photoshop tutorial for beginner

 

What is Photoshop?

photoshop is a photo editing and raster graphic design software which allows users to create, edit, and manipulate various graphics as well as digital art. It also allows to create and edit raster images with multiple layers and import the images in various file formats. Photoshop is developed by Adobe Systems for both Windows and MacOS.

This is a photoshop basics for designers in the latest version of adobe photoshop CC .

We are going to cover Introduction to Photoshop and a lot of features which are commonly used by each and every designers to create some composites or any design or to make any illustrations or even just doing some simple retouching on Photoshop latest version.

So we are going to cover some most common features like workspace, layers, smart objects, blend modes, selections techniques, filters and much more Photoshop basics and necessary features that every designers use to work on photoshop.

Adobe Photoshop Version History

Photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas Knoll and John Knoll and the official distribution license of the program was purchased by Adobe Systems. Since then, so many Photoshop versions have been released. Following are the most popular Adobe Photoshop versions:

• 2003 – Photoshop CS (Version 8)
• 2005 – Photoshop CS2 (Version 9)
• 2007 – Photoshop CS3 (Version 10)
• 2008 – Photoshop CS4 (Version 11)
• 2010 – Photoshop CS5 (Version 12)
• 2012 – Photoshop CS6 (Version 13)
• 2013 – Photoshop CC (Version 14)
• 2014 – Photoshop CC 2014 (Version 15)
• 2015 – Photoshop CC 2015 (Version 16 and Version 17)
• 2016 – Photoshop CC 2017 (Version 18)
• 2017 – Photoshop CC 2018 (Version 19)
• 2018 – Photoshop CC 2019 (Version 20)
• 2019 – Photoshop 2020 (Version 21)

Now we will go to start with the first topic about workspace.

We will see in this about Adobe Photoshop introduction and how we can setup our photshop to our best useful workflow, because there are so many industries which use photoshop in so many different ways for their specific purpose.

So let’s get started and talk about workspace in photoshop CC.

Photoshop Workspace

In this article and below video we will learn how we can create “workspace” to customize photoshop as per your workflow.

We all use photoshop for different purpose such like photo editing, graphics designing, 3D designing, video editing.

Photoshop can do many things, and you are able to customize your own workflow in photoshop, and you can individually deal with all the panels which you want to see or not to see on your workflow.

Depending on your work purpose there might be some panels which you never going to use and you never need to see those panels.

So you can create your own adobe workspace depending upon what you are working on.

Photoshop’s Default Workspace

Right now i’hv got a default workspace known as “essentials”. By default, Photoshop uses a workspace known as Essentials. If you’ve never chosen a different workspace, you’re using the Essentials workspace.

Photoshop’s Other Workspaces

We can find workspace panel on the 2nd top position of the window menu.

And you can see here some preset abode workspaces designed for specific industries, like 3D, Graphic and Web, Motion, Painting, and Photography.

Choosing A Different Workspace – Photography

If I want to work on 3D in photoshop then i’ll select 3D in workspace panel and make all specific panels visible which are related to 3D and needed to edit 3D objects.

Such like 3D panel, properties , layers, channels. all this are related to editing 3D objects.

The Motion Workspace

Let’s see about motion workspace. if i want to do some animation then this work space is useful for that. in this you can see timeline panel and some other panels which are needed to work with video and animation.

The Photography Workspace

Now go to workspace and checkout photography workspace which is useful if we want to do some photo editing. it’ll show panels which are related to photography purpose.

MY Workspace

These are all some preset abode workspaces. but now i want to create my own workspace because of my working methods I already know which panels I need and which panels i don’t need to work on.

Look here. I have already created my own workspace called “guru99 workspace”.

In this workspace I have some selected panels. Such like “brush, history, character, layers, channels, paths, adjustments, swatches and color”.

How to create a new custom workspace.

Let’s make a few quick changes to Photoshop’s default panel layout. Arrange all the individual panels as per your need.

When you have done with it. Go to “window menu” then “workspace” then click on “new workspace”.

Now give any name to your own workspace.

Here you can save any keyboard shortcuts in your workspace and even menus you can set. You can keep menus visible only which you want in your workspace.

Then click on save.

Now you can see your workspace is created.

