Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of - Smashing Magazine

When it comes to graphic design, Adobe Photoshop is usually the first option to consider. However, the software itself is a quite tough nut to crack and definitely extremely hard to master. For instance, the concepts are not always intuitive and its not always clear when to use what tool and how to use it effectively. In fact, in Photoshop it usually takes pretty much time to achieve something you have never done before.

However, you dont need to muddle through numerous Photoshop features and extensions for every design problem. You can use professional suggestions instead, e.g. professional step-by-step tutorials which provide excellent results and thus can save you a lot of time.

One year ago weve presented a hand-picked collection of Photoshop tutorials¹. Now its time for a fresh portion of healthy Photoshop learning material. This article provides professional Adobe Photoshop tutorials which can enrich your design skills and improve the quality of your works. Although the authors of the tutorials rarely provide the information about the used version, we tried to pick only those tutorials that can be used with both CS 3 and older versions of Adobe Photoshop.

Photo- and Picture Editing and Processing

• MP3 Player Design²
  In this tutorial you will learn how to design a product in Photoshop. The product is a RCA Lyra X3030 portable media player. Although the chances are, you are thinking why would I need to make it?, the reason for this tutorial is to teach people the techniques used for mocking up a product design

  .³

• Magic Lighting Effect⁴
  How to create a nice light and magic effect

  .⁵

• Selecting & Extracting Hair Masking Tutorial Extraction Tips⁶
  One of the most challenging montage or masking jobs in the profession of post-production editing is the hair lift. When the model has long flowing hair and the subject needs to change location many post-production artists call in sick

  .⁷

• Add a Dreamy or Misty Effect To Your Photos⁸
  This quick tutorial will show how to add a really cool dreamy or misty effect to your photos. This tutorial works best with nature related images

  .⁹

• Improving the Quality of Photos¹⁰
  Improve the look of your photos by playing with some simple Photoshop techniques

  .¹¹

• Fake Model Photography¹²
  With a very little effort, you can take existing photographs of everyday scenes and make it look like theyre actually of miniature models

  .¹³

• Displacement Water¹⁴
  Creating a realistic water surface in Photoshop is quite a challenge because it is the distorted reflection of the surroundings that makes the water look liquid. The displace filter is an excellent tool for making this distortion

  .¹⁵

• Photoshop tutorial and Post-producted glasses¹⁶
  To save your time think to photo retouch especially frosted glasses

  .¹⁷

• Professional glamour style photo retouch¹⁸
  This is the first chapter of a main tutorial divided in six parts. In this one you will learn how to photo retouch the skin of a model in a few steps. Better results can be obtained by using a graphic tablet instead of a mouse

  .¹⁹

• Give Your Photos a Retro Comic Book Effect²⁰
  How about a fun effect for your incredibly boring photo albums? Creating a old comic book effect for your photos is easy and the results are visually appealing. More fun is achieved when adding captions to your photos using comic book fonts and design elements

  .²¹

• Space and Planet Tutorial²²
  The techniques below will show you how to create an image similar to the final result I have obtained below although the image below took 3 hours to paint with alot of fine detail work, you will still get the idea

  .²³

• Faking HDR in Adobe Photoshop²⁴
  This HDR tutorial shows quite easy way to fake HDR foto in Photoshop. You dont need to shoot into RAW or take photos with different exposure one JPEG is enough. If you can work with masks in Photoshop, you have an advantage. Part of tutorial is HDR action for download

  .²⁵

• 11 Super Awesome Photoshop Movie Effects²⁶
  11 most-favorite movie-effect tutorials. From Scarface to Sin City to Pirates of the Carribean to 300, weve got 11 great ways to go Hollywood on your photos

  .²⁷

• A movie-effect with Photoshop²⁸
  This tutorial explains how to turn your photo into the movie-like image using Adobe Photoshop

  .²⁹

• Visual effects in the style of 300³⁰
  Heres a little Photoshop guide to mimic the 300 style. The effects could also be applied to video in After Effects with a similar setup

  .³¹

• Bringing a Stone Statue to Life³²
  Learn how to take a stone statue and alter it to look life-like

