But you £5 on eBay, and we can and flattering. This usually
can create outstanding transform the green into requires light modifiers like
photos without incurring any color during editing. umbrellas and softboxes,
outstanding payments. which could break our
In this project we set We supplemented this budget by themselves.
ourselves a challenge: with a few everyday items So to save ourselves cash
to craft high-end studio – an garden waste bag, a yet still get high-quality
busted umbrella, bin liners lighting, we built our own

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3 5
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4

SHOESTRING STUDIO

Set up at home with a two-flashgun studio, and get ready to shoot

1 GARDEN BAG SOFTBOX 2 OLD UMBRELLA 3 GREEN SCREEN

Our key light here is a second- Our fill light here is a second- Green screens or chroma
hand Godox flashgun, bought hand Yongnuo flashgun key screens can be removed

for £30 on eBay. We’ve (costing £40 on eBay), fired or changed with ease in
crafted a softbox using an into an old umbrella covered Photoshop or Affinity Photo.
old garden waste bag, with in tin foil and bin liners. It’s
the front covered in a white Green is far from any skin
bin liner bag. There is no placed directly above the color, which makes it easy
TTL mode on this model of subject and set to 1/8 power to cut out or isolate from
flash, only manual power, to provide a gentle fill light. people. Any creases can be
a headache to sort out later,
but that’s all we need. As we couldn’t buy a light so keep the backdrop sheet
We set it to 1/4 power. stand within the budget, we
tied the light to the ceiling. as taut as possible.

4 EXPOSURE SETTINGS 5 FLASH TRIGGER 6 THE SUBJECT

Our camera is set to Manual We need a means of This is a great project to try
exposure mode, with a 1/200 triggering our two off-camera with kids. Colorful clothes,
toys and props can help to
sec shutter speed, an f/5.6 flashguns. A wireless flash add character to the shots,
aperture and ISO 100. This is trigger can cost as little as
a good starting exposure for £20, but if the budget won’t as well as keep the kids
studio portraiture – especially stretch to this, you can also interested. If you factor in the
in a small space – as the wide use your camera’s pop-up cost of a professional portrait
aperture will ensure there’s flash and set the flashguns to shoot, the savings from doing
a good amount of separation optical trigger mode, so they it yourself instead could run
fire upon detecting the flash.
with the backdrop. into hundreds of pounds.

CRAFT DIY SOFTBOXES AND UMBRELLAS

01 MAKE YOUR OWN
FLASHGUN HOLDER

To make the softbox, we
began by wrapping a small
piece of cardboard around the
end of the flashgun, leaving
an overhang. We taped it in
place, then cut down each
bend and spread out the
sides. Next, we took a larger
sheet of cardboard, made a
hole for our flashgun tube,
and taped it to the sheet.

02 PREPARE THE BAG
We used an old garden
waste bag as the basis for
our DIY softbox. We made
a slit in the bottom center
to feed our flashgun tube
through, then we fitted the
sheet of cardboard to the
base of the bag. For extra
reinforcement, we ran some
thick wire around the rim of
the bag to keep the structure
reasonably solid.

03 LINE WITH FOIL
We covered the slides
and base of the garden waste
bag in kitchen foil. Next, we
took some white polythene
(such as a roll of white pedal
bin liners) and cut a piece to
fit inside the bag. We taped
it halfway up to make a first
layer of diffusion, before a
second layer of polythene
was taped over the front to
complete our softbox.

CRAFT DIY SOFTBOXES AND UMBRELLAS

04 ATTACH A STAND
Making your own
attachments can be tricky.
We used the plastic stand
that came with the flashgun
we’d bought: this has a thread
in the bottom that can be
screwed onto a tripod plate.
We taped the stand to a
cardboard tube at the back
of the flashgun, so that we
could mount our DIY softbox
on a tripod.

05 COVER A BROLLY
Our parabolic umbrella
was made using an old
golfing brolly, tinfoil and
polythene bags. The inside
of the umbrella was covered
in kitchen foil to make it
reflective, and bin liners were
taped over the opening to
diffuse the light. The flashgun
was tied to the stem of the
umbrella, and angled upwards
to bounce off the foil.

