Learn how to retouch and color correct photos, combine images, and create graphics in Photoshop. This course covers the basic and intermediate features of Photoshop such as color/contrast, photo retouching, layers, masks, filters, and saving files for web/video/print.
Master Photoshop from the ground up and prepare for the Adobe Certified Professional exam with expert-led training, hands-on projects, and personalized tutoring. This comprehensive program is ideal for aspiring designers, photographers, and creative professionals looking to earn industry-recognized certification.
Begin your journey as a professional graphic designer by learning the essential skills and tools used by industry experts. Gain hands-on experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, and create a stunning portfolio to showcase your talent to potential employers or clients.
Adobe's image-editing and retouching application is so popular that its name has become a verb. Everyone recognizes that an image that has been Photoshopped has been altered from its original form. With the addition of AI tools, Photoshop can do even more. Photoshop lets amateurs improve their photography by fixing mistakes after they've taken the pictures. Professionals use Photoshop to manipulate photos for advertisements, publications, and websites. They can also create original artwork using Photoshop's many enhancement tools. In recent years, Photoshop has become invaluable to the photo restoration industry and has helped many people restore damaged family heirlooms.
You can use Photoshop to alter or repair images or create completely new works of art on Windows or MacOS. With Photoshop, you can crop an image, change the colors, fix problems like blurry spots or red eyes, cut people or objects out of a photo or add them in, draw on the image or add text. Photoshop can organize photos for easy access, publish your images on websites or social media, and add them to emails. Whether you want to retouch your photos, create unique works of digital art, or restore family treasures, Photoshop is the way to go.
Photoshop was created by Thomas and John Knoll in 1987 and sold to Adobe Systems in 1988. Thomas Knoll wrote a computer program that would display grayscale images on a monochrome monitor for the Mac, and his brother John suggested turning it into digital image editing software. The first version was released for Macintosh in 1990 and a Windows version, Photoshop 2.5, came out in 1992.
You can choose different versions depending on your needs. Photoshop CC is the full professional-level version included with an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Photoshop Elements is the consumer level designed for amateur photographers. Photoshop Lightroom is used to edit a large batch of images with non-destructive tools so that the original image remains intact. Photoshop Express is a streamlined version for iPhone. Like all of Adobe's products, Photoshop integrates seamlessly with other Adobe applications like Illustrator, Animate, or Premiere Pro.
When you think of Photoshop, photography is probably the first thing that comes to mind. The application is invaluable to digital Photographers on both a professional and amateur level for altering images to repair problems or create intriguing effects. Graphic Artists use Photoshop to prepare images for publication online or in print and to create composites. Creative Artists can use Photoshop's image-editing abilities to put together complete works of art with static or moving images.
Artists are not the only ones who use Photoshop. UX/UI Designers import and manipulate images as part of design mockups. They create logos, add graphics and text, and add PSD files for front-end Web Developers to work with. Developers can then change colors and work in layers to get just the right look for the website. Social Media Managers also use Photoshop to create engaging posts.
When you sign up for a class in Adobe Photoshop, you will learn the tools you need to edit and correct photos, combine images together, and add graphics. Some specific skills include editing, color correction, layers, typography, drawing, composition, and organization. These skills can help you improve your digital photography or start you on the road to a new career.
Photoshop offers many editing tools to help you modify or improve digital images. These include selection and moving tools that allow you to choose a section of an image and move it for editing. The navigation tools move you around the image, rotate it, or zoom in and out. Measuring tools provide notation tools, rulers, and counters so you can fit your images to a particular size and color. With painting tools, like the brush and pencil tools, you can do linework or brushstrokes and the paint bucket, color replacement, and gradient tools let you change colors to anything you can imagine. Add text to images with the type tool with a choice of thousands of fonts. Retouching tools are some of the most popular and allow you to remove blemishes from portraits or hide that unfortunately placed garbage can. Cropping and slicing lets you get rid of unwanted sections of an image or add additional area.
