Adobe Photoshop is the leading image editing software tool around, allowing users to crop, resize and enhance photos. It’s the ideal tool for manipulating images to use with your self-printing greeting cards or CD wallets. Creative professionals and designers swear by it but there are also affordable packages for home users.

For those who have the tool or who are considering buying it, here are some of our favourite tips and tricks to using it.

Transform

To change the size of an image, rotate, flip or distort it, click Edit, then Transform and select a function. Alternatively, press Ctrl + T for a shortcut. A bounding box will appear around the image, indicating you can now resize your image. The best approach is to place the cursor on one of the rectangle corners and then drag the corner while holding the Shift key. Press Enter when you are happy and you’re finished.

Spot healing brush

As the name suggests, the Spot Healing Brush Tool allows you to remove imperfections, fix blemishes, and clear up spots on pics of people, landscapes or whatever you desire. To remove a pimple from a picture of person, click on the tool and brush over the area. The tool will pick up the colour and texture of the surrounding area, so the end result is seamless.

Layer styles

Layer styles are cool special effects you can add to your image, such as drop shadows and strokes. There are plenty of free layer styles to download from the internet if you search for them. 

Photoshop Filter Gallery

More special effects can be applied using Photoshop Filter Gallery. In just a few clicks you make photo images look like they were hand drawn, taken in sepia or crayoned in. The Filter Gallery is a good place to explore if you are new to Photoshop and you add more than one at a time. To apply a filter select the layer and go to Filter > Filter Gallery.

Bring colour to black-and-white photos

Photoshop allows you to add colour to old photos but still retain their vintage feel. Alternatively, you can make a new colour photo look like a colourised old photo by first converting it to black-and-white. A helpful tutorial on how to achieve this can be found here.