Photoshop is an insanely powerful editing tool that’s been aroundmore than 30 years. However, there areso many featuresthat it can quickly become overwhelming; all you want to do is remove the annoying photo bomber from your otherwise perfect photo, but do you use the Clone tool or the Spot Healing brush? Before you know it, you’ve fallen down a rabbit hole of Photoshop tutorial videos on YouTube, and six hours in you’re no closer to having the photo that you want.
Thankfully, there are some quick and easy ways to make edits to your images in Photoshop without getting bogged down in too many tools and settings. Here are five Photoshop tips that can help you to edit your photos in a flash.
1Use Layers to protect your original image
Work safely
One of the first things you should learnwhen using Photoshopis how to create a new layer. By creating a new layer based on your image, you can make changes to your image, safe in the knowledge that your original image is untouched and that you can always return to it if necessary.
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If you directly edit your original image, your changes will be applied to the image itself which will be permanently altered.
Creating a copy of your image as a new layer is simple to do:
2Use Generative Fill to remove objects
Power of AI
The latest versions of Photoshop include some really impressive AI features that make editing your photos much quicker and easier than it’s ever been before.Generative Filluses the power of AI to fill a region of your image. you may use it to remove an object or person from an image, for example, but you can also use it to add completely new items to your image, too.
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For example, you can select a region of your image, type ’80s robot' into theGenerative Fill tool, and you’ll now have a robot appearing in your image, complete with the appropriate lighting and shadows. It’s an impressive tool that can save a huge amount of time.
To use Generative Fill in Photoshop:
3Quickly straighten your photos with the Straighten tool
Basic yet necessary tool
You’ve taken the perfect photo, but unfortunately, the whole image is slightly wonky. The photo would be ideal if it wasn’t for the fact that every person in it looks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Thankfully, Photoshop allows you to quickly straighten up your image by defining a line that isn’t currently vertical in your image butshouldbe.
4Expand an image with Generative Expand
AI to the rescue again
There may be times when you want to expand the edges of your image. For example, you might want to make it a different aspect ratio, or you may have some parts of your canvas missing after having straightened your image. If so, the Generative Expand tool can use the power ofgenerative AIto fill in the additional portions of your image.
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The tool will generate the missing parts of your image based on the content of your image. The results are usually very impressive, realistically extending your images as if you had taken a wider or taller shot.
To use Generative Expand in Photoshop:
5Use Adjustment Layers to fix exposure and more
That finishing touch
If you have an image that’s little under-or overexposed, or your image is a little too blue, or there are other issues, you can use adjustment layers to fix these issues.
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These adjustments are added as new layers, so that your original image remains untouched; you can hide or delete any adjustments you make to see your original image again.
Photoshop isn’t your only option
Many of the features above, including Generative Fill and Generative Expand, require you to be running the latest version of Photoshop, which certainly isn’t the cheapest application.
7 free Photoshop alternatives for quick and easy photo fixes
Fixing a photo or creating a graphic doesn’t always have to come with the price or learning curve of Photoshop.
The good news is that there are plenty offree Photoshop alternativesthat you can use. While they may not offer the same sophisticated AI tools, they can still help you to make quick edits to your images.