Another skill you will learn in a Photoshop class is how to alter or correct color in images. This includes working with contrast and saturation to achieve the look you want. You will also learn how to create unique colors with the gradient tool. An important advantage to signing up for a Photoshop course is that the instructor will be an experienced professional who can also teach you about color theory and how to make the best choices when working with color.
Adobe products work in layers. This means that it is possible to make changes to one section of an image without changing the original file. This allows you to experiment with different effects to see if you like them before deciding on a final image. This is referred to as nondestructive editing because you are not changing the original file and can go back to it whenever you want.
Typography is the art of using typefaces and fonts to the best effect. A Photoshop class will teach you not only how to use the type tool but also the typography best practices to help you create the most effective text images. With Photoshop you can add, edit, and format text layers to any design.
Photoshop's editing tools are based on raster graphics which work with pixels to make changes. The drawing tools let you create vector graphics shapes and paths in a layer that can be easily resized for different devices or uses. There are many drawing tools and some of the most popular include paint tools, brush tools, the pen tool, polygon tool, eraser, line tool, pencil, selection tool, and tracing. The drawing tools can be combined in different layers for a final image.
It is one thing to learn how to use the tools, but it is another to understand which to use and why. A class in Adobe Photoshop will also cover composition, theory of how to arrange your photos in the most effective way. This can involve the use of color, contrast, light, shadow, and placement to create the most effective image. Composition draws the eye to different parts of the image to create an emotional effect, and the instructor will address the best ways to get the effect you are looking for.
Photoshop is one of the easier Adobe applications to learn, but that does not mean that it is simple. When you learn any new software program, some parts will be easier than others and this often differs between students depending on strengths, interests, and abilities. If you have a few years of experience with digital photography, you may learn editing easily. If you have worked with design software, adding text and image composition may be less daunting.
Many beginners find the pen tool a bit tricky to learn, but it is one of the most commonly used tools for photo editing, so mastering it is worthwhile. The pen tool is similar to using a pen and paper, and some people find it easier to use a digital tablet and stylus than a mouse. Another challenge for beginners to Adobe products is working with layers. It can be difficult to work on individual layers rather than editing the image as a whole, but working in layers provides much more control and it's worth the extra practice.
The key to learning any new software is to keep practicing. The more you work with it, the more skilled you will become. This is where taking a class can be an advantage. Classes include carefully designed assignments to help you learn and practice the most basic functions first and then move on to the more advanced techniques.
It takes the typical beginner two to three months to feel comfortable using Photoshop. It can take longer to master the program. The first step in learning Photoshop is to familiarize yourself with the interface. Memorizing where the most commonly used tools are located can significantly reduce learning time. This usually takes a few hours. Some tools build on each other, so learning each tool one at a time allows students to practice individual tools before combining them. Taking the time to practice each one before moving on to another will help cement the function of the tool and make it easier to remember later.
Another aspect that makes learning Photoshop quicker is the level of experience you have with design principles. If you are already familiar with color theory, typography, and composition, you may be able to become proficient in Photoshop more quickly. The reason you're learning Photoshop can also affect how long it takes to master the program. If you are taking a Photoshop class to learn to edit your personal photos, you may be less inclined to spend the time it takes to learn the more advanced techniques. If you are learning Photoshop to start a new career, that can often be a stronger motivator.
When you sign up for a Photoshop course, you can choose in-person or online training. Some people are more comfortable in a traditional classroom atmosphere where they can ask questions and get help from an experienced instructor. This can help students hold themselves accountable for attending class and completing assignments. You can also meet new people in an in-person class and network with fellow students. One of the disadvantages of in-person classes is the time and money it takes to get to class. It can take a long time to drive to class, especially if you have to travel from out of town. Parking can be expensive and difficult to find. The way around this is to enroll in a virtual Photoshop class.
