Category: The Basics

How to add text to a Photo in Photoshop

In this tutorial I will show you how easy it is to add text on top of a photo or image in Photoshop, how to change the colour, the font…

How to create a chalk board background in Photoshop

Learn how to make a Chalk Board effect background from scratch – no stock imagery required. I use stock libraries at work for client projects and its great having access…

How to create brushes and vector shapes from Photographs in Photoshop

This tutorial for how to change a photo into a brush or a vector shape is split into three sections. To create either a brush or a texture you can…

How to group & merge layers in Photoshop

It is a very simple process to merge layers in Photoshop. Follow the quick steps below to learn how. One point to note is that once you have merged layers…

How to load in square brushes in Photoshop

Photoshop Square Brushes

This whole set of square brushes comes with Photoshop and they just need to be loaded into your brush palette to enable you to start using them. To load the…

4 ways to create a new layer in photoshop

As with everything in Photoshop, there are multiple ways to create a new layer. I don’t believe there is a right or wrong way – Use whichever method fits in…

How to Install Actions in Photoshop

Actions are used in Photoshop to speed up processes where you have to complete a process multiple times like resizing a batch of images for example. They can also be…

How to create custom keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop

Keyboard shortcuts are fantastic tools to speed up processes and work at speed in Photoshop. You may find that some processes that you regulary use do not have a keyboard shortcut associated with them. One simple process that I use several times a day is to use the ‘flatten image’ option within the layers menu. There isn’t a shortcut programmed for this in Photoshop. But if you follow the process below you can set a keyboard shortcut to flatten images or use this method to setup or modify a keyboard shortcut for any other Photoshop menu option.

Photoshop Beginners guide to Layers Part 1

In this tutorial you will find a basic description of how to use the layers palette and layers in Photoshop. When I was first learning photoshop it was the layers palette that took me the longest to understand! Part 1 covers the basics of new layer properties, the effect different tools have on individual layers and layer order and how these are displayed on the canvas.