And if you are new to photoshop then it will take time to develop your habits and realize that which panels are useful and which are not useful as per your way of working.

What are Layers in Photoshop?

Layers in photoshop allow you to work non-destructively by stacking images on top of other images without interacting and mixing the pixels of images. “Layer” is the only thing that makes Photoshop an amazing photo editing and compositing tool. Layers can be used to stack multiple images, add text to an image, add vector graphics, etc.

Now in this Photoshop Layers tutorial, we will explain the use of layers in Photoshop and learn how to add a layer in Photoshop.

We can add them or delete them at any time we want

Step 1) Invisible Layer

Now when you create an image or open an image in photoshop it’s visible in layer panel.

Let me drag out layer panel.

You can see bydefault a background layer.

Step 2) UnLock Layer

You can notice a lock symbol on it. so the layer is locked. It means you can’t move or do anything like that. Because the layer is locked.

So to unlock a layer we have different options. One of them is we can double click on locked layer. It will show you a popup where you can change the name of that locked layer and then press ok.

Now you can see our Photoshop layer is unlocked and its name is also changed.

Now you can easily move the layer and when you move it you will see the transparency checker patter behind the layer.

This all indicates a transparent background. You can customize it in the preferences.

Now let’s see another option to unlock the Photoshop layers.

You just need to grab that lock symbol and drag it to the trash and it simply unlocks the layer.

Now this is the background layer, to add more images, press shift key and drag and drop the image to the center.

Step 3) New Layer Created

You can see what happened in the layer panel. it has created a new layer on top of layer panel instead of adding or mixing the pixels with photoshop background layer.

Step 4) Turn off Layer with Eye Symbol

In layer panel you can see each layer has an eye symbol. by clicking on eye symbol you can turn on or off the layer.

These are two “images” but now let’s check about “text”. add some text and then look into layer panel, a new text layer is created on the top.

So the main thing about Photoshop layers system is to keep every single item in different layer and don’t let any of them destroy or mix with each other.

Step 5) Layer Mask

Now let’s talk about one of the greatest features of layer the “layer mask”. Photoshop Layer mask can hide or reveal pixels of a layer without deleting them. Without the help of mask if we want to hide some part of the image then we have to delete that part by using eraser tool in the tools panel. Layer mask is another image attached to the layer.

You can take a layer mask by clicking on this icon or the another option is select the layer and open “layer” menu and go to layer mask and choose ”reveal all”.

You noticed it adds a new layer filled with white color and white color will reveal every thing on image.

Step 6) Hide part of image with Layer Mask

Now I want to hide some part of the image so for that instead of using the eraser tool you have to choose brush tool. And we can see that the layer mask is filled with white color so I’m gona paint with black color. You can notice that I’m doing the same thing what I have done before when using eraser tool.

But in this I haven’t deleted anything, I’m just hiding those pixels with the use of the layer masking in photoshop .

Look at the layer mask. it’s painted this area with black color and that black color is hiding what is on the layer.

If I press shift key and click on that layer mask then the mask will be disabled and it reveals everything on that layer. that means I have deleted nothing.

So this was the basic concept of photoshop layer mask.

Step 7) Blending Modes

Blending mode allows you to blend any layer with another below it. For example if I select this layer and go to blending mode and change it to overlay from normal.

Look how it’s blend with the background image. You can try different blend modes.

But the good thing is the layer is not mixing up with the other layer. it is still separated. If I change the blend mode to normal then I can get my original image back as it was before.

These were all the basic concepts of layer system in photoshop.

We can add different things using layers in Photoshop, whether it is text, images, shapes, or in the latest version of photoshop, we can add even a 3D model in layer panel and work on it.

Summary

• Layers in Photoshop allow you to work non-destructively by stacking images on top of other images without interacting and mixing the pixels of images.
• When you create an image or open an image in photoshop it’s visible in layer panel.
• We can double click on locked layer to unlock a layer. It will show you a popup where you can change the name of that locked layer and then press ok.
• In layer panel you can see each layer has an eye symbol. by clicking on eye symbol you can turn on or off the layer.
• Photoshop Layer mask can hide or reveal pixels of a layer without deleting them.
• Blending mode allows you to blend any layer with another below it. For example if I select this layer and go to blending mode and change it to overlay from normal.