Virtual classes come in two versions: live online and on-demand. Live online classes often run in conjunction with an in-person session. Some students attend class in the room and others log on through a video conferencing platform from anywhere with an internet connection. You can ask questions and interact in real-time with the remote instructor and other students and get instant feedback on assignments.
On-demand classes are typically accessed through a subscription to a platform, many of which offer a free trial period. Some of these classes are available indefinitely once purchased, while others expire over time. Two disadvantages of on-demand classes are not having a live instructor to interact with, and the prerecorded videos can quickly become out of date.
If you aren't ready to commit to a course on Photoshop, there are numerous free tutorials and introductory classes you can access online for free. Noble Desktop offers a full playlist of in-depth Photoshop tutorials on YouTube covering topics like graphic design techniques and photo restoration. You can also take a free Intro to Photoshop course that presents the essential functions of Photoshop along with principles of design. You will also learn how to save and print files along with which Adobe Creative Cloud subscription level will work best for you.
Some other options for exploring Photoshop for free include tutorials from Adobe on topics like retouching photos, removing imperfections, or replacing a background. Learning platforms like Udemy and Coursera also include free Photoshop classes. If you decide to go this route, be sure to check the release date of the course to ensure you are getting the most recent information.
As you learn to use Photoshop, you will see other skills that might support your goals. One of the great things about Adobe products is how well they work together. If you are learning Photoshop to retouch your family photos, you might want to learn Adobe Illustrator or InDesign to use your photos for invitations, posters, or memory books. If you are learning Photoshop to switch to a new career in graphic design or marketing, your next step might be learning Adobe XD, Premiere Pro, or After Effects.
Illustrator is a vector graphics program that allows you to scale images up or down without losing quality. You create images in Photoshop and import them into Illustrator to add to websites, videos, or printed material. Illustrator is often used by Graphic Designers to add logos, icons, and branded designs to printed materials like letterhead, flyers, and banners or digital products like websites and videos.
Adobe InDesign is often used in conjunction with Photoshop and Illustrator. It is one of the most commonly used layout applications in the publishing industry. InDesign is used to create books, magazines, advertisements, and corporate reports, but it is also a go-to for business cards, letterhead, flyers, and digital publications. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are often used together on many graphic design projects.
XD is another Adobe application that is often used by UX/UI Designers along with Photoshop to prepare prototypes and wireframes to test designs for websites and mobile applications. XD has a live preview feature that allows you to observe changes in real-time. You can also repeat a design within a grid and create layouts with multiple elements. XD can also be used to design interactive prototypes including voice commands and gestures. Once the design is finalized, a Web Developer can use the XD prototype to code the website.
Still images created in Photoshop are often imported into Premiere Pro, Adobe's video editing software, and used to put together videos and feature films. Video is crucial to the advertising industry and is used on television, websites, and social media platforms. Learning Premiere Pro is a good next step if you want to work as a Digital Marketer, Social Media Manager, or Video Editor.
After Effects is another Adobe video application that works with Photoshop. Use After Effects to add motion graphics and animation to static Photoshop images for videos. If you are learning Photoshop with a plan to change to a career in advertising or digital marketing, learning After Effects is a logical next step.
Photoshop's powerful photo editing and image manipulation capabilities make it a valuable tool for many different industries. If you are learning Photoshop skills to find a job in a creative industry, your options include graphic design, marketing and advertising, photography, and video editing.
If you enjoy taking and sharing photos, you will benefit from learning Photoshop, but if you plan to become a professional Photographer, Photoshop skills are a must. Retouching portraits to remove blemishes or distracting elements, adjusting lighting and colors, and creating composites are common editing tasks that Photographers routinely do. Some also use more creative options like replacing backgrounds and adding effects.
In addition to portrait photography, many professionals photograph weddings, anniversaries, and other special events. Others do fashion shoots or take pictures of homes for real estate advertisements. Photojournalists take pictures to illustrate news stories and produce photospreads. Commercial Photographers are hired to produce images for advertisements, product packaging, as well as books and magazines.
