10 Mistakes People Make in Photoshop

With great power comes great responsibility, or something like that. Photoshop is an enormously capable application with a multitude of uses and misuses. Here are 10 such misuses you might not have thought of.

Most, if not all of us have gone through phases in our photography growth: the HDR phase, the oversharpening phase, etc. And while these are some of the more obvious mistakes that you should generally avoid when using Photoshop, there are some subtler things borne of the process more than the end product. For example, retouching directly on a layer is to be avoided. While this may not cause any issues when you're working, if your client decides they want something you edited out in the photo, it's much easier to mask it back in from a separate retouching layer than if you had directly edited the original. Nondestructive editing will always make your life easier. Another common theme in the video seems to be a tendency to overdo techniques. Perhaps the most universal Photoshop advice I could ever recommend is "less is more." It's almost always better to err on the side of being conservative with your editing. Also, never use selective coloring. Just say no. 

[via Shutterbug]

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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8 Comments

"...or something like that." :-)

you may regret using an enormous microphone in the long term

dam that's a big one. he travels with that ?

My only real mistake in regards to Photoshop, is using it in the first place. Not the most fun photo editing app to use. I really enjoy using Lightroom.

What an absurd microphone arrangement. Now I can't take him seriously.

maybe he's tiny

I have to say that I really hate articles/videos with titles such as "N things you're doing wrong". I feel they have this self entitlement attitude as if they are the only ones who hold the absolute truth about something and they assume that you're doing it wrong.

Although I agree with all the points the guy makes in the video (which are far from being revelations of any kind anyway), I still feel that there aren't "things you MUST avoid", but rather things you should try to stay away from unless you have a reason. Let's take the selective coloring for example, I agree that it's generally not that cool as people may think it is, but it doesn't mean you should never use it, look at Schindler's List and then tell me again that you must never use the selective coloring.

Lost me at "bevel and emboss"... Seriously, it's been a joke of overuse/abuse since at least 2009 in design. I haven't been into photography quite that long, but since I have gotten into photography, and more specifically since I've began comparing various photographers to either their work or online opinions, it's been apparent photographers are [for the most part] aware of many basic design concepts, whether they know it or not. In addition, the way "text" was referred to so simply seemed overly simplified combined with any advise/comment on a specific typeface example- like someone who's speaking to "text" without any actual typeface theory knowledge.

Maybe I listened a little more...

When he starts speaking to his rectangle shape he uses the terms HTML, elements, CSS, and z-index so loosely that it appears he's not very knowledgeable of what exactly they all are. He also begins the video portion with his example "rectangle", but proceeds to finish it off by using the term "square". The statement, "everything in CSS is absolutely positioned" is not correct, and his z-index example pertaining to the statement is pretty bad, as well. Again, it seems like he doesn't have a full understanding of z-index. While it can only be used in absolute placed elements, it's purpose is in stacking. His single "rectangle' or "square" is hardly a meaningful reason to mention the z-index attribute (there's no stacking).

At this point, I really did stop watching...