  .³³

• 4 Easy Photoshop Techniques to Make Your Pictures Pop³⁴
  In this tutorial I will be demonstrating some quick, easy methods for adding drama and/or interest to your shots. As far as I know, these methods should work for both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.³⁵
• Devils Eye³⁶
  Some eyes are just too pretty, but I bet some of you would change that if you could. I am going to try to explain how to make eyes look more sinister, And remember this is coming from a begginer,so bare with me. Photoshop CS2

  .³⁷

• Beautiful lighting FX effect in Photoshop³⁸
  This tutorial will show you how to make a beautiful lighting effect on scatters by using Photoshop. Keep in mind that I only provide the basic guidelines to creating this type of effect. There are tons of possibilities if you spend time to play with the settings and keep your creativity wide open

  .³⁹

• Water Drops⁴⁰
  So simple, and realistic, these water drops (and optional ice drops) are also simple to do anywhere, anytime

  .⁴¹

• 3D Ice Cube⁴²
  In this tutorial well try to build a realistic 3D ice cube. Usually this kind of stuff is done with the help of some 3D software like Maya or 3DMax, still well try to use Photoshop tools to do the work

  .⁴³

• Alienize: Transform a person into an alien⁴⁴
  In this tutorial is written how to create a very cool looking alien using Adobe Photoshop. Grab a picture of someone and get ready to alienize it

  .⁴⁵

• Water Spirit Drawing Fire⁴⁶
  This tutorial will show You how to place a fire on someones hands

  .⁴⁷

• Creating a 3D effect with image editing software⁴⁸
  Heres how to make a neat effect to make it look like the subject of a photo is popping out of the background. This can be done with GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) or Photoshop

  .⁴⁹

• How to use Photoshop to create Product Box?⁵⁰
  How many times you wanted to create cool product box for some of your products? Sure, there are many ways, and with new Photoshop you have even more options to create boxes

  .⁵¹

• Super Fly Box Maker⁵²
  These boxes can be used to advertise almost anything (not just software). This is great if you want to catch a viewers attention, and it also gives your product display a more professional look and feel

  .⁵³

• Flaming Hair⁵⁴
  Tutorial with some simple brushing techniques, and a bit of color tweaking, you can spice up your photo

  .⁵⁵

• Create a Realistic Torn Paper Effect⁵⁶
  Torn paper is one of the key elements to achieving the distressed / collage look. This tutorial covers a few simple steps in Adobe Photoshop to create a realistic looking torn paper effect taking you on your way to Destroying the Web 2.0 Look

  .⁵⁷

• Creating a Mac-Type Background in Photoshop⁵⁸
  This tutorial is about making a mac style background. You can use these in all sorts of situations, including the obvious your desktop as well as part of your designs or for corporate work (powerpoint presentations, flash work etc). Naturally you wouldnt want to use this exact set of steps, but following them will give you a good idea of the technique. Good luck!⁵⁹

Drawings, Paintings, Cartoons

• Skin Painting Tutorial⁶⁰
  Learn how to paint a realistically looking skin with Photoshop

  .⁶¹

• Making of The Blues Singer Leaves Town⁶²
  This picture was done in a hot summer day, in the memory of an old anime series I used to watch as a kid, about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Historically, its off from that period, but its the feeling of summer, childhood fascination and nature that I wanted to re-create. Its also a tribute to music. 4 pages

  .⁶³

• Fox Fire Tutorial⁶⁴
  Converting from hand-sketched picture to a digital masterpiece

  .⁶⁵

• Easy Watercolor Painting Effect⁶⁶
  In this Adobe Photoshop tutorial, were going to learn how to easily make a photo look more like a watercolor painting. This photo effect works best on images where maintaining rich colors and strong contrast is more important than keeping any fine details, since youll be losing a lot of detail with this effect

  .⁶⁷

• Soft Cell Shading⁶⁸
  Learn how to paint softlry, as a variation of cell shading, eventually going through a total of seven stages

  .⁶⁹

• Sketch to Paint⁷⁰
  Digital artist David Cousens reveals how to develop a sci-fi art sketch in Adobe Photoshop using the airbrush and a few nifty tricks