Graphic Designers don't need to use the common photo-editing and retouching tools as much as Photographers, but they use Photoshop for more creative purposes. In their job of creating materials for clients, they combine images, add text, and apply effects to produce images that conform to a brand or convey a particular message.
Newspapers, magazines, and book publishers hire Graphic Designers to work with images and create layouts. Graphic Designers also work for printing businesses and use Photoshop to produce invitations, flyers, letterhead, and posters.
Advertising agencies and marketing firms, both print and digital, employ both Graphic Designers and Photographers to create print or digital ads, promotional materials, and campaigns with branded materials. Photoshop can produce creative and original images to capture the attention of readers, customers, and social media followers.
Photoshop has some video and animation tools, but it is most often used by Video Editors and Motion Graphics Artists as a starting point. Adding static images from Photoshop enhances videos of weddings, graduations, and retirement parties. Graphics and animation can be added to Photoshop files to create infographics, videos, advertisements, documentaries, and movies.
In addition to films and television, Video Editors work in the music industry, marketing and advertising, news media, education, real estate, hospitality, manufacturing and engineering, and finance. Many industries use video for training, advertising, and education because movement is more effective for imparting information than print formats.
If you want to learn to use Photoshop to switch to a new career, here are some possible choices. If you want to become a Photographer or Graphic Designer, you will need to learn Photoshop to work in those fields.
Photographers plan, take, and edit photographs for individuals and companies. Most photography today is digital and the images can be edited using applications like Photoshop. Some Photographers are employed by media companies or advertising agencies, while others work as freelancers.
Photography jobs are expected to grow by 4% over the next ten years, which is equal to the national average for growth of all jobs. The median annual salary for Photographers is $40,000. Photographers in Atlanta make about $56,000 a year. If you are looking at UX/UI design or web development, Photoshop skills are useful in these jobs, too.
Graphic Designers use software applications like Photoshop to produce visual designs for advertising, printing, and social media. They often work with a design team to communicate ideas using images and branded elements, like fonts, color, and style.
Like photography, graphic design jobs are expected to show average growth in the next decade. Graphic Designers in the U.S. make about $73,000 a year. In Atlanta, a Graphic Designer earns roughly $73,000 annually.
User Experience and User Interface Designers create and test designs for digital products. They use design software and other products like Photoshop to build prototypes and test them for usability. UX/UI Designers work with the visual aspects of a website or mobile application. Some of them are employed by a company or design firm, while others work as freelancers.
Design jobs are expected to see a 16% growth rate in the coming decade, which is faster than the national average. UX/UI Designers in the U.S. earn $92,000 per year, and $110,000 annually in Atlanta.
Web Developers build websites and maintain them. They use coding languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript or Python to create websites and mobile applications. Front-End Developers integrate the design for the look of the website. Back-end Developers are responsible for the function and usability.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the yearly salary for a Web Developer as $92,000, the same as UX/UI Developers. Indeed lists an annual salary in Atlanta at $100,000. The field is expected to grow faster than average.
Film and Video Editors use computer software to organize, cut together, and edit videos. Sometimes they also shoot the footage. They work with a director to bring the vision of the project to life. A talented editor can make or break a film. Some Video Editors are hired by media companies and others work as freelancers.
Video editing jobs are projected to grow by 7% in the next ten years, which is slightly higher than average, and pay a median annual salary of $65,000 in the U.S. Salaries in Atlanta average $37,000 per year.
In Atlanta, you can find many different opportunities to learn Photoshop. There are multi-session courses designed to take you from a total beginner to an experienced user. There are also courses to prepare you to take a certification exam. If you are only looking for a one-day introduction or training on a specific technique, like photo retouching, you have that option too.
Ledet Training's Adobe Photoshop 101—Photoshop Intro teaches students how to use the editing application to produce professional-looking photographs. Students will learn about the workspace and tools, including Camