Smashing Magazine - we smash you with the information that will make your life easier. really.
50 Excellent Digital Photography Photoshop Tutorials
Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard for digital-image editing and graphics creation. Photoshop’s versatility makes it a popular choice among Web designers, graphic designers, digital media artists, print designers, photographers and other professionals in design and image-editing. Whether you’re designing a business card or website or digitally enhancing an image, you can rest assured that Photoshop will give you the necessary tools to get the job done.
In this article, we focus on tutorials on digital photography. You’ll find an assortment of top-notch tutorials that deal with applying post-production techniques and effects, color correction, enhancement and photo retouching. So fire up Photoshop and try out some of these wonderful tutorials on your own photos!
Without further ado, we present you with 50 Excellent Photoshop Tutorials for Digital Photography.
[By the way, did you know there is a brand new Smashing Wordpress Book? Push WordPress past its limits and take the basic blog into an entirely new blogosphere.]
Photo Effects
HDR-Style Results Using Layers in Photoshop
Learn how to achieve HDR results in Photoshop using bracketed exposures during the production process and then Photoshop layers afterwards.
How to Create Professional HDR Images
Here’s an excellent (and very popular) tutorial on creating high dynamic range (HDR) images; the author focuses on realism instead of going overboard with the application of HDR.
Photoshop HDR tutorial
This tutorial shows you how to create true HDR using bracketed exposure and Photoshop for post-production.
Using the HDR Feature in Photoshop CS2/CS3
This thorough tutorial walks you through the basic concept of HDR photography and how to use Photoshop to make your photographs pop.
How to Make Digital Photos Look like Lomo Photography
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to apply the “lomography” effect to your digital photos.
Infrared Photo Effect in Photoshop
This tutorial shows you a way to simulate the infrared effect with photos taken using point-and-shoot cameras.
Exposure blending tutorial
Create an HDR photo by blending exposures with this Photoshop tutorial.
Your photos, 300-style!
Give photographs the sepia-toned 300 movie effect.
How to Use Photoshop’s Lens Blur Tool for Tilt-Shift Fakery
Tilt-shift lenses are expensive and not very versatile. Save some money by checking out this Photoshop tutorial on how to fake tilt-shift photography.
Tilt Shift Photoshop Tutorial: How to Make Fake Miniature Scenes
Here’s another method for faking tilt-shift photography.
The Tilt-Shift Miniature Fake Technique
This tutorial walks you through the basics of picking a subject for the tilt-shift effect and using Photoshop’s blur and gradient tools to fake it.
Vignette 2.0
Give your photos a natural-looking vignette effect by following along in this Photoshop tutorial.
Adding a Diffuse Glow to Your Images
Apply diffuse glow to your photographs to create a dreamy effect with this Photoshop tutorial.
Image Enhancement and Correction
Improving Landscape Photographs
Enhance your landscape images by reading through this Photoshop tutorial.
Using Masks to Improve Landscape Images
Use the masking feature in Photoshop to improve your landscape images.
Color Correction, by the Numbers
Use CMYK values (obtained with the eyedropper tool in Photoshop) to correct colors in a photograph.
Color Correction Using Levels and Eyedroppers
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll see another method of correcting colors by using the levels-adjustment feature and by sampling colors with the eyedropper tool.
Enhance Your Image with Selective Color Adjustments
This tutorial uses a “non-destructive” and selective method for enhancing colors in a photograph.
Black and White Is the Key to Better Color
Temporarily convert your image to black and white to improve color enhancement methods in Photoshop.
Understanding Local Contrast Enhancement
This excellent Photoshop tutorial explains local contrast enhancement and a method for using the unsharp mask feature.
Local Contrast Enhancement
Learn the theory behind local contrast enhancement and learn a practical way of applying the method to enhance images.
Sharpening Using an Unsharp Mask
Learn the concept behind the unsharp mask feature in Photoshop to sharpen photographs.
Sharpen Those Photos: Unsharp Mask
This tutorial shares a brief history of traditional photo sharpening techniques and how to sharpen images digitally in Photoshop.
Noise Reduction by Image Averaging
Reduce image noise in Photoshop by following this in-depth tutorial.
