Turns out you don't always need to be an amazing photographer to create photographic art. I came across graphic designer Bashar Hjooj's work on Instagram, where he combines two to three photographs shot by complete strangers to create art full of imagination with his own take.

Knowing how to light, pose, and shoot a portrait is only half of what it takes to produce a compelling finished product. Almost all portraits will need some degree of retouching, and as such, your editing skills need to be just as sharp as your skills behind the camera. If you are new to the craft, check out this excellent video tutorial that will show you five easy techniques for retouching skin in Photoshop.

In this video tutorial watch as Abby Esparza shows you how to create a burning effect in Photoshop. This is a really cool effect, and the way Esparza goes about doing this is definitely one of the best ways I have seen.

Every year, CreativeLive hosts an event called Photoshop Week that feature classes from world-renowned experts. These free classes range from beginner level classes to expert level education. While most people only get to see these classes through a computer screen, I got the opportunity to see first hand what goes on behind the scenes.

The impact of the final composited images depends more on the directing of the cute little model, than the image manipulation trickery. In this article I will share how I did both.

There are many ways to create a glow effect in Photoshop using layers and blending modes. What if you could do it in a fraction of the time and get even better results? Would you be interested?

Changing a subject's face or expression from one image to the next isn't as difficult as beginners think it will be. Here's a quick tutorial on exactly how you do it.

Sometimes, an image comes out of camera so close to perfect that it hardly needs any work. In this video, landscape photographer Thomas Heaton shows how little effort some images require while also reflecting on how much he still needs to learn.

The Get Well Tree is the latest touching project from the talented collaboration The heART Project. Many of the previous projects have been featured here. Each one brings amazing artists and sponsors together to help bring love and smiles to a family that has experienced some form of hardship. This time the project follows two childhood cancer survivors on a fantasy journey through a dream-like world. 12 photographers came together to create a 14-page photo storybook staring these two heroic little girls.

With many countries still experiencing different degrees of restrictions, arranging photoshoots can be difficult. If you want to keep learning, Photoshop techniques are a decent substitute.

During our 4 month project with Elia Locardi I didn't shave once. During this time my beard got a little out of control. Last week I had a little fun shaving it off slowly and creating portraits of myself as different characters. I'm now giving out the raw files to you, to abuse them as you see fit.

Earlier this week, the popular Photoshop luminosity masking panel Lumenzia moved on to version 8 and added plenty of new tools and an interesting UI tweak while retaining the workflow of the previous release.

Unifying skin tones in portraits is a pivotal skill that directly impacts the final quality of an image. This helpful video tutorial addresses the common challenge of mismatched or uneven skin tones, which can detract from the cohesiveness and aesthetic appeal of an image.

In this tutorial video watch how as I show you how to use the Luminar Sky Replacement tool in Photoshop.

Colored lighting gels can take the illumination in your images from standard to outstanding by adding color for a touch of interest and depth. And while nothing can create that look quite like the real thing, you can fake an interesting colored gel effect for your images using some simple tricks in Photoshop.

Our behind-the-scenes series on the filming of "Where Art Meets Architecture 3" continues today with episode 6. In this episode, Mike Kelley flies to the Fstoppers office in Charleston to start working on the post-processing portion of this tutorial.

Perhaps no editing tool is ubiquitous than the Clone Stamp. It has been around for decades now, and its uses and versatility are nearly infinite. And yet, we have seen an explosion of ultra-advanced AI-powered editing tools in recent months, which leads to the question: is the Clone Stamp finally obsolete? This interesting video essay discusses the topic while looking at some of those new AI tools.

Newborn babies tend to have different skin than their older counterparts and thus different retouching requirements. This helpful tutorial will show you everything you need to know about retouching newborn skin quickly and effectively in Photoshop.

Us photographers may be going a little stir crazy without new shoots to edit, so I propose an alternative.

An image with flat light can come across as forgettable and boring. Make your images more powerful and effective by shaping the light and guiding the eyes of the viewer to where you want them.

In his trademark understated introduction, Ted Forbes acknowledges that technology is a charged conversation for photographers. Photographers are something of a Luddite-like bunch. On the whole, we seem to have a preference for the technology we learned the craft on. Be that a medium format film camera, a digital DSLR and an early version of Photoshop Elements or a more modern mirrorless, we seem to stand up against the tide of change like it's in our DNA. What are we going to do about the rise of machine learning?

In this video tutorial, watch as Abbey Esparza shows you how to create a dynamic split water effect in Photoshop. This is a really cool effect that I have seen in many composite images. So, if you have always wondered how it is done, watch this tutorial.

Oniric is the new Photoshop plug-in from Composite Nation that creates seamless, customizable lighting effects with the click of a button.

The folks over at creativeLIVE are broadcasting an entire week of photoshop classes. Classes kicked off Monday, February 24 and will continue to stream LIVE for free until Friday, February 28th. This week covers a broad spectrum of things available to photographers in Lightroom and Photoshop such as workflow, digital file management, local and global adjustments, photo restoration, selections, and my personal favorite, advanced beauty retouching.

