Photoshop is one of the most widely used tools for editing pictures. Beginners as well as professionals consider this software to be the best for enhancing an image. There are multiple things you can do to your photograph using Photoshop. Right from adding shadows, brightening a picture, changing the background or even removing blemishes, all can be done quite easily.
As an expert Photoshop retoucher it is your duty to make a photo look better. If you are new to this field, you are likely to get lost in the tool. With so many options available, it is possible that you might get confused with its tools. It certainly takes time to learn all the nuances of using Photoshop, but following are a few things you should be well-versed with.
Important tools in Photoshop for photo retouching and editing
- Eyedropper Tool – It helps you to redefine background as well as foreground colors. Use this tool to choose the foreground color and then change the position using the background color. The shortcut for changing the background is Alt/Option key.
- Spot Healing Brush – This tool is useful for replacing unwanted textures, with better textures from other pictures. It is also called the image healing tool that is used basically for rectifying errors in the photo. It is located under the Tools panel and grouped with patching and other healing tools.
- Clone Stamp Tool–It is used for pixel-to-pixel cloning. It is somewhat similar to the Spot Healing Brush, but you will have to define the areas that are to be cloned. It is used for removing a logo, copying a pattern or even removing power lines.
- Magic Wand Tool – It is the oldest tool provided by Photoshop that can be easily found in the Tool bar. It selects pixels based on tone and color, and therefore can select more areas of the image. If the area is too much for your picture, you can set smaller value of Tolerance and reselect the area.
- Content-Aware Fill–Select the area that needs to be filled and press Shift + Delete. Once you press OK, Photoshop will fill in the selected area accordingly. You might have to use the clone stamp tool and the healing brush tool along with content-aware fill, so that your pictures look perfect.
- Highlights and Shadows – If you want to adjust lights and shadows, you should go to Color Range and select Highlights. Once the background layer is activated, you can click on Shadows. As an expert retoucher, you might want to consider reducing the opacity to 30% for better editing.
- Dodge & Burn – You have to copy the reduced layers to a new layer using Shift + Control/Command + Alt/Option + E. Select the blending mode to Vivid Light. It gives the picture an entirely differently feel as it is used to lighten a particular area.
- Exposure – This tool is used to make the eyes look bright. It is located under New Adjustment Layer. Increasing the exposure using gamma value will give you a good output. It is also good if you try the Offset Slider.
- Pen Tool – This is the favorite of all retouchers only because it gives you a perfect picture after you use it for editing an image. It maintains the sharpness of the image. Whether it is creating clipping paths or making a selection, it gives you an accurate output.
Apart from the above tools there are Rectangular Marquee Tool, Move Tool, Polygon Lasso Tool, Crop Tool, Slice Tool, Eraser Tool, Blur Tool, Path Selection Tool and many more to mention. Learning with Photoshop never stops. The deeper you get in to the tool; you will realize that there is still some scope left for improvement. Photoshop tools can only be learnt through practice. The more you practice; the better will be your editing skills. You can watch online videos, read about Photoshop and apply the same in your daily work.