  .⁷¹

• Portrait Painting⁷²
  Learn how to draw a portrait from a hand-drawn sketch

  .⁷³

• Drawing from a reference photo⁷⁴
  The original photo: I locate it on the bottom layer to use for some initial tracing, primarily to save time and get the perspective correct. Some people prefer not to trace

  .⁷⁵

Texteffects

Buttons, Logos & Menus

Adobe Photoshop Techniques

• Color adjustment tutorial¹¹⁰
  This tutorial shows how to get more mood into your pictures via Adjustment Layers and some other effects

  .¹¹¹

• Vector Polishing Techniques¹¹²
  This tutorial includes 9 Photoshop techniques that will show you how to add more depth, color, contrast, and texture into your vector art

  .¹¹³

• Advanced Black and White Conversion¹¹⁴
  In this tutorial, we will convert an RGB image to Black and White using Photoshop CS3s new improved Black and White features

  .¹¹⁵

• Actions Tutorial ¹¹⁶
  Toning With Duotones, Tritones And Quadtones
• 101 Hidden Tips & Secrets¹¹⁷
  An overview of professional suggestions, tips and tricks for Adobe Photoshop users.
• Using Actions to Automate Tasks¹¹⁸
  While Adobe Photoshop has a host of automation tools, one of the most versatile and powerful of them is called an action. In fact, some of the other automation commands, such as batches and droplets, derive their functionality from actions.

Further Resources

You can find even more Adobe Photoshop tutorials in the articles and resouces weve listed below.

