New way to see layers in Photoshop, Hover Layer Bounds Here is a new Photoshop feature that helps you see what layer something is on. If you work with multiple layers, like compositing, you will find this feature really useful. This new feature is called Hover Layer bounds and only in Photoshop Beta at the time of this writing. How to get Photoshop Beta here There are actually 3 settings. These build off the existing Auto Select. With the move tool active, choose Auto Select and Layers in the drop down. The video shows more tips on this tool. Show Transform Controls If you choose the gear, you ..read more

Complete guide to making an eclipse sequence in Photoshop 2024 Just in time for the April 8th 2024 American Total Solar Eclipse. You have captured your eclipse photos, now what? Here is how you can assemble them into a cool eclipse sequence using Photoshop. How to Photograph a solar eclipse.  This tutorial works for Solar eclipses and lunar eclipses. Assemble your eclipse photos Ill show how to import photos to Photoshop from Lightroom Classic, and without Lightroom (after the few lightroom steps here). You will most possibly have hundreds of eclipse photos when you are done. Choose the b ..read more

How to use Structure Reference in Adobe Firefly A new Edition has been added to Adobe Firefly. This is called Structure Reference. It allows you to upload a photo or a sketch to help guide the image generation. It works very well and helps us greatly in getting the ai to generate what we actually want. Start by going to the Adobe Firefly website. You have to have a valid Creative Cloud or Adobe Stock account to use firefly. Chose generate under Text to image This will take you to the gallery page. You will see a box at the bottom that says prompt. I’ll type in something very generic. “Woman t ..read more

New Features in Photoshop 25.5.1 March 2024 update In this tutorial, we will look at the new features added to Photoshop, as well as how to update Photoshop. This is a dot release, so it’s usually a smaller update, than a full release, eg Photoshop 2024, Photoshop 2025 etc. This also means it’s an update to the existing install, vs installing a new versions. That means you don’t install an additional version of Photoshop and have to worry about updating or reinstalling plugins etc. How to update Photoshop Choose he create cloud icon at the top right on mac, or bottom right on Windows. Or just ..read more

New in Photoshop: create custom Adjustment Layer presets and share them. Adjustment Presets were added to Photoshop recently, but we couldn’t make our own presets until now. They have a lot of advantages over actions and LUTs because we can preview the result before we apply them and we have full control over the settings. The video above shows the entire process including how I created the presets and accessed Photographic toning Gradient maps. Start with a photo Create the look you want using different adjustment layers, blending modes and custom opacity. See how we have a stylized color lo ..read more

How to use the Adjustment Brush in Photoshop There is a new feature in Photoshop, which is only available in the public beta of Photoshop 2024 at the time of this writing. How to get the Photoshop beta The adjustment brush basically brings an easier way to paint on your image and do things like brighten the areas you are painting non-destructively. It will apply an adjustment layer and a mask to your image. This doesn’t offer any new functionality over what you can currently do with an adjustment layer and painting on the adjustment mask with a brush. It just makes it quicker and easier to do ..read more

Complete guide to Color grading in Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW Have you ever wondered how to use the Color grading tool inside Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw? Here is your complete guide to all the settings in the Color Grade tool in Lightroom and ACR. This isn’t a tutorial on color theory, it is a tutorial on how to get the best color grading results using this tool and it covers 2 important sliders that are often overlooked. You can find the color Grade tool in Lightroom (v10 2021 and newer) under the develop module. I’ll start with an explination of the settings, then we will apply them ..read more

Free Photoshop Tutorial. Ultimate Guide to Select and Mask in Photoshop. PART 2: Smooth edges Adobe Photoshop mini masterclass on Select and Mask. The video and written steps explain how every tool in Select and Mask work, so you can fix all the common problems we get with cutouts. Eliminate Jaggies, blockies, smudgies and halos. Part 1/2 Hair and Fur is here. When you make selections to cut out images, often you will have problems with the edges. You’ll see halos, jaggies, blockies, smudgies and other problems. (I just coined the phrases Smudgies and blockies, you’ll know them when you see th ..read more

Free Photoshop tutorial. Ultimate guide to select and mask in Photoshop part 1 Hair and Fur When you make selections to cut out images, often you will have problems with the edges. You’ll see halos, jaggies, blockies, smudgies and other problems. (I just coined the phrases Smudgies and blockies, you’ll know them when you see them.) Photoshop contains a number of tools to address these edge problems. Many people aren’t using all these tools because they often don’t know what each tool does. That’s my goal here, to explain these tools and demonstrate when to use them. I wanted to make a comprehe ..read more

When and where do I use Clarity, or Dehaze or texture in Lightroom and Camera RAW? Answered Continuing on my deep dive series into the different settings in Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW (The adjustments on both are identical). This time I break down Texture, Clarity and Dehaze. They aren’t the same. I’ll explain what each does, provide the best times to use each on your photos and then we will wrap up by applying all 3 to an image selectively using masks. For previous tutorials in this series, check out Contrast | Shadow/Highlight vs Black/White Before we dive in, I want to quickly define 2 ..read more