Using the Photoshop Levels Tool
This tutorial discusses the concept behind Photoshop’s levels tool, as well as how to use it effectively to enhance photographs.
Using the Photoshop Curves Tool
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn about the curves tool in Photoshop and how to use it to improve photographs.
Advanced Photo Sharpening
This Photoshop tutorial shares a more complex method for sharpening photos using a variety of techniques such as using filters and setting threshold adjustments.
Controlled Image Sharpening
Learn another method of controlled image sharpening via this Photoshop tutorial.
Digital Blending
Learn how to enhance dynamic range by reading through this excellent Photoshop tutorial.
Gaussian Blur
Learn how to use Gaussian blur to enhance and soften photographs in Photoshop.
Lens Correction Filter in Photoshop CS2
Learn about the lens correction filter in Photoshop to fix image distortions.
Photo Manipulation and Retouching
Add Dynamic Lighting to a Flat Photograph
Add dynamic lighting to a photograph to make it pop in this Photoshop tutorial.
Getting a Grip on the Vanishing Point Filter
Learn how to use Photoshop’s vanishing point filter to extend certain areas in the photograph.
How to Stitch Photos in Photoshop
Learn a method of stitching together two photographs using Photoshop.
Super-Fast and Easy Facial Retouching
In this tutorial, you’ll learn a method for hassle-free and speedy facial retouching.
Quick and Effective Facial Photo Retouching
Here’s another method for quick and easy facial retouching.
Four Easy Photoshop Techniques to Make Your Pictures Pop!
This tutorial shares four simple but effective Photoshop techniques for isolating a subject.
Awesome Photo-Realistic Coloring Techniques
Learn the basics of coloring techniques via a practical example (coloring the hair of a black-and-white photograph) in this wonderful Photoshop tutorial.
Removing Objects From Photos
Learn the basics of removing objects you don’t want to be seen in your photographs by following along in this Photoshop tutorial.
Black and White with a Splash of Color
In this tutorial, you’ll see a method for the selective coloring of a black-and-white photo.
Hand-Colouring a Black-and-White Photo in Photoshop
Learn a method of manually coloring a black-and-white photo in Photoshop.
Converting a Digital Color Photo to Black and White
Here is another effective method of converting colored photographs to black and white.
Colour to Black and White Using Channel Mixer
Convert photos from color to black and white using Photoshop’s channel mixer.
Quick Fix for Cluttered Backgrounds
Cluttered backgrounds can be a distraction from the photo’s subject. Here’s an introductory-level tutorial on reducing visual clutter in the background of a photograph.
Antiquing Digital Images in Photoshop
You don’t have to wait decades for your photographs to fade in color; simulate the effect using Photoshop.
Change Hair Color Photoshop Tutorial
Learn a method of retouching a subject’s hair color via this excellent Photoshop tutorial.
Creating a Sunset Effect in Photoshop Tutorial
Give photographs taken in the middle of the day a sunset effect by following along in this Photoshop tutorial.
Photo Retouching: Spotlight Effect
In this Photoshop tutorial, you’ll learn how to highlight parts of a subject by giving the area a digitally placed, but natural-looking, spotlight.
Image Retouching: Advanced Skin Softening
Learn a method of removing skin blemishes by softening the skin using the surface blur filter in Photoshop.
Nesting Smart Objects for Multi-Mask Effects in Photoshop
Learn all about nesting smart objects in Photoshop to smoothen and sharpen details in a photo.
Related posts
If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to check out the following Smashing Magazine articles:
- 35 Beautiful Vintage and Retro Photoshop Tutorials
- 70 Beauty Retouching Photoshop Tutorials
- 50 Photoshop Tutorials For Sky and Space Effects
- 40 Beautiful Grunge Photoshop Tutorials
- The Ultimate Collection Of Useful Photoshop Actions
- Photoshop Tutorials To Improve Your Modeling and Design
(al)
Jacob Gube is a bilingual web developer (JavaScript and PHP), web designer, author, and the Founder/Chief Editor of Six Revisions: an online publication that shares useful development and design resources and tutorials for web professionals.