What is a Photoshop Layer Mask?

Layer Mask is a very important part of Photoshop tools that gives the ability to hide and reveal parts of the layer without deleting them.

This is very efficient and non-destructive way of working. And it helps designers to become more efficient and more creative.

Let’s try to make an image with the help of layer mask .so that we can understand exactly what the layer mask works for.

I want to make a movie poster for a wellknown Hollywood movie “Avengers”. so let’s start working on it.

I’m using this image as background of the poster.

These all are images which we are going to use in this poster.

This is our background layer, and we will take all other images one by one and set them all in the sky portion of the background.

So let’s take the first one. i’m choosing iron man first. because I want to put him at the middle of the sky.

Scale the image and set it’s position properly.

Then take a photoshop layer mask for the image. Then grab the brush tool with smooth round brush. set the brush size,and start painting on the image to hide unwanted part of the image.

Look at the layer mask, its displays some black area in which you have painted,and the black color hides pixels.

Now go for the next image “Captain America”. And do the same process as we have done before on iron man image.

And do the same process again on the other 3 images which we are using In this file.

Let’s speed it up.

Now Put the ironman on the top of the layer panel. because it is on middle portion so it will not look good to be behind all other layers.

See, the bottom edges of all images are still sharp so it is looking very bad. so grab the brush tool and make all bottom edges blur, so that all images can look properly merged.

Once you have done with it, then select all five images and press CTRL + G to put them all in a single group.

And change the blend mode of that group to “screen” and look it is nicely blended with the sky.

Then make the image more effective with the help of “curve”.

Now we need to give a title to this poster. i have one image that we can use in this poster.

Scale and arrange the position of the image.

Now take a layer mask for this image. and start painting with black color and smooth round brush on unwanted parts of the image.

Remove that all black color around the name.

And then change the blending mode to “linear dodge”.

Drag it down below the curve layer.

Now save the file and take a look of it.

Its looks awesome.

We designed this poster very quick and easily with the help of layer mask.

So now just remember that black color hides pixels and white color reveals pixels.

So now u can understand how much important is photoshop masking layer tool.

This was the layer mask tool, now go ahead to the next topic “shape layer”.

How to use Photoshop Layer Styles & Effects [Example]

In this article we will learn how to apply Photoshop layer styles and how to share them between layers and how to utilize layer styles to make our content more appealing.

Look in this image I have applied some layer styles to this word http://www.guru99.com.

Here you can see some layer styles like “Bevel & Emboss”, ”Stroke”, ”Gradient Overlay” and ”Drop Shadow”.

We can turn them on or off individually or all together.

And this fx icon indicates this layer have applied a layer style.

To apply layer style to a layer you need to select the layer and go to “layer” menu then “layer style” and choose any of the layer styles you want to apply.

And it will open the layer style panel where you are able to edit each and every layer style as per your requirement.

Here I have already applied some layer styles like “Bevel & Emboss” I have got some option in that. I can easily edit them. then I got “stroke” and “gradient overlay” and “Drop shadow” . All this have their own and different customizable options.

If you want to add or subtract any layer style then just click on it.

One another way to apply layer styles is at the bottom of the layer panel. Have a look at this fx icon by clicking on this button you will have same options that you have seen in layer menu.

share layer styles

Now let’s talk about share layer styles between two layers.

So here I have one more photoshop text styles layer “Free online Education”. There are many different ways to share layer styles.

Here is a very quick way. Hold down the ALT key and grab the fx icon and drop it on the layer to which you want to apply same layer styles.

It will copy and paste layer style in one single move.

One another way is just right click on the layer having layer styles and select “copy layer style” and go and right click your target layer and select “paste layer style”.

Now if you think you don’t like this layer styles then you can easily grab “fx” icon and drag it to the “trash”. It will only delete layer styles and not a layer itself.

One more way, you can simply right click on the layer and choose” clear layer style” and it will clear all the layer styles which you have applied on that layer.

One more important thing is you can also detach layer styles from the layer.

For that you simply need to right click on “fx” icon and choose “create layers”. It will create layers for each and every layer styles those you have applied to your layer.

You also can turn them on and off and you can work on them as separate layers.

