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For Photographers who are beginners in Photoshop.

As time goes by newer versions of software applications are coming out, loaded with new tools and new features that eases out our computing experience and Adobe Photoshop is one of them. For some, it may seem complicated and intimidating especially when you see lots of buttons and jargons that are somehow new to us.   So before discouraging and inadvertently turning ourselves into being “purists” let’s learn some of the essential tools that most photographers use in Photoshop.

Before getting ourselves familiar to the different tools, make sure that the workspace you are using in Photoshop is set to Photography.  To set the workspace, go to Window in the menu bar then Workspace, then choose Photography.

Listed are frequently used tools in Photoshop when doing image post processing.

Tools
Of course everything is organized in the Tools. Here you can see the different tools in Photoshop that you can use for your image processing.

Move Tool
The move tool moves a selection or an entire layer around on the canvas. You use the move tool either by dragging it using the mouse or by using the arrow keys in your keyboard.

See Demo:

Spot Healing Brush Tool
This tool cleans up unwanted marks in your image such as skin imperfections. This is somehow “automatic” cleaning tool as it samples pixels around the marks by itself.

See Demo:

Healing Brush Tool
Similar to Spot Healing Brush Tool, Healing Brush Tool allows you to sample pixels around the imperfection and blends to the rest of the image.

See Demo:

Patch Tool
Similar to the healing tools, Patch Tool allows you to create a selection of the area to be corrected. (ex. eye bags, wrinkles, group of pimpled skin)

See Demo:

Brush Tool
This is one of the most indispensable tools in Photoshop especially when you do post processing. It comes with a wide range of attributes and adjustments. Think of its function as the real-life brush the only difference is, you got the complete set in Photoshop.

See Demo:

Zoom Tool
This tool allows you to maximize or minimize your view of the image in parts or as a whole.

See Demo:

Filters
It is always essential to use filters for effects applied to your image. It can be a single filter or a combination of more than one. Different filters are listed in the Filter Menu of the Photoshop

Adjustments
Newer versions of Photoshop have a separate panel for adjustments. Here you can apply adjustments to your image in a non-destructive way keeping your photo’s data intact by way of creating a new layer when you use the different adjustments.

Blending modes
It is simply blending of layers together. Whatever blending mode you apply to your current layer you will see its effect together with the layer underneath it. Blending modes can be found in the Layers Panel. (see below)

Layers Panel
Layers panel organizes your layers and adjustment so for you to be able to see the workflow of your post processing and being able to do adjustments on each layer. Blending modes tool is also found in the layers panel.

That’s it! The next time you open Photoshop take note of these tools as you are going to use them more often when you do post processing. These are not the only tools that you will be using there will be lots of them, this is just to get you started and not be intimidated with the software. I suggest you explore other tools as well and try to see the different effects it makes to your image.

Thanks for reading. I hope you were able to get a thing or two especially if you’re a beginner in Photoshop. Don’t forget to share this to others as well. Hit the share buttons below. Muchas Gracias! Till next!