Footnotes

1. 1 http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/01/12/hand-picked-photoshop-tutorials/
2. 2 http://www.zymic.com/tutorials/photoshop/mp3-player-design/
3. 3 http://www.zymic.com/tutorials/photoshop/mp3-player-design/
4. 4 http://abduzeedo.com/magic-lighting-effect-photoshop
5. 5 http://abduzeedo.com/magic-lighting-effect-photoshop
6. 6 http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/tutorials/extract-hair/masking-tutorial.html
7. 7 http://www.photoshopsupport.com/elements/tutorials/extract-hair/masking-tutorial.html
8. 8 http://niftytutorials.com/photo-effects/add-a-dreamy-or-misty-effect-to-your-photos/#more-80
9. 9 http://niftytutorials.com/photo-effects/add-a-dreamy-or-misty-effect-to-your-photos/#more-80
10. 10 http://flickr.com/photos/soffia/505766043/
11. 11 http://flickr.com/photos/soffia/505766043/
12. 12 http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
13. 13 http://recedinghairline.co.uk/tutorials/fakemodel/
14. 14 http://photoshopcontest.com/tutorials/26/displacement-water.html
15. 15 http://photoshopcontest.com/tutorials/26/displacement-water.html
16. 16 http://www.grafica3dblog.it/photoshop_tutorial_glass.htm
17. 17 http://www.grafica3dblog.it/photoshop_tutorial_glass.htm
18. 18 http://www.adobesoftwares.com/eng-photoshop-tutorials-english/1794-professional-photoretouch.html
19. 19 http://www.adobesoftwares.com/eng-photoshop-tutorials-english/1794-professional-photoretouch.html
20. 20 http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/09/13/give-your-photos-a-retro-comic-book-effect/
21. 21 http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/09/13/give-your-photos-a-retro-comic-book-effect/
22. 22 http://www.freephotoshop.ca/tutorials/effects/photoshop-space-and-planet-tutorial
23. 23 http://www.freephotoshop.ca/tutorials/effects/photoshop-space-and-planet-tutorial
24. 24 http://www.nill.cz/index.php?set=tu1
25. 25 http://www.nill.cz/index.php?set=tu1
26. 26 http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/best-movie-effect-photo-tutorials-photoshop/
27. 27 http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/best-movie-effect-photo-tutorials-photoshop/
28. 28 http://ebin.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/how-to-turn-your-photo-into-movie-like-effect-using-photoshop/
29. 29 http://ebin.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/how-to-turn-your-photo-into-movie-like-effect-using-photoshop/
30. 30 http://www.rickdavidson.com/2007/04/30/visual-effects-in-the-style-of-300/
31. 31 http://www.rickdavidson.com/2007/04/30/visual-effects-in-the-style-of-300/
32. 32 http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161354
33. 33 http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161354
34. 34 http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/4-easy-photoshop-techniques-to-make-your-pictures-pop
35. 35 http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/4-easy-photoshop-techniques-to-make-your-pictures-pop
36. 36 http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161299
37. 37 http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161299
38. 38 http://9tutorials.com/2007/09/05/beautiful-lighting-fx-effect-in-photoshop.html
39. 39 http://9tutorials.com/2007/09/05/beautiful-lighting-fx-effect-in-photoshop.html
40. 40 http://www.n-sane.net/effects/water-drops/index.php
41. 41 http://www.n-sane.net/effects/water-drops/index.php
42. 42 http://www.3datadesign.com/gallery/eng/tutorial_3dcube.php
43. 43 http://www.3datadesign.com/gallery/eng/tutorial_3dcube.php
44. 44 http://www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/alienize_transform_a_person_into_an_alien.html
45. 45 http://www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/alienize_transform_a_person_into_an_alien.html
46. 46 http://bwebi.com/water-spirit-drawing-fire.html
47. 47 http://bwebi.com/water-spirit-drawing-fire.html
48. 48 http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-a-3D-effect-with-image-editing--software-/
49. 49 http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-a-3D-effect-with-image-editing--software-/
50. 50 http://www.emanuelblagonic.com/2007/07/19/how-to-use-photoshop-to-create-product-box/
51. 51 http://www.emanuelblagonic.com/2007/07/19/how-to-use-photoshop-to-create-product-box/
52. 52 http://pixelmana.com/?p=31
53. 53 http://pixelmana.com/?p=31
54. 54 http://luxa.org/tutorial_phoenix_hair_effect.php
55. 55 http://luxa.org/tutorial_phoenix_hair_effect.php
56. 56 http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-realistic-torn-paper-effect-in-photoshop
57. 57 http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-realistic-torn-paper-effect-in-photoshop
58. 58 http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/creating-a-mac-type-background-in-photoshop/
59. 59 http://psdtuts.com/tutorials-effects/creating-a-mac-type-background-in-photoshop/
60. 60 http://crazydwarf.deviantart.com/art/SKIN-PAINTING-TUTORIAL-23525496
61. 61 http://crazydwarf.deviantart.com/art/SKIN-PAINTING-TUTORIAL-23525496
62. 62 http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/photoshop/bluesinger/index.html
63. 63 http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/photoshop/bluesinger/index.html
64. 64 http://ashwings.deviantart.com/art/Fox-Fire-Tutorial-18131848
65. 65 http://ashwings.deviantart.com/art/Fox-Fire-Tutorial-18131848
66. 66 http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/watercolor-painting/
67. 67 http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/watercolor-painting/
