Photoshop Tutorials



FIRST, A FEW BASIC TIPS FOR THE NEWCOMERS TO PHOTOSHOP, FOLLOWED BY TUTORIALS FOR THE MORE EXPERIENCED USER.

The first and most important tip that I can give you when you are learning to manipulate an image in Photoshop is :

Learn how to produce a straight image that is sharp, has a good tonal range and is free from colour casts. Only when you can produce a good quality image should you experiment with the Photoshop filters.
All too often newcomers to Digital Imaging go straight for the filters in Photoshop and mainly produce Whacky and Tacky images.
There is nothing wrong in trying out the filters to find out what they will do but don't fall into the trap of thinking that they will make a poor image good.
When you can produce a good quality print and you want to experiment with filters you should you look at the image and decide if the filter effect will enhance the image or degrade it.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIALS

The following Photoshop tutorials contained on this page are in PDF Format and will require ADOBE ACROBAT READER software to be installed on your computer.  

Click on the PDF icon at the side of the Tutorial to view it.

When the PDF Tutorial file has loaded
Click to print
Click to save


PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 1 ( 3.8MB )
This tutorial will show you how to find the lightest and darkest parts of your image and how to set them as the white point and the black point. This technique is useful for correcting colour casts in an image and also for extending the tonal range in a low contrast image.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 2 ( 59.9KB)
This tutorial will show you how to paint filter effects on to an image.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 3 ( 1.97MB )
Give your flat looking images that extra bit of punch by modifying the BLACK channel in CMYK. 

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 4 (733KB)
AN IMPROVED METHOD OF DODGING AND BURNING
Dodging and burning should make an image lighter or darker
In this tutorial I show that the dodge and burn tools don't do this, they actually make the image whiter or blacker.
I will then show you how to dodge and burn to make the image lighter or darker, which is the way it should be done.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 5 (4.21MB) IMPROVED VERSION
AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD OF SHARPENING
This method of sharpening is done using the HIGH PASS FILTER and doesn't give the obvious haloes that unsharp mask does.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 6 (2.81MB)
HOW TO STRAIGHTEN HORIZONS
We have all taken images where the horizon is tilted.
This tutorial shows you how to correct them with ease.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 7 (4.55MB)
HOW TO CONVERT COLOUR IMAGES TO B&W AND HOW TO TONE THEM.
This tutorial will show you how to convert your colour images to Black & White using CMYK Channel mixer.
This method will give you more control of the contrast of your image.
This tutorial will also show you how to tone your Black & White images.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 8 (3.26MB)
HOW TO BLUR THE BLACK TONES.
This tutorial will show you how to simulate the Darkroom technique of Enlarger Diffision, by selectively blurring the black tones in your image.
This technique can be used to enhance your Infra-Red images.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 9 (3.32MB)
HOW TO CONVERT COLOUR IMAGES TO B&W AND HOW TO CHANGE THE TONAL RANGE.
This tutorial will show you how to convert your colour images to Black & White using RGB Channel mixer and then to modify the tones within the image.
This method will give you control over the whole tonal range of your image.


PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 10 (2.65MB)
HOW TO TONE A BLACK & WHITE IMAGE CREATED FROM FULL COLOUR IMAGE.
This tutorial will show you how you can quickly tone a B&W image that has been created from a colour image.
An Adjustment layer is used for this so that you can re-visit the image and change the toning any time you wish.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL 11 (5.01MB)
HOW TO SPLIT-TONE A BLACK & WHITE IMAGE CREATED FROM FULL COLOUR IMAGE.
This tutorial will show you how you can split-tone a B&W image that has been created from a colour image.
Two Adjustment layers are used for this so that you can re-visit the image and change the split-toning any time you wish.



PHOTOSHOP ARTICLE 1 (Printable )
A COMPARISON OF METHODS USED TO CONVERT COLOUR IMAGES TO B&W.
This tutorial will show you some of the different methods that are used to convert colour images to Black & White and shows the advantages and disadvantages of each method.


PHOTOSHOP ARTICLE 2 (Printable )
A LIST OF PHOTOSHOP CS KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
(For PC only)
Work more productively in Photoshop by using these time-saving keyboard shortcuts.



 

Top of Page