One more thing about layer style is if the layer style is applied to a text layer then it is easily editable. so go ahead and retype, and you will get same effects on new typed word.

How to Draw Shapes in Photoshop using Shape Tool

As like pen tool, shape layer also uses Photoshop vector technology.

You will get shape layer tool right here in toolbar.

Now click on that and you can see various Shapes like;

• Ractangle Tool
• Rounded Rectangle Tool
• Elipse Tool
• Polygan Tool
• Line Tool
• Custom Shape Tool

By selecting these items you can draw them as regular path or as a shape layer. https://www.youtube.com/embed/SbOiho4BEuc

See in the options bar, on the second position you can see a menu. It will show you 3 options to draw your shape like “Path” , “Shape” and “Pixels”.

Now pixel fills the drawn path with pixels, this option does not use vector technology.

And path will draw only path of the shape, it will not fill any color in path.

But here I select shape option and you can see some various options here.

I can select “fill color, stroke color, stroke type” and much more options here.

Now draw the shape and see in layer panel a new layer created there.

You can see a small path icon on the layer. it’s indicating this layer is a shape layer.

Now grab the “path selection tool” and you can click on that. you can see there are some control handles of the vector shape.

If you want to edit color of the shape? Then just go and double click on the shape layer and you’ll get the color picker.

These are vector shapes means they are resolution independent and I can drag and use them in any document and I can scale them up and down without any loss of quality because they are using vector technology instead of using pixel technology.

Lets see a useful aspects of shape tools, the “photoshop custom shape tool”. Which gives you lots of readymade shapes and you can easily use them when you want.

All these shapes are included in this popup menu by numbers of different categories but right now I’m choosing that all. So that I can get all the shapes out there in the list.

Now choose the shape that you want to use.

To draw the shape you can simply click on the work area if you want to draw it with any specific size. or you can also simply drag and draw the shape to create the shape layer.

Let’s edit shape’s color and stroke properties in the options bar at the top.

Now if i want to subtract some part inside this shape. then I’ll go and select “elipse tool” and I’ll go here and set the path finder feature to subtract front shape and

if I draw a circle inside here that’s going to subtract that area from the main shape. i can also change the position of the shape.

So this was a brief overview about the shape layers in photoshop. You can create various kinds of designs with the help of the shape layer without losing any quality because it uses vector photoshop technology.

Now let’s go ahead to our next topic “smart object”.

What is Smart Object? How to use Smart Object in Photoshop?

What is Photoshop Smart Object?

photoshop Smart Object is never let lose the quality of any vector object or an image, even if we rescale or resample it or change its position or rotate it however we want in our document.

Every designer must know about the benefit of “smart object”.

Means you bring any photographs or any vector objects in your document and you scale it down and scale it up again. In this process of scaling up and down the image, if you do not want to lose real quality of your image then you must make that image a “ smartobject” first https://www.youtube.com/embed/cH12mxFhOog

Let’s see an example so that you can get the actual idea of “smart object”.

Here I have a vector object in illustrator.

I copy this object by pressing CTRL + C. then go to photoshop and press CTRL + V to paste.

When I paste it on photoshop it gives 4 different options to choose such like “smart object”, ”pixel”, ”path” & “shape layer”.

This time I’m going to select photoshop smart objects.

Press ok.

So here is our vector object with good quality.

See there in layer panel the layer have a small icon on bottom corner of it. this small icon indicates this is a smart object.

Now press CTRL + T and scale down the object.

Press CTRL + T again and scale it up and hit enter.

You can see here that the quality and sharpness of the object is as much as before we scale it down. it haven’t lose even 1% of quality.

Now switch of this layer and press CTRL + V to paste it again.

But this time I’m going to select pixels.

The object is in it’s original quality now.

But once we scale it down and scale it up again, you can see how it is losing the real quality of the object. it has been blurred and loss too much color information of the object.

Let’s see the reason, why the object haven’t lose its information when it is converted to smart object and why it lost them all when it was a normal layer.

Take the smart object layer and scale it down and rescale it up.

You can see it don’t lose any color information and remains sharp and that’s because it’s embedded inside of the smart object which means it is referring to original vector information instead of referring pixel information when it was imported.

