10 BEST PHOTOSHOP TOOLS
THE 10 BEST TOOLS & FEATURES IN PHOTOSHOP 2024
Polish your pictures to perfection with these essential edits in Photoshop CC. Dan Mold shares his 10 favourite tools, tips and tricks
Since its inception in 1988, Adobe Photoshop has had no shortage of changes. From launching layers in 1994 to taking the decision to move to its CC subscription model in 2013, Adobe’s photo editing software has always grown and evolved. Last year was no different as we saw the release of Adobe’s game-changing Generative Fill technology. This uses AI to make difficult edits much easier, with text-to-image prompts, and will transform the landscape yet again for photographers and content creators.
While AI can certainly be used to assist post-production, let’s not forget that editing, while important, is only half the equation. We should all continue to learn the skills to take the best photos we can in-camera. That said, if you’ve taken a brilliant shot, then Photoshop 2024 has the tools and features that can make it look even better.
In this feature, we’ll look at our favourite 10 ways to help you polish your captures. These features and tools specifically apply to jpeg images, so if you shoot raw files make sure you edit your images first in Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom (or your preferred raw editor) then bring the exported jpeg into Photoshop and get stuck into the tools we cover here.
If you want to learn more about editing raw files, then see the ‘Master RAW!’ feature in issue 262 (if you’re a Digital Camera subscriber, you can access all our digital back issues for free – see page 42).
1 START WITH THE BASICS: HOW TO CROP IMAGES
With some basic levelling adjustments your images will be top of the crops!
One of the perks of Adobe moving to its Creative Cloud subscription O model is that you’ll pay a set monthly fee, but you’ll have access to the newest version of Adobe software at no extra cost.
It’s currently £10 per month for the Photography Plan, which gives you Adobe Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC as well as Lightroom Classic. Head to your Adobe Creative Cloud app to check that you’re using the latest versions and have access to the latest features and tools.
We’ll kick things off in Photoshop CC with the often-overlooked Crop Tool (right). A crop is one of the most simple, yet effective edits you can make to give your images more impact. Here’s how to get the most out of it...
PHOTOSHOP CC 2024 INTERFACE
The Photoshop interface has hardly changed over the years with small tweaks and extra tools added to the Toolbar (1) year on year. Be sure to check your Options bar (2) as it offers more control when working with a specific tool, like th