- 50 Comments
- 1
- 2
December 7th, 2008 2:11 pmThese are really useful when you use also in corel.
- 3
December 7th, 2008 2:12 pmThank you so much!, great tutorials from a great website! I enjoyed reading.
I used the LOMO-effect on the first 2 pictures you see here … Works great. Pretty much “improves” any digital still imo. - 4
December 7th, 2008 2:28 pmThank you Smashing.
- 5
December 7th, 2008 3:09 pmYou’re really incredible, when i get photoshop I’ll spend hours in your web. Thanks for all! I love your photos & designs!!
- 6
December 7th, 2008 3:56 pmAbsolutely smashing post, Gube you just smashed my day wit a fantastic amount of smashing tutorials. thanks smashing mag. this is so smashing.
- 7
December 7th, 2008 4:08 pmThis is really cool ! Thanks a lot SM !!
- 8
December 7th, 2008 4:30 pmhey, thanks for featuring a couple of Photocritic tutorials :-)
- Haje
- 9
December 7th, 2008 5:31 pmTilt Shift lenses not very versatile? Maybe someone needs to do their homework before making such outlandish claims.
- 10
December 7th, 2008 6:06 pmGreat!! Thanks for sharing
- 11
December 7th, 2008 6:23 pmI Love this blog…
- 12
December 7th, 2008 6:30 pmNice, thanks for the selection!
- 13
December 7th, 2008 7:11 pmExcellent selection!… thanks you!
- 14
December 7th, 2008 7:17 pmGreat selection. Thanks!
- 15
December 7th, 2008 8:28 pmgreat tutorial~thx
- 16
December 8th, 2008 12:58 amGreat blog. Thanks.
- 17
December 8th, 2008 1:51 amOne of your best post ever ! In fact, there are so much really smashing posts, but this one is impressive. Thank you for your day to day work which is an unbeatable source of inspiration!
- 18
December 8th, 2008 2:45 amit’ a terrific collection. thank you
- 19
December 8th, 2008 3:58 amA very useful collection of tutorials. I’ll refer back to it in the future. Thanks!
- 20
December 8th, 2008 4:39 amThanks. Great collection. I was trying to collect some great links + books on digital photography.
- 21
December 8th, 2008 4:43 amwow .. thanks a lot
- 22
December 8th, 2008 5:10 amawesome collection, thank you
- 23
December 8th, 2008 6:16 amThanks for featuring my vanishing point tutorial!!!
- 24
December 8th, 2008 6:41 amgreat job ! - 25
December 8th, 2008 7:56 amgood resources but here is my beef:
After coming in to work after the weekend I had roughly 20 new articles in my RSS reader. Three quarters of them were like this one. 50 great whatever, 10 awesome techniques for blah blah…, 15 kick@ss tutorials on knitting underwear, 5 reasons to stop subscribing to RSS (the last two I made up, but it’s getting to that point).
It seems like the only articles that gets= published anymore are other people’s content, rehashed. I understand, these articles get dugg and delicious-ed, but why is it always advertising dollars that drives the content.
- 26
December 8th, 2008 8:10 amExcellent collection, I’ve been looking for a round up like this.
- 27
December 8th, 2008 8:42 amcool beans
- 28
December 8th, 2008 9:05 amGreat post. psdtuts is always full of good stuff.
Can I ask a favor from you Smashing? When I’m midway through reading a post it’s hard to figure out if the caption or title of the article is for the image above or below it. Can you add a bit more spacing so it’s clear which image goes with which caption?
- 29
December 8th, 2008 9:45 amGreat post
- 30
December 8th, 2008 10:11 pmVery nice!
- 31
December 8th, 2008 10:39 pmnice compilation!
- 32
December 8th, 2008 11:19 pmSmashing post yo guys rock! :)
- 33
December 9th, 2008 12:36 pmNice, You did it again – amazing and extremely useful!
- 34
December 9th, 2008 5:10 pmSMASHING post, great to see all these together in one post…
- 35
December 10th, 2008 2:07 amOHMYGOSH!! This is the perfect post any photographer/photo manipulator could want! Thank you so much SMASHING MAGAZINE!!!
