Course Photoshop Graphic Design on Laptop & PC

Editing and Retouching Photos

Photos, Branding & Exports Preview

Photos worth designing with

A strong photo sells a design faster than anything else - and Photoshop is the best tool in the world for making a photo strong. This lesson covers the edits that matter: exposure, colour, sharpness and cleaning up.

Difficulty: IntermediatePlatform: Laptop / PC (Windows or macOS)Apps: Adobe PhotoshopSkill: Photo editing

Adjust light and colour non-destructively

Use adjustment layers (the half-filled circle at the bottom of the Layers panel) instead of editing pixels directly. Brightness/Contrast, Levels and Curves fix exposure; Hue/Saturation and Vibrance fix colour. Adjustment layers can be removed or edited anytime - nothing is baked in.

Remove spots and blemishes

  • Spot Healing Brush (J) - brush over a spot and it disappears
  • Healing Brush (J) - sample a clean area, then paint over the problem
  • Clone Stamp (S) - copy pixels from one area to another

Crop and straighten

Use the Crop tool (C) to trim, and drag just outside a corner handle to rotate and straighten a crooked photo. Press Enter to apply.

Sharpen and export

Finish with Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen or Unsharp Mask for a crisp look. Then save a PSD master and export a final JPG (File > Save a Copy > JPEG) for sharing.

Tip: Edit on duplicate layers or with adjustment layers, never directly on the original - you keep a clean version to go back to.
Warning: Do not over-sharpen or over-saturate. The goal is a photo that looks natural and professional, not one that screams "edited".

Practical exercise

Edit a photo:

  1. Open any photo
  2. Fix exposure with Levels or Brightness/Contrast
  3. Remove two blemishes with the Spot Healing Brush
  4. Crop and straighten it
  5. Sharpen slightly and export as JPG

Check your understanding

  1. Why use adjustment layers?They are non-destructive - you can edit or remove them anytime.
  2. Which tool removes a small spot?The Spot Healing Brush.
  3. What should you always keep as your master file?The PSD with all layers intact.

Answer the questions out loud or on paper. If any are hard, re-read this lesson before moving on.

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