06 HANG THE UMBRELLA
Even if it’s been made
from an old brolly like ours
has, a parabolic umbrella
offers a beautiful broad
illumination that is soft but
also direct. It’s the perfect
modifier to place over
the subject for top-down
illumination. Fired at a lower
power than the main light,
it fills in the shadows and
creates a gentle hair light.

BUILD YOUR LIGHTING

01 JUST THE FILL
A fill light on its
own should result in an
underexposed subject.
We began by leaving
our softbox off and only
firing the overhead umbrella.
With our exposure settings
locked in (Manual mode,
1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100),
we adjusted the flash power
until it resulted in a gentle
fill like this.

02 ONLY THE KEY
Next, we turned
off the fill light and turned
on the key light (our DIY
garden bag softbox) and
angled it towards the
subject’s face. We wanted
the key light to give us a
correctly exposed subject, so
we took shots and adjusted
the flash power accordingly
until it looked right, choosing
1/4 power here.

03 BOTH KEY AND FILL
Finally, we turned
on both of our flashguns
and fired them together, to
achieve a balanced blend
of key and fill lighting.
By building the lighting one
flash at a time in this way, you
can get a better idea of how
the light sources will work
in combination, and you will
ensure they harmonize with
one another.

CHANGE YOUR BACKGROUND

A green screen can change it to any color you for stitching several frames),
be transformed into like with a Hue/Saturation press Cmd/Ctrl+F for the Find
any color you like with a few layer. To completely remove Menu, then use the Remove
simple Photoshop skills. Just the backdrop (which is useful Background Quick Action.
make sure that there’s no
green in the subject (like the
green balls here) or this will
change color too.
If you like to use Camera
Raw or Lightroom, simply
head to the Color Mixer Panel,
grab the Hue Target Tool, and
drag over the background
to change the color.
In Photoshop, the most
effective tool for this job is the
Color Range command. Use
it to select the green, then

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get Lightroom Mobile via any
Photography Plan.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP MIX ADOBE SHAPE

FREE IPAD, ANDROID FREE
IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID
Mix enables you to merge two photos together
to create a composite image. It offers a simplified Adobe Shape enables
compositing process that makes it easy for beginners you to turn photos and
to start combining an object from one image with a background sketches into beautiful
from another. You can then send the composite to Photoshop vector shapes for use in your
for further edits. If you like, you can also use Mix to edit a single designs or artwork. The app
image. It offers a few simple tonal adjustments and more smooths out jagged edges in
complex edits such as Content-Aware Fill. images, resulting in gorgeous
vectors that are endlessly
ADOBE COLOR scalable, just as if you’d drawn
them by hand with the Pen tool.
FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Make a shape with the mobile
app and the next time you open
If you ever need help Photoshop on your desktop, the
selecting coordinated colors shape will sync to your Library.
for your designs, try using Drag it in to any document to
Adobe Color. It enables you to create add color and make further
color themes from photos taken on adjustments.
your mobile device. This could be
anything from a scene in your local ADOBE BRUSH
park to a famous painting. So if you
come across an inspirational scene, FREE
capture the colors and save them. IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID

Adobe Brush enables
you to make your
own custom brushes
from photos or sketches for
use in Photoshop, Illustrator
or the Sketch app. The most
successful subjects are usually
those that can be easily
isolated, such as a splash
against white, or a leaf against
the sky. You can capture objects
for your brush tips using your
device’s camera, choose from
your camera roll, or use your
Creative Cloud library. Once
captured, you can then fine-
tune the look of the tip and
apply brush settings.

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP SKETCH ADOBE COMP CC

FREE IPAD FREE IPAD

As the name suggests, this app enables you to paint If you’re a designer
freehand using a selection of brushes, colors and other who wants to build
tools. However, Sketch is more than just a painting a quick layout for a
app. It also enables you to connect with like-minded creatives, web or print page, then Comp is
so you can follow artists and see their work updating. Once the ideal place to start piecing
you’re done sketching the image on your iPad, you can upload ideas, images and text together.
to the Sketch community, or continue working on the image You can draw common design
in Photoshop CC. You can also bring in brushes made with elements such as text or image
Adobe Brush, and for those who can’t paint, there’s an option boxes with quick gestures. For
to overlay images so you can trace over a photo. Sketch is example, a couple of squiggly
compatible with Adobe’s pen and ruler hardware, Ink and lines with a dot makes a
Slide, but you can get great results with your finger. header, and a cross makes an
image box. It makes it easy to
PHOTOSHOP FIX mock up a layout in seconds.
You can then add words and
FREE IPAD graphics. The app even spits
out a Photoshop, Illustrator or
Fix is a retouching app InDesign document.
for altering portraits and
fixing marks or blemishes BEHANCE
in your photos. Intelligent facial CREATIVE PORTFOLIO
recognition locks onto eyes, lips
noses and chins, making it easy to FREE IPAD, IPHONE
tweak a smile, tuck in a jawline or
enlarge eyes, should you wish. Behance is the online
social space for
creatives to share
and showcase their portfolios,
connect with one another,
and find work. With work
from the best photographers,
digital artists and designers
out there, it’s also a great
place to find inspiration for
a new project. If you’re a
Creative Cloud subscriber you
can set up a Behance page in
minutes. The Behance app
for iOS devices enables you to
manage your page, while the
Creative Portfolio app provides
a polished portfolio.

Manage your photos from capture to output in three stages

The image-editing process begins as 1
soon as you’ve transferred your photos 2
from your memory card to your computer. 3
1 The first stage is to begin sifting
through your pictures to discover which are
the keepers. The image organizer that comes
with Photoshop is ideal for this task. Adobe
Bridge has controls for keywording, rating and
filtering your images, and there are handy tools
for batch renaming files, creating panoramic
stitches, making contact sheets and more.
Launch Adobe Bridge and navigate to a
folder containing new images. Use the cursor
keys to quickly flick through the images and
click below a thumbnail to add a star rating, or
use the keyboard shortcut Cmd/Ctrl+1-5. You
can then filter your photos by the star rating to
group the ones you want to work on.
2 The next step is to open the shots from
Bridge into Adobe Camera Raw. ACR is the best
place to make initial changes to your images
to boost tones and correct any problems with
exposure and so on. It doesn’t enable you
to combine images – you’ll use Photoshop
for that – but it does enable you to make
the kind of edits photographers need.
3 In Photoshop, you can further refine the
image with layers and adjustment layers, which
offer a much more flexible way of working than
ACR. Once you’ve finished, it’s time to share
it with an audience. Go to File>Save, and your
image will be saved as a Photoshop document
(PSD). This keeps all the layers intact, which
means you can go back and retweak the image
at a later date. However, PSD files are large
and can take up lots of hard drive space. If you
want to share your images online or via email or
social media, save them as JPEGs.

Discover how to process your raw files to perfection

The latest version of the raw file rather than in Photoshop, you’ll ensure the
processor included with Photoshop is so best possible image quality, because raw files
powerful that most photos can be processed contain more picture information than bitmap
entirely in the raw processor, with no need for images such as un-layered PSDs and JPEGs.
further editing in Photoshop. And by making Here’s our reference to the features you’ll
your adjustments in Adobe Camera Raw, use the most in the Basic panel.

THE BASIC SATURATION CONTRAST
PANEL IN ACR
Controls the overall color Makes light pixels brighter
TEMPERATURE intensity of the image and dark pixels darker

Use this slider to warm HIGHLIGHTS
or cool an image if the
White Balance tool fails Controls the brightness
to correct a color cast of the lightest pixels

TINT SHADOWS

This slider enables you to Controls the brightness
correct a green or magenta of the darkest pixels
cast, again, if the White
Balance tool fails WHITES

EXPOSURE Sets a point on the tonal
range at which pixels
Controls the overall should be pure white
brightness of the image
CLARITY
BLACKS
Controls the amount
Sets a point on the tonal of midtone contrast
range at which pixels
should be pure black VIBRANCE

Adjusts the intensity of
the less-saturated colors

The six most frequently used Photoshop layers for image
editing, and how to use them to improve almost any photo

Photoshop has many types of layers used may seem a little daunting for beginners,
and adjustment layers available, but but once you’ve got to grips with them, you’ll
there are six that you’ll find you need to use find they play a part in the creative process of
again and again. Learning how they should be almost every image you make.

01 LEVELSThis should be the first layer you add

to an image, because it fundamentally alters
the tonal range of the entire image. Create
a Levels Adjustment Layer, drag the Black
point slider inwards until it touches the left-
hand edge of the histogram, and drag the
White point slider inwards to the right-hand
edge. This remaps the tones of the image to
make more of the available tonal range.

02 CURVESCurvesisoneofthemostpowerful

adjustment layers. An S-shaped curve
brightens the highlights and darkens the
shadows, resulting in extra contrast. Create
a Curves Adjustment Layer and click the
middle of the diagonal line to add a central
control point. Drag down on the lower part
of the line and drag up on the upper part of
the line to improve image contrast.

03 HUE/SATURATION
This adjustment layer is best used
for altering the intensity and brightness
of individual color channels in an image –
greens and blues in landscapes, for instance.
Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer,
click the Master menu and choose the color
channel you’d like to adjust. Small changes
are usually the most effective.

04 HEALING LAYER AFTER BEFORE
Most photos contain unwanted
marks or blemishes. The Spot Healing Brush
tool is effective at removing these. The best
way to apply the healing is on a new blank
layer, so that you can easily tone down or
remove selected healing work later without
having to start from scratch because you
healed directly on the background layer.
To do this, create a new blank layer, choose
the Spot Healing Brush tool from the Tools
panel and tick Sample All Layers on the
Options bar, then continue as normal.

05 DODGE AND BURN
One of the best ways to enhance a
photo is by lightening or darkening selected
areas of the image. This can be done with
the Dodge and Burn tools, but rather than
use them directly on the image, a separate
grey layer gives you greater control. To
create a Dodge and Burn layer, hold down
Alt and click the Create a new layer icon in
the Layers panel. Give the layer a name,
then choose Mode: Overlay. Check Fill with
Overlay-neutral color and click OK. Now use
the Dodge and Burn tools (with Range set to
Midtones) to work on the new layer.

06 SELECTIVE SHARPENING
Once all other adjustments have
been made, you need to sharpen the image
for output. The traditional way is to create a
merged layer at the top of the stack, apply
Unsharp Mask, then paint on the mask to
remove the sharpening from those parts
of the image you want to remain soft.
However, the Sharpen tool enables more
control over the process by enabling you to
build up the effect by brushing repeatedly
with a low opacity brush. Create a new blank
layer, select the Sharpen tool, tick Sample All
Layers and set a Strength of 50% or lower.

14 keyboard shortcuts that will massively improve your
speed and efficiency while working in Photoshop

D X

Reset the foreground and background colors Switch the foreground and background
to black and white color swatches

ALT+[SCROLL WHEEL] [ OR ]

Zoom in or out of the image Resize the brush tip

CMD/CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+E SHIFT+[ OR ]

Create a merged copy of all the layers in the Cycle backwards or forwards through the
layer stack layer blend modes

SPACE BAR CMD/CTRL+Z

Temporarily switch the current tool to the Hand Undo the last change made to the document.
tool, for moving around the image while zoomed in Works multiple times

ALT+[EYE ICON] CMD/CTRL+[LAYER MASK]

Switch off the visibility of all other layers in the Load the currently active layer mask as
layer stack, for before-and-after comparisons a new selection

CMD/CTRL+I CMD/CTRL+T

Invert the color of a layer mask to black Activate the Free Transform tool

SHIFT+[LAYER MASK] CMD/CTRL+J

Disable the effects of a layer mask Duplicate the current layer

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