20 Photoshop Video Tutorials To Make You An

Expert
TECHNOLOGY (/TECHNOLOGY) BY ALEKSANDAR ILIC (/ARTICLES/AUTHOR/RAZORNIS2GMAIL­COM) | 236 SHARES

It could well be that we are moving towards a time when lack of any applicable
Photoshop skills is going to be as strange as illiteracy. If you can’t give your photos
some color and remove the tourists from the background of the photographs you
took on your vacation across Europe, people of the future are going to wonder why
would you leave them in such a shabby state! These days, most photographs we lay


our eyes on have gone through some sort of photo processing and in most cases, it
is Photoshop.  (/)

Let’s switch back to the present. These days, if you have skills with Photoshop a lot
of work opportunities can come your way. Buying the program isn’t too expensive
and you can find a lot of useful tutorials online that can help you go from amateur
to pro in a reasonably short amount of time. This may require quite a bit of digging
around the Web and filtering the good tutorials from the bad ones – precisely why
we decided to help you out! The versatility of PS as a tool means that its uses can
be quite diverse, so we are going to attempt to create a list in which everyone can
find a couple of useful things.

1. The Photoshop Playbook

Okay, let’s start with the fundamentals, shall we? There’s no better place to go to
than straight back to the source for this kind of information. In 2013, Adobe
started a video tutorial series which has since then grown into a 50 video playlist
dealing with the most commonly asked questions.

2. Ambient occlusion (natural lighting)

The most common thing both professionals and amateurs complain about when it
comes to photoshopped photos is natural lighting. If you want to learn how to do
it right without having to rely on rendering that can take hours, this video tutorial
created by Alex Hogrefe is right up your alley.
created by Alex Hogrefe is right up your alley.

3. Skin retouching

If your ambition is to work with models and get into fashion, you will have to
“brush up” on your skin retouching skills. After all, there is only so much that
makeup can hide and you don’t want to throw away great photographs over a
couple of smudges.

4. Blending multiple photos

Blending photos that have absolutely nothing to do with each other can be quite
frustrating – but it can be done. This tutorial will help you blend images and create
perfect banners, ads or whatever else you might need.

5. Keeping things in order

In some cases when working in Photoshop, people can be their own worst enemies.
By not properly managing files, layers, masks and so on, you can land in quite a bit
of chaos and a lot of extra work to boot. If you are having workflow troubles, Non-
Destructive Workflow 101 is the tutorial for you.

6. Summer photography
As most freelance Photoshop experts would know, a lot of the work that you need
to cover is seasonal and seasonally themed. Being that summer is on its way, it
wouldn’t hurt to get familiar with the ways to retouch a photograph into dreamy
summer perfection.

7. Tilt-shift 啐lter
Ever since the CS6 version of Photoshop, the Tilt-shift filter has been available for
use, simulating a complex shooting technique. This filter works best for simulating
miniature villages, towns, cities and is not very hard to learn.

8. Hard light effect

We all love the menacing clouds that movie poster skies have. It gives them that
epic atmosphere you can hardly see in real life – but you can recreate it by using
Photoshop! This quick tutorial will help you utilize hard light effects to get it right.

9. The dodge & burn

A big majority of effects, filters and techniques available in Photoshop are based
on the ones used by photographers, but with less hustle. If you really want to draw
out the beauty of your photograph, then you might benefit from the basic
principles of the dodge and burn technique.

10. Lights and emotion

Shipyard Post Production
from Pixelflakes   PLUS
 26:46

It is quite incredible how emotion can be accented by simply playing with light
effects. In a tutorial video created by Pixel Flakes, you will find step-by-step
instructions about how to use light, texture, colors and atmosphere effects to
create unique emotional settings.

11. Black & white colorization

Whether it is a restoration order or a beautiful photo that the photographer regrets

snapping in B&W, this kind of work can be tricky. Still, it is not impossible and
this tutorial will help you get all the knowledge to handle these kinds of situations.

12. Architectural illustration

Photoshop is a tool often used by architects and it was only a matter of time until
tutorials specifically aimed at them started popping up over YouTube. Alex
Hogrefe is the creator of this tutorial channel, specifically created for architects.

13. FZDSchool style

When it comes to the artistic style, there are a few modern ones that can hold a
candle to the Singapore based FZDSchool style. If you are an art student or a
developed artist who finds this style impressive, then we present you with a
tutorial video by Feng Zhu, the founder of FZD.

14. Creating cinemagraphs

There are more than a few business and promotional uses for cinemagraphs and it
can be a nice, attention seeking detail when used in website design. The creation
process is not all that hard to manage if you have quality raw material.

15. Gradient maps

Gradient maps are probably some of the more basic things for people that attended
art school, but there are a lot of people out there that end up in this line of work
out of a hobby. This is why we decided to include a tutorial that tackles this
subject.

16. Digital watercolors

Watercolor paintings, when done by hand, in the real world, have a great look.
Still, for an amateur and even for a professional, it can be frustrating that a single
mistake can destroy all your hard work. This is why a lot of painters decide to go
for the digital variation of the technique.
for the digital variation of the technique.

17. Weight loss in PS

Okay, this is a subject that is reaching its boiling point on the Web with lots of
examples of photoshopped bodies setting impossible standards for young men and
women today. Still, if you do it properly and avoid turning your model into a thing
that barely resembles a human being, you are in the clear.

18. Hair style correction

You can’t always control all the aspects of a photoshoot and this is why we rely on
digital software and PS. Wind can be a problem when photographing models in the
outdoors due to the wild hair effect, which is not always desirable. Luckily, there is
a solution for this as well.

19. Age and distress

A very cool short video on how to take your brand new photos and make them look
aged and worn. It is just one of the videos done by Gavin Hoey who has an
incredible channel – you can find tons of useful videos there.

20. Clipping masks

If you want to adjust a single layer of your entire composition without affecting
the background, you will have to use clipping masks. This short tutorial video will
be all you need to get a firm grasp on how to use them and will be a significant
addition to your PS skill set.

The best thing about Photoshop is that each and every one of its numerous
features have been covered in tutorial videos across the Web. If you are not sure
about how to do something specific, you can always search for a tutorial video and
chances are that someone has attempted this before you. If not, you can always ask
people on forums for help and advice. We hope this list helps you out and that
your inspiration and creativity never dries out.

Featured photo credit: Abstract summer/Martín De Pasquale via behance.net

(https://www.behance.net/martindepasquale)

Love this article? Share it with your friends on Facebook

You may also like

10 Life Changing Life Hacks You Can Try Right Now
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10­life­changing­life­hacks­you­can­
try­right­now.html)

How You Can Learn to Code Right Now for Free
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/how­you­can­learn­code­right­
now­for­free.html)

This List of 50 Low­cost Hobbies Will Excite You
(http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/this­list­50­low­cost­hobbies­will­
excite­you­2.html)

Now You Can Save Articles To Your Collection To Read

Later for Free!

Register Now (/user/register?src=ad)