1. Use Photoshop only to enhance or adjust the brightness and color levels of images. As a seller, you should not alter the image to a point where you hide any physical defects. You can be sued for shipping an item that is not "as-is" with its ostensible image on your website.
2. One good use of Photoshop is its ability to add seamless watermarks to your images. By adding watermarks, people who redistribute your item photos will - in a sense - help you gain popularity, instead of stealing from you. You can create a watermark of your own on Photoshop, but remember to reduce its opacity to about 40-60%.
4. Use Photoshop to scale images. Is your pre-installed photo editor not working wonders to scale your image in the exact dimensions you desire? You can solve this by opening your image in Photoshop, then going into 'Image', then 'Canvas Size'. While on the 'Canvas Size' window, change the 'inches' value to 'pixels' and set the image dimensions of your preference. Then, after the canvas is scaled, free transform the image [Command (Mac) / Control (Win) + T] to fit the image on the newly-scaled canvas. While on free transform mode, hold the Shift key to constrain the proportions of the images.
Beyond these tips, there is a lot more to learn about Photoshop. Eventually, you'll fall in love with the software and even recommend it to friends. The sky is the limit when it comes to editing images using Photoshop.
When I first got started, I made use of an Adobe book, to try and build my own knowledge database of Photoshop. Although the guide was beneficial, it was limited in that sometimes it was just not clear what the guide was referring to, so I was never sure if I had been learning everything correctly or not.
There are many basic Photoshop courses out there, which coach you on everything you need to learn to get started with Photoshop, and most of these tutorials come with both videos and text transcripts, so you can't go wrong.
As you master the basic principles, move on to tougher videos. When you begin to master something you always want to find out more, so broaden your Photoshop knowledge and seek advanced tutorials.
When I first got started, I used a book that was published by Adobe to try and build my knowledge base. Although the book was helpful, it was limited in that sometimes it was not clear what the book was talking about, so I wasn't sure if I was learning everything correctly or not.
The many basic Photoshop tutorials out there teach you everything you need to know to get started with Photoshop. Most of these tutorials have video as well as written steps for you to follow.
If you're looking to build your own Adobe Photoshop course by finding your own basic Photoshop tutorials and videos, you should start with lessons on the interface and tools for Photoshop. Also, try to find a few lessons on layers, which is one of the most important aspects of Photoshop. This will help you build a solid foundation for more advanced techniques later.
If you're having trouble finding the right videos to start with, you might consider paying for an Adobe Photoshop course. One of the best is Photoshop by Example, which has a lot of easy to follow, step-by-step videos that will help you quickly master the basics of Photoshop.
If you're quite capable of navigating yourself using a program, your Adobe Photoshop installer has everything you need. Provided of course you know what you're looking for and what the terms mean, you will find the 'help' function very helpful. However, if you do not know the difference between crop and cut, you'll need to turn to other resources.
Adobe Photoshop is very easy to learn but you should first understand how it works and what exactly it can do so you'll have realistic expectations. Don't worry, though. Adobe Photoshop can create lots of magic and it won't disappoint. Once you've learned the basics, you can move on to the intermediate and advanced techniques.
Whether you're an Adobe Photoshop newbie or pro, you will find a lot of tips and tricks at PSDesigns.com. This site lets you penetrate deeper and understand what goes on when you use different tools and devices. In fact, their tutorials are categorized based on technique. Included are background or knockout tricks, type, shape and pen techniques, pattern techniques, web and graphic design techniques.
Photoshopsupport.com also hosts free tutorials from Photoshop experts. Most recently, they have hosted tutorials by CreativeBits' Ivan Raszl. It features some of the most popular and creative techniques including removing red eye, creating textures like diamond-plated metal and brushed aluminum, making water drops and integrating photographs with uneven surfaces.
Some tips are as simple as changing colored photos to black and white and creating water drops - stuff you'll find handy later on. You can even access the Photoshop Tips & Tricks series volumes 1 to 6 on the site. And you don't have to be a grown-up to learn Photoshop either. The site has links exclusively for kids.
If you have Photoshop v.10, you can access the CS3 resource center through this site. You can even download a trial version of public beta CS3 through Adobe Labs for free. The site alone has all the tutorials you'll need to sharpen your Adobe Photoshop trick armada and you can even do more using links to other tutorial sites.