And now let’s talk about the object which we have imported as pixel.

When we scale it down it doesn’t need much information to display at this smaller size, so it throws away extra information which are not needed to display.

Now when we are scaling it back up it don’t remember that extra information to which it have thrown away before, when we have scaled it down. so you can see how it have lost its quality and sharpness and how bad it looks.

If you are a designer and you are working on composite design in photoshop, and you are using different objects in your work and you are rescaling, resampling, rotating and repositioning them to get the right look it will going to definitely decrease the real quality of the images if all are not converted to “smart object”.

How to Blend in Photoshop: What is Blending Tool & Modes?

What is Blend Modes?

Blend Modes in photoshop is a tool to blend pixels of two images with each other to get different types of effects. Blend modes is popular among designers. It helps you to correct the photos and convert lighter images to darker or darker images to lighter. It also allows you to create several types of effects for specific images.

How to Blend Colors in Photoshop

Below is a step by step process on how to blend on Photoshop :

Step 1) Select the Image for Background

Here I have a ruff texture image for my background. I will use another image to blend in Photoshop with this background.

Step 2) Select the Image for whose background needs change.

Let me take another image to blend two images in Photoshop with the background texture.

So here are two different layers. To apply blending mode, you need to select the layer and open the blend mode list and choose any one of them.

Step 3) Types of Blend Modes

Blend mode menu is at the top of the layer panel, and by default, it is always on normal mode.

Look there are various types of Photoshop blending modes grouped in various categories in the list. You can choose any one of them and create a different effect using blend tool in Photoshop.

In blending mode list, each group of blend mode has specific functions.

Such as the first section here darkens the image. It effects the overall darkness of the picture.

The second group affects the overall brightness of the image. It allows lighter areas to show through and makes darker areas drop back.

The next group affects the lightness and darkness. I choose overlay here.

The next group of Photoshop blending tool creates inverted effects.

And the last group in the list deals with the colors of the image.

You can also change blend modes sequentially by pressing up and down arrow keys in blending tool in Photoshop.

Step 4) Apply Blend to the Image

“Multiply” is a better option for this image. It gives a striking look to this image.

We can also get blending modes in “layer style panel.”

For that, let me draw a new shape. Then give some layerstyle to it so that we can check blending modes there in “layer style panel.” Let me check on “outer glow” and set its parameters. Now you can see on top, the same list of blend modes over here, which was in blend mode menu out there in “layer panel.”

You can choose any blend mode you want.

One more thing is you can play with “opacity of layer” when using Photoshop blend tool to get a better result.

See I’m using color burn mode. I liked this blending in Photoshop effect, but it has over-brightened the image. So I can drag down the opacity of the background layer to set the image proper. Now you can see the difference.

How to use Pen Tool in Photoshop?

There are numbers of selection tools in photoshop but the pen tool is the only tool that gives you very clean and sharp selection without blur lines or soft edges because the pen tool uses “vector technology”.

So if you wanna cut any object with clean sharp edges then you must have some knowledge about “Pen tool”. So let’s start with it.

Here is my image and I want to cut out this sun-glass with the help of “pen tool”.

So first go and select the pen tool in tool bar. There are different types of pen tool we can see, but right now I’m using this first pen tool.

When you start drawing path with pen tool, I suggest you to start it from any corner point of the object. and take very few control points.

Now click and drag it, you can see a moving handle of control point, it bends the path as you can see. we can set our path properly with the help of this handle.

Now click and drag for the next control point and bend its handle this way to set it properly.

You can see here the path gets out of line bcz when drawing the previous control point we have bent its handle. so to overcome this problem just hold alt key and click on the last control point before you create a new one. It will remove the handle and allow you to draw the path properly.

Continue drawing the path like this.

This is the path panel. In this you can see the path you have drawn before some time. Just double click on it and save it.

Here is the path which I have created before. click on it and see at the bottom of the path panel there is an icon called ”load path as selection”, by clicking on this icon you can convert the path into selection.

So now select the layer and press CTRL + J to create a new layer of selected portion.

Here I want to cut this hole properly from the path. So I have to go to the path panel and select my path again and see here in the “path finder” options, I have to choose “subtract front shape”.

Now draw the path at the edge of that hole. And select it and delete it.

