It wasn’t too long ago that digital editors were limited to fairly simple tasks like removing “red eye” or brightening our favorite photos by a few degrees. Now, digital tools have expanded, broadening the possibilities of photography in amazing ways—if you know how to use them.

One of the most popular programs for editing and working with digital photographs is Adobe® Photoshop® CC. Photoshop has been around for over 20 years and is used by professionals and amateurs alike. However, immense leaps in computer technology over the course of the last two decades have changed the program slowly but dramatically, resulting in new features and increasing complexity. While the huge range of options available means Photoshop can be an incredible tool with immense capabilities, it also means that it can feel increasingly intimidating for newcomers, self-taught users, and those only familiar with older versions of the program.

Now photographers and designers of any experience level can learn the ins and outs of Photoshop from an instructor who has been working with the software since its earliest days. In Adobe Phototshop CC: The Complete Guide, photographer and world-renowned Photoshop instructor Ben Willmore will guide you through 21 lessons, starting from the very basics of accessing files and using the most popular effects, and gradually progressing into advanced tools and techniques that can open up a whole new world of photo editing possibilities. Whether you want to brighten a family photo, create an amazing photo collage to promote your business, or anything in between, this course helps you to easily find and use the right tools for the job.

With a relaxed, conversational style and accompanied by full-screen demonstrations within Photoshop every step of the way, Mr. Willmore will take the mystery out of this powerful resource as he leads you through a series of exercises that teach you the tools and skills in small, easy-to-manage lessons covering both the major editing features and lesser-known tips and tricks.

Professional Results

Even professional photographers can struggle to capture the “perfect” shot. Whether it’s inclement weather, bad lighting, lack of time, or crowds of tourists at a famous location, there are many factors that can keep you from achieving the image that you want. With photo editing tools like those in Photoshop, these limitations can become a fun, creative challenge. This course will show you how to make the most of your editing opportunities. Along the way, you will master aspects of Photoshop such as:

• How to use Camera RAW to adjust the majority of your images;
• Tips to automate repetitive actions and speed up your workflow;
• How to use keyboard shortcuts;
• Selection essentials so you can work on small areas within an image;
• Troubleshooting for common difficulties;
• Advanced retouching techniques; and more.

One of the most difficult and intimidating aspects of Photoshop is navigating through the sheer volume of options available. Therefore, one of the first things Mr. Willmore covers is simply how to navigate the program—where to look for the tools you need and the best ways to use them for the effects you want. By understanding how to manage the panels, toolbars, and various menus available, you will establish the foundation you need to achieve your goals, while digging deeper into some of the most common tools that will give you different options to suit your needs.

Common Tools in Photoshop

Smartphones and digital cameras provide more and more options for altering and adjusting images on the fly, so why would anyone need to use professional software to edit photos? While helpful, these basic tools are often limited to preset filters and only provide a small range of options. As Mr. Willmore demonstrates, with the knowledge and skills you will develop in this course, you can make almost any alteration to your photos that you can imagine, from changing a few pixels to completely transforming your entire composition. Once you have learned some of the basics of adjusting images on the surface, you will gain even more control over your work as you move on to some of the most widely used options for correcting, adding, and removing features, including using layers and masking to build the image that you want from the ground up.

Those familiar with Photoshop but who have not had the advantage of professional training may be surprised by how often they are using common tools incorrectly, or at least inefficiently. One such tool, the magic wand, has acquired a reputation for being difficult—even earning the nickname the “tragic wand”—but as Mr. Willmore shows, it’s often a matter of understanding what the tool is built to accomplish, rather than what many users try to force it to do.

Understanding the capabilities of Photoshop also gives you the chance to enhance your photography skills in the field, allowing you to confidently capture images that are specifically suited for alteration in the program and plan your adjustments in advance.

Expand Your Photo Editing Repertoire

As you progress through the lessons, your toolkit expands from the basics of layering and simple adjustments to more advanced methods and creative effects, including how to:

• Warp and bend images to fit different shapes,
• Create surface effects,
• Change perspective within an image,
• Work in blend mode for stunning transitions,
• Isolate portions of your images for area-specific changes, and
• Add textures to mimic other art forms.

You will have the unique opportunity to learn not just how these and many other tools work, but also the underlying logic of why many of the functions work the way they do, from why circle selections often behave like rectangles to why adjustment curves are like “256 dimmer switches side by side.”

And while mastering Photoshop means understanding these tools, it also means learning the simplest and most efficient ways to use them. Mr. Willmore provides keyboard shortcuts and menu navigation tips throughout the lessons—with some lessons devoted almost exclusively to actions, automation, and troubleshooting—and even reveals some of the hidden features and unique settings of Photoshop. He closes out the course with lessons devoted to fielding questions from students and dealing with common issues that you will encounter at every skill level.

The beauty of modern editing software like Photoshop is that it can free you from the limitations of your camera. It can also help you transform your images into new forms, making it an invaluable tool for not just photographers, but artists in many mediums. Ultimately, altering images can be as simple or as complex as you choose; there are multiple options that can help create different effects and require varying levels of expertise, effort, and time. Once you know how to find and use these amazing tools, the creative possibilities are nearly infinite.