- 36
December 10th, 2008 11:47 pmnice listing ..
- 37
December 11th, 2008 5:31 amThanks for linking my articles to your post :) Excellent collection.
- Dave
David’s Simple Photography - 38
December 15th, 2008 4:48 pmgreat post, thank you.
- 39
December 19th, 2008 3:26 pmI love this kind of stuff. When I get time, I am going to check this out,
- 40
January 1st, 2009 1:25 amThis page will stay in my bookmark from today onwards.
Great references info! - 41
February 10th, 2009 11:35 amWow. There are some great ideas in here. I wish I could leave work right now to go home and try some of them….but I guess I have to earn my keep first. :)
- 42
March 2nd, 2009 8:35 pmawesome, digging this.
- 43
March 25th, 2009 7:44 pmdo u know ? u are like a god to me? i always visit your site for help and it helps me alot as i’m always forgetful keke…. thank you very very much!
- 44
April 8th, 2009 7:47 amThanks
- 45
April 29th, 2009 11:12 amGreat post, very useful tips for beginners. Noah Lieske
- 46
May 1st, 2009 11:47 ampictures are all shopped
- 47
September 3rd, 2009 10:12 pmThanks for your generous service! Impressive & inspiring tutorials!
- 48
December 7th, 2009 12:43 amvery very nice picture
- 49
January 3rd, 2010 4:26 amThank you this is helping me very much right now!
- 50
January 22nd, 2010 5:31 amThanks for sharing these 50 tutorials!
I’m going to suggest to my visitors at
DigitalFantasyBackgrounds
to check these out!Cheers,
Steve S.
- 00
There are no trackbacks at this time. If you are interested in leaving a trackback, please use this URL.
Leave a Comment
Make sure you enter the * required information where indicated. Please also rate the article as it will help us decide future content and posts. Comments are moderated – and rel="nofollow" is in use. Please no link dropping, no keywords or domains as names; do not spam, and do not advertise!
Interact
Popular
- 100 Wordpress Themes
- Photoshop Tutorials
- Fantastic Wallpapers
- 40+ Excellent Freefonts
- Dual-Screen Wallpapers
- Wordpress Themes for 2009
- Illustrator Tutorials
- Incredible Free Icon Sets
- High-Quality Free Fonts
- 30 Scripts For Galleries
- Photoshop Text Effects
- Useful Icon Sets
- Web Design Trends
- iPhone Wallpapers
- Before Launching a Website
- CSS Layouts And Templates
- Photoshop Actions
- Stunning Pictures and Photos
- Fantastic HDR Pictures
- Logo Design Tutorials
- Free Design Templates
- 10 Mistakes In Logo Design
- Photoshop Custom Shapes
- 40 Creative Design Layouts
- 8 Layout Solutions
- 53 CSS Techniques
- Photography Techniques
- Black & White Photography
- Styling Design Elements
- CSS-Based Forms
- 50 jQuery Techniques
- 50 Portfolio Websites
- 50 CSS Techniques
- Creative Logo Designs
- Desktop Wallpapers
- 25 Open Source Mac Apps
- 50 Free Icon Sets
- 33 New High Quality Adobe Illustrator Tutorials - http://bit.ly/bTgFbu
- How to Drastically Improve Your Designs - http://bit.ly/a9L1sb
- A Quick Look at Mobile Web Designs - http://bit.ly/9TCWCG
- How to Test your JavaScript Code with QUnit - http://bit.ly/da853c
- jQuery 1.4 API Cheat Sheet - http://bit.ly/5zYYnE
- Beautiful, Elegant and Free 48px Icon Set - http://bit.ly/cSWcBR
- Gridmaker For Photoshop CS4 - http://bit.ly/98F9kv (via @designernews)




















































Great post, both for beginners and photoshop old hands. I’ve always found that Photoshop is immensely difficult for beginners to pick up but it also has so much depth to it that even old hands like me find so many incredible techniques out there that I don’t know about. Excellent post bringing together loads of tutorials. Nice one.