Let me zoom in here.

Here you can see the edges of the object are still very sharp. They have not been blurred.

So with the help of pen tool you can get very clean, sharp and accurate extraction, more than any other extraction technique in Photoshop because it follows vector technology.

How to Remove Background from Image in Photoshop

Delete/Remove a Background in Photoshop Easily

As a designer, we should know some quick and efficient techniques to extract some particular objects or design element from an image. We will learn them in this tutorial.

How to Remove Background in Photoshop: First Example

Below is a step by step guide to remove background from image photoshop with an example:

Step 1) Select Image whose background you want to remove

This is an image of a model with a clean white background, and we want to extract the model and delete background in Photoshop.

We can extract this with the help of photoshop extraction tool like “pen tool,” but it will be a very time-consuming technique. So we can’t use the pen to remove background from image.

Step 2) Chose the Magic Wand Tool and select background

So now go and grab the “magic wand tool” and click on a white background to select it, to add selection area hold “shift key” and click on the portion which you want to add in selection to isolate an image in Photoshop.

Step 3) Apply Inverse

Now we want to extract the model so we have to select her, go to select menu and choose “inverse” so it will invert the selection.

Step 4) Refine Edges

Our selection is made, but still, it is not perfectly selected, because it has very sharp edges selected around it, and some pixel is not selected on edges and some unwanted pixels are selected, so to deal with this problem I’ll click on “refine edges” button, up here in option bar.

This is refined edge panel. I’m changing the view mode from “black & white” to “on black.”

Because of the black background, we can see what the problem with edges of the model is.

Now start painting on edges of the model and see how it is subtracting some unwanted white color pixels from the selection as shown in the below Photoshop CC remove background example.

I have removed rough edges and made them softer.

Let me change the view mode to “black & white.”

Keep in your mind that black means “transparent” and white means “opaque.”

Step 5) Use the “erase refinements tool.”

Here some part of the model has been transparent, so I need to remove it for that select “erase refinements tool” and correct the selection.

But this is not a big issue so that we can deal with it later.

Step 6) New Layer

You can see here some transparent pixels around the edges of the model in some specific portions. So now change the setting of “output” option. Select “new layer with layer mask” from drop-down list.

Press ok

You can see here in layer panel a new layer is created with a layer mask.

Now see these transparent pixels here. To deal with it duplicate the layer by pressing CTRL + J.

And you can see our problem is solved.

Step 7) Output

You can see with the help of this cool trick we have extracted the model very nicely.

Remove Background in Photoshop: Luminosity Based Extraction Technique

In this Photoshop CC remove background technique, we will talk about “luminosity based selection.”

See here is an image of smoke, in smoke, some portion is full opaque while some part is half transparent. So we want to extract the smoke with proper transparent pixels.

In the previous technique, we have made our selection with “magic wand tool,” but here it will not be the proper technique in the case of smoke.

So here we will use the “channels palet” to erase background in Photoshop.

In channels panel hold the CTRL key and click on “RGB channel” on the top of the channels panel, it loads all the brightness value as the active selection. It has selected the entire white background.

Now go to select menu and choose Inverse.

Then press CTRL + J to create a new layer of the selected portion.

You can see here a new layer is created of the selected area.

But it looks very flat.

So to maintain it’s density select layer and press CTRL + J for around 4-5 times.

And merge all duplicate layers.

Now you can see, with the help of this trick how perfectly we have extracted the smoke.

This is called “luminosity based selection” technique to delete background in Photoshop.

Photoshop Extracting Objects With Quick Selection Tool

Here is a model and we want to extract her hair very quickly using extract tool in Photoshop CC.

If we use the “pen tool” in this particular image then it will be a time-consuming process, but if we do not need to waste more time on this, we can do this very nicely and quickly with the help of “refine edge” option.

Grab the “quick selection tool” and select the model roughly.

Click on the “refine edge” option.

Select view mode “on layer.”

And start painting around edges of the hair.

You can see how it is refining the selection around the hair.

Look some unwanted pixels are also removed from the selection.

I’ll take out this selection as “new layer with layer mask”.

Look here a new layer is created with a layer mask and the model is extracted very nicely.

