Photoshop Mastery: 25 Techniques Every Designer Must Know. One of the best things about Photoshop is that you never stop learning. I’ve been working with the software for about 12 years, and I always stumble across something I didn’t know, whether it be a new feature, or just a new, better way of doing something. There are countless tips and tricks to help boost your productivity and work flow some are obvious and easy to find while some you have to dig a little to seek them out. In this post I’m going to reveal 25 of the best advanced techniques to help you design faster and better within Adobe Photoshop. Keyboard Shortcuts for Layer Manipulation Note: These shortcuts refer to the “Cmd” key on a Mac keyboard. For PC users substitute the “Ctrl” key in it’s place. Create a new layer As your working in PS adding layers to your canvas is essential. New layer with dialog box: [ Cmd + Shift + N ] New layer without dialog box: [ Cmd + Shift + Alt + N ] Zoom in: [ Cmd + = ] Zoom out: [ Cmd + - ] Fit to window: [ Cmd + 0 ] To merge layers: [ Cmd + E ]
Mastering Photoshop: Noise, Textures, Gradients and Rounded Rectangles - Smashing Magazine. Advertisement Often, it’s the little details that turn a good layout into a great design; details such as subtle textures, shading and smooth shapes. Photoshop contains a vast array of tools for embellishing a design, but choosing the right one isn’t always easy. Being the obsessive-compulsives that we are, we’ve conducted a huge range of experiments to determine the benefits and disadvantages of each technique. Here, then, is an obsessive-compulsive’s guide to some frequently used tools and techniques for Web and UI design in Photoshop. Noise and Textures Subtle noise or texture on UI elements can look great, but what’s the best way to add it? Number of layers used: fewer is better.Ability to scale: if the document is resized, will the effect maintain its quality?
1. Using a high amount of noise, setting the layer blending mode to Luminosity and reducing the opacity will yield the most control over the noise with the least disturbance to the underlying layers. 2. 3. 4. Rounded Rectangles. The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web Designers. Compositing in Adobe Photoshop: Time-Saving Tips - Smashing Magazine. Advertisement Compositing is a skill and process that spans the entire spectrum of creative industries. At the high end, compositing boasts its own specialized profession in film and television post production and visual effects.
Dedicated software such as NUKE and Shake have taken the craft to powerful levels of its own, leaving behind the relatively basic compositing toolset of Adobe Photoshop. However, for many graphics practitioners compositing is a vital everyday process — and as with all pixel-pushing endeavors, Photoshop remains the entry point and hub to learning and ultimately mastering the fundamentals of this important skill. In this article, I’ll share some of my own time-saving tips for compositing in Photoshop. Tips such as these should never replace a solid understanding of your craft; however, being able to adapt a technique to make it work for you is part of being a creative professional. Tip 1: Matching Tones, Channel by Channel 2Masked images placed on background 1. 2. An Explanation of Photoshop Blend Modes. The definitions used here are from the Photoshop help files, with a few bits of added explanation where I saw fit to add them.
The Blend Modes specified in the options bar control how pixels in two separate layers interact with and effect each other. It’s helpful to think in terms of the following colors when visualizing a blending mode’s effect: The base color is the original color in the bottom layer.The blend color is the color being applied by the upper layer.The result color is the color resulting from the blend. I decided to use two different examples for this demonstration. The first gives you an example of a simple photo with a complex and colorful texture while the second gives you a complex photo with a simple texture.
Remember that to get better results you can also adjust the opacity of the upper layer. Download Texture | Download Image Download Texture | Download Image Basic Modes Normal Normal edits or paints each pixel to make it the result color. Dissolve Darken Modes Darken Hue. Photoshop Tutorials & Adobe Photoshop Plugins. 45 Amazing and Free Photoshop Actions. Advanced Photoshop Mag. 10 Quick Tips for Photoshop Users - Web Design Blog – DesignM.ag. Get the FlatPix UI Kit for only $7 - Learn More or Buy Now There are plenty of great Photoshop tutorials available online for graphic designers that are looking to learn new things.
However, working through detailed tutorials can take a long time, and sometimes newer Photoshop users aren’t able to follow the tutorials. In this post I’d like to highlight 10 quick tips that are ideal for less experienced Photoshop users, or for those who want to learn something new without much time available. Add Visual Texture in 3 Easy Steps Tutorial9 shows you how to quickly and easily improve an image or a design just by adding some texture.
Use the Grid in Photoshop Another tip from Tutorial9, this own shows how using Photoshop’s grid feature can improve your work. Rotating Brushes Getting more comfortable with brushes should be a priority for new Photoshop users. Button Mode Actions Jay from Bittbox shows an alternative for using keyboard shortcuts to work with Photoshop actions. Photoshop.