Changing someone's facial expression is not something you will do very often, but it can be a real lifesaver for those occasional group shots where someone didn't smile or the like. This great video tutorial will show you everything you need to know to efficienty and convincingly edit facial expressions using Photoshop.

Sharpening your images can either go two ways: oversharpened or not quite the mark of what you are seeking. What if you had full control of the sharpening process in a simple, straightforward plugin? Sound interesting?

When you are new to Photoshop, the Pen Tool can be one of the most difficult features to really become proficient in. Still, it is a very valuable tool and one that is definitely worth taking the time to learn and master. This great video tutorial will show you how it works and what you can do with it.

Oniric, from Composite Nation, is a plugin I've been looking for for a long while. Last year I caught an advert for it on Instagram and I haven't looked back since.

Have you ever cut out an object in Photoshop, put it on a new background, added a “drop shadow” effect, and sat in front of your monitor thinking, “This just looks so Photoshopped”? I’m here to help! Here are five easy steps to creating realistic drop shadows in Photoshop.

Love it or hate it, Halloween is right around the corner and it’s the perfect time of the year for spooky costumes, creative photography, and in the case of this video, some slick composite work in Photoshop.

Earlier today, Fstoppers writer Adam Ottke published an article introducing Adobe's latest plugin to help Apple iPhoto and Aperture users mirgrate to Adobe Lightroom. Unfortunately, many of the folks who've tried to use it have run into complications. Adobe seems to be watching closely, as they quickly updated the plugin page with detailed instructions guiding users through the migration process. For the full scoop, you can check out Adam's earlier article here, and see Adobe's full blog post here.

Clothing can be an annoying finicky thing, bunching up in distracting ways, or getting torn and stained at the most inopportune times. While fixing a stain in Photoshop is often relatively straightforward, dealing with a bunched-up sleeve can be tricky, particularly since clothing often has a fixed pattern you need to keep intact to make the edit believable. This helpful video tutorial from a Photoshop pro will show you everything you need to know to get it done correctly.

Makeup is one way to create a superb artistic portrait, but it’s not the only method. You could rely on post-production as well to make something different than everyone else does. In this 15-minute long tutorial, Nate from Tutvid shows you how to inlay someone’s face with text.

If you do a lot of layers-intensive work in Photoshop, you know that sometimes, navigating using just that little panel on the right can get a bit cumbersome. However, Photoshop has a built-in feature to help you search and filter layers, and this helpful tutorial shows you just how to use it.

In this video tutorial watch, Dean Samed shows us how to create evil undead eyes in Photoshop. These can be used in your Halloween or conceptual images.

As technology continues to work its way into the classroom more and more, Adobe is helping to lead the charge by releasing an updated suite of software designed specifically for students.

In this video walkthrough watch, as I show you how I created this large composite matte painting scene in Photoshop.

Sometimes it is good to step away from commercial work for a little while and practice styles or techniques you would not normally use or would like to get better at.

Masses gathered around the country to march in support together for women's rights. While each had their own unique story, most of what was heard was from adults in response to the new administration. One photographer wanted to go back to the youth of our nation to see how young girls and boys felt about these current issues to get to the root of the innocent take on the rights at hand.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to add a little pop of extra flare to your images, such as a backlit lens flare or maybe soft sunlight beaming in? This quick and effective method will show you how to create custom flares for your images in minutes.

Working with the brush tool is one of the most fundamental techniques every photographer should be well versed in when it comes to Photoshop. This great video shows you how to take your skills a step further by creating your own custom brushes for a variety of purposes.

In this video walkthrough watch, as I show you how to use the Portrait Enhance features in Luminar 4.2.

In this video tutorial, watch as Redouane Naouri shows you how to create a gel color lighting effect in Photoshop.

When taking landscape photos, it can sometimes be helpful to put yourself into the scene to provide a sense of scale. The same is true for night photos. But the long exposure times make it hard to create sharp selfies. In this video, Alyn Wallace shows how to solve this problem.

In this video walkthrough, watch as Dean Samed shows you all the steps it took to create this evil Santa composite portrait in Photoshop. This is a full walkthrough showing Samed's process from beginning to end.

In this video tutorial, watch as Abbey Esparza shows us how to create a surreal honeycomb effect in Photoshop. This can be used in your fantasy works and conceptual images.

Do you know how to make your own brushes in Photoshop? When you see how see easy it is, it will change your approach to editing forever.

Photoshop is a tremendously intricate program with literally hundreds of built-in functions, and each of us use it in different ways with different priorities. As such, you might want to create your own keyboard shortcuts to help you streamline your editing process, and this fantastic video tutorial will show you how to do just that.

In this video tutorial watch as Abbey Esparza shows you how to create a digital face paint effect in Photoshop. There are many ways to do this, but this is one way I have not come across before.

In this video tutorial, watch as Dean Samed gives you the low down on all things stock image related. The video is from the perspective of a photo manipulator.