Adobe Learn - Learn Photoshop - Essentials for photo editing

Essential techniques for photo editing

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Introduction

Making a good photograph doesn't end in the camera.

There's a lot you can do to improve photo quality after you take a picture.

If you're a beginner photographer, focus on the basics of photo editing.

Like adjusting brightness and contrast, correcting color, straightening and cropping, and cleaning imperfections.

You can do all that with just some basic Photoshop skills.

Core photo editing goals for beginners

Here are some tools and techniques to explore as you get started with photo editing in Photoshop.

You'll need to know how to apply some simple adjustments,

Improving exposure and color with adjustments

like Brightness, Contrast to improve exposure and Hue, Saturation to correct colors.

When you do make adjustments, get in the habit of using adjustment layers rather than direct adjustments.

Adjustment layers are much more flexible.

They let you edit a photo non-destructively and change your mind about any edit.

Using selection tools for targeted edits

Explore Photoshop selection tools, so you can make changes to just part of a photo.

Our favorites are the Quick Selection Tool.

Select Subject and the Object Selection Tool, which do a lot of the selection work for you.

Get familiar with the special Select and Mask workspace in Photoshop too.

It's the place to go to fine-tune a selection.

If a photo is a bit crooked,

Straightening and recomposing with the crop tool

use the Crop Tool to straighten it out with a few clicks.

The Crop Tool is also useful for re-composing a photograph in Photoshop.

Cleaning up photos with retouching and content-aware tools

And check out the powerful retouching tools in Photoshop.

The Spot Healing Brush Tool is great for removing spots and other small imperfections.

And you'll be amazed at how Photoshop Content Aware commands can remove people and large objects from a photo.

Focus on these tools and techniques as you get started with Photoshop.

So, you can make your photos look their best.

Once you have these under your belt, you'll feel confident about trying even more photo editing techniques in Photoshop.

Have you been looking forward to improving your photos, but you’re not sure where to start? These photo editing essentials, from enhancing lighting and color to removing distracting content, will set you on the path to making great photos.