Take a duplicate of layer and so that we can deal with some transparent pixels around edges of the model.

So these are some cool and quick tricks for extraction in photoshop cc.

How to use Brush Tool in PhotoShop?

What is the Brush Tool in Photoshop?

In this tutorial, we will learn about Basics functions of Brushes for Photoshop CC And we will also talk about “brush options” to manage behaviour of the brush in different ways.

Basics functions of Brushes for Photoshop

Now go and grab the “Brush tool” from the tool bar.

And the first menu in option bar is “Brush preset picker”. Here we can change brush tip, this menu shows different types of icon are actually different types of brushes available.

Now click on this small wheel icon. you will get here some list of different group of preset brushes. These brushes are inbuilt with Photoshop.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/068PxT2Xt-s


If you want to add any brush preset then just click on it. I choose “Square Brush”.

Then it will ask you to append brushes or replace them. “Append” means it will add them to existing list of brushes and if you click “ok” then it will replace all brushes together.

Now if you have set of brushes downloaded from internet by yourself, then to add those brushes you need to go end choose “Load brushes”.

To talk about editing the brush, I’m choosing a soft edge brush here, and you can see right above it “size” and “hardness”. You can set the size of your brush and hardness determines the hardness and softness of your brush edge.

If I keep hardness to 0, then brush will paint with very soft edges.

And if I set hardness on 100, then it will gona paint very hard and sharp edges.

And brush is going to paint the color whatever the color you have set in foreground color. Right now it’s black, but If I choose red color then it will paint with red.

Now one more thing is we can also apply blend modes to brushes. If I choose overlay mode and paint with same red color, then it will gona blend with the background image.

I can also play with it’s opacity. If I want to paint with same color with some transparency then I need to drag down the opacity. And the flow determines in how much area the pixels flow when clicking by brush.

If I want to resize my brush then this is the shortcut to do it. Just press “[“ and “]” to size up and down.

These are very basic features of brush tool but to become more creative we need to go ahead to one more step in advanced by adding behaviours to the brush.

Brush options to manage Behaviour of the Brush

For that I need to go and click on this icon, up in the options menu next to the “brush preset picker”

It will open up the “brush options panel. we also can open it from the “window” menu, and select “brush” to open same panel.

In this panel at the top of the list of options in “Brush tip shape”, we have same options as we have seen before in “brush preset picker” such like “size” , “angle” , “Roundness” , “Hardness” and “spacing”.

Check on these items below. If I want to change “shape dynamics” then just click on that and you will get it’s options to modify brush behaviours.

Such like “size jitter”. Just keep it in your mind that “Jitter” means it randomize that feature as you paints.

You can also choose different controls such like “fade” , “pen pressure” , “pen tilt” and “stylus wheel”.

Let me change my brush, so you can see the effect of every option when I change it.

You can see this “preview panel” at the bottom of “brush panel”. Where we can see changing behaviours of the brush as you change them.

So you have “size jitter”, “angel jitter”, “soundness jitter” and much more.

Brush will paint as I set different values in this panel.

Next I can scatter the brush. I can increase or decrease count of brush when we paint. And we can set “count jitter” too.

You can see it looks very nice.

Next I can give texture to the brush. For that go to pattern picker and choose any texture you like from texture menu. And modify all other behaviours as per your requirement.

In dual brushes we can use two different brushes at same time with the help of blending modes, and we can modify their size , spacing , scatter and count.

I can add “color dynamics” to my brush, the color of brush will be between foreground and background color, and we need to set hue jitter , saturation jitter , brightness jitter and purity to get proper output.

In this “Transfer” option I can randomize the opacity and flow of the brush. You can see the changes in brush opacity in preview panel.

“Brush pose” is the new feature which is able to modify “tilt” and “rotation” of any brush.

You can use “noise” to give little bit noise effect to your brush.

“Wet Edges”. It will give more natural look to your brush, it can give wet water color look.

Build up allows to build up on the top of it in a natural way you create with real brushes and natural colors.

Smoothing make things more smoother.

And you can protect your texture on images by checking on “protect texture” option.

So you have lots of options and behaviours of brushes,and you can make various types of brush designs everytime and push up your creativity.

Now in the next video we will gonna talk about how to work with “Text” in Photoshop.

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