68. 68 http://getty.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-for-soft-cell-shading-27544088
69. 69 http://getty.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-for-soft-cell-shading-27544088
70. 70 http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/index.cfm?FeatureID=1625
71. 71 http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/features/index.cfm?FeatureID=1625
72. 72 http://acidlullaby.deviantart.com/art/Portrait-Painting-Tutorial-22707443
73. 73 http://acidlullaby.deviantart.com/art/Portrait-Painting-Tutorial-22707443
74. 74 http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/painting_candle_tutorial.php
75. 75 http://gas13.ru/v3/tutorials/painting_candle_tutorial.php
76. 76 http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureID=1617
77. 77 http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/index.cfm?featureID=1617
78. 78 http://www.shotgunmag.co.uk/?p=33
79. 79 http://www.shotgunmag.co.uk/?p=33
80. 80 http://psdtuts.com/text-effects-tutorials/create-a-spectacular-flaming-meteor-effect-on-text/
81. 81 http://psdtuts.com/text-effects-tutorials/create-a-spectacular-flaming-meteor-effect-on-text/
82. 82 http://luxa.org/tutorial_smooth_glass_type.php
83. 83 http://luxa.org/tutorial_smooth_glass_type.php
84. 84 http://www.photoshopstar.com/text/recreate-the-bee-movie-text-effect/
85. 85 http://www.photoshopstar.com/text/recreate-the-bee-movie-text-effect/
86. 86 http://psdtuts.com/text-effects-tutorials/plastic-jelly-styles/
87. 87 http://psdtuts.com/text-effects-tutorials/plastic-jelly-styles/
88. 88 http://www.talk-mania.com/showthread.php?t=13295
89. 89 http://www.talk-mania.com/showthread.php?t=13295
90. 90 http://boonage.pjss2.net/2007/05/20/orb-button-effect-photoshop-part/
91. 91 http://boonage.pjss2.net/2007/05/20/orb-button-effect-photoshop-part/
92. 92 http://www.muymono.com/tutorials/37/
93. 93 http://www.muymono.com/tutorials/37/
94. 94 http://psdtuts.com/photo-effects-tutorials/photoshop-button-maker/
95. 95 http://psdtuts.com/photo-effects-tutorials/photoshop-button-maker/
96. 96 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/design-watercolor-effect-menu/
97. 97 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/design-watercolor-effect-menu/
98. 98 http://www.photoshopstar.com/web-graphics/satisfaction-guaranteed-seal-or-badge/
99. 99 http://www.photoshopstar.com/web-graphics/satisfaction-guaranteed-seal-or-badge/
100. 100 http://www.empiredezign.com/version2/portfolio/pages/tutorials/window.htm
101. 101 http://www.empiredezign.com/version2/portfolio/pages/tutorials/window.htm
102. 102 http://www.photoshopstar.com/web-graphics/glossy-style-carbon-fibre-navigation-set/
103. 103 http://www.photoshopstar.com/web-graphics/glossy-style-carbon-fibre-navigation-set/
104. 104 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/how-to-design-mini-icons/
105. 105 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/how-to-design-mini-icons/
106. 106 http://www.pstut.info/?p=89
107. 107 http://www.pstut.info/?p=89
108. 108 http://nobstutorials.com/tutorials/20071010/banner-ad-tutorial/
109. 109 http://nobstutorials.com/tutorials/20071010/banner-ad-tutorial/
110. 110 http://abuze.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Color-Adjust-25721834
111. 111 http://abuze.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Color-Adjust-25721834
112. 112 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/vector-polishing-techniques/
113. 113 http://www.webdesignerwall.com/tutorials/vector-polishing-techniques/
114. 114 http://www.muymono.com/tutorials/p26/
115. 115 http://www.muymono.com/tutorials/p26/
116. 116 http://www.photoshopsupport.com/tools/actions-tutorials/duotone-tritone-quadtone-actions-tutorial.html
117. 117 http://www.11amdesign.com/faq/index.php?sid=308&lang=en&action=artikel&cat=1&id=343&artlang=en
118. 118 http://morris-photographics.com/photoshop/tutorials/actions.html
119. 119 http://www.noupe.com/photoshop/1000-free-high-resolution-photoshop-brush-sets.html
120. 120 http://psdtuts.com/
121. 121 http://www.tutorialfeed.com
122. 122 http://www.designvitality.com/blog/2007/09/photoshop-text-effect-tutorial/
123. 123 http://www.designvitality.com/blog/2007/10/photoshop-button-tutorials/
124. 124 http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/top-5-photoshop-tutorials
125. 125 http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2007/07/22/the-best-80-photoshop-text-effects-on-the-web/
126. 126 http://www.emmaalvarez.com/2008/01/top-best-55-photoshop-tutorials-for.html

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Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of - Smashing Magazine
When it comes to graphic design, Adobe Photoshop is usually the first option to consider. However, the software itself is a quite tough nut to crack

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of Smashing Magazine ...
When it comes to graphic design, Adobe Photoshop is usually the first option to consider. However, the software itself is a quite tough nut to crack and definitely

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials - Best Of Smashing Magazine ...
When it comes to graphic design, Adobe Photoshop is usually the first option to consider. However, the software itself is a quite tough nut to crack and definitely

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials Best Of Smashing Magazine ...
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