A few years back when I was new to the world of designing, I didn’t know what Photoshop was. As soon as I engaged this wondrous software in my world, it really became the most important thing for my career. For me, Photoshop was no less than an addiction. As soon as I got my hands into it, I used to spend countless days and nights studying the new features and creating cool designs. It also became something that use to comfort me when I am over-thinking.
Anyways, I am sure you have your own Photoshop stories to share. Photoshop is so many things but a considerable amount of people use it for image editing. It is not only for the professionals but people with the urge to settle no less than just the perfect with their images can also use this software and make their pictures better than natural.
You could be a blogger or have an e-commerce store, Photoshop is like oxygen to your professional endeavors. The skills in Photoshop come with time and practice. If you don’t give up regardless of all the disastrous designs that you have created, you will eventually learn the skills. For someone who is planning to get engaged with Photoshop, I would like to list some basic tools that have helped me in my learning journey. I am very sure that these tools will be equally helpful and resourceful for you.
Dodge Tool–
Dodge tool is one of most used tools in the Photoshop. You will find yourself revisiting this tool over and over again. It is ideal when you have to brighten a certain area in the image which is underexposed. To use this tool, all you have to do is to select it from the panel and rub it over the area where brightness is needed. It is essential for you to keep a check on its usage. You don’t want to overdo it. If you end up overdoing the dodge effect, it will surely start appearing faux and will hamper the entire image.
Don’t be afraid of using it while you are practicing and note down the kind of effect it creates when the exposure is high or less. This will help you in building right future for you in Photoshop if you will keep each and every detail noted.
Spot Healing-
Spot healing is best used to cure beauty product photography. The main feature of this tool is to make the unwanted spots and marks disappear from an image. This is one of such tools that I use a lot for personal pictures and professionally. As you see the beauty magazines, the models that are featured on these magazines have spotless skin. What do you think, all the models are that beautiful that they don’t have even a single mark or spot on their face or body? Well, there is no such thing.
Sometimes the makeup goes wrong or you might have to cover the spots on your face, spot healing tool is ideal for that. It is a simple and handy tool. After you select the appropriate option from the panel, you just have to carefully click on the spots and within few seconds, all the marks will disappear.
Noise Reduction-
Not all the users are very fond of using the noise reduction tool. Even with me, as much as I use the other tools, this one comes in lesser usage. It mostly comes to use when you end up having a grainy image. I am a lazy person and when I sit for work, I like taking it in bulk and getting done with it as early as I can. That is why most of the times when I am in hurry or want the work to be over soon, I simply edit the pictures in Camera Raw as they are instant and smooth.
This tool comes to use when I am working with a grainy image. For the makeup product images as well, this tool is quite essential as it smoothens the surface to make the models look prettier. If there are little flaws in the picture then this doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with the photography. To make the pictures look incredibly perfect, a little editing is always needed. In order to use this feature, you have to go to filters then camera raw filter and then details.
Sharpen-
For perfect pictures, it is essential to sharpening them before you save them. Well, I wouldn’t say that all pictures will need sharpening but trust me, the sharpened pictures look more expressive than the images that are not sharpened and you will find yourself using this tool way too much.
In order to sharpen the pictures, you first need to resize them. The process cannot work vice-versa. To sharpen the images in Photoshop, you have to go the image size and resize the picture according to your needs or adjust the size. It depends on the requirement of where you will be using the image.
Once you are done resizing the picture, you need to go to the filters > sharpen > unsharp mask. The threshold has to be left “O” and next you need to adjust the radius. It is recommended to not to go too high. If you set the radius too high then you will end up making your image look dull and off. You are almost at the end of the process as you just have to adjust the sharpness after you are done setting up the radius.
So guys, these are the tools that I personally use a lot while using Photoshop. They have also helped me in excelling my skills in Photoshop. For my blogs and for all other purposes, I keep these tools handy. You could be a professional or a newbie in the designing world and these tools will take you a long way towards success.
Have fun playing with these tools and always remember, never be afraid of trying new things.
Hi, This is Geetika Bhasin. I am a professional content writer with years of experience in researching, improvising and supplying content to my far-fetched clientele. I am fond of writing articles and stories and when I am not doing so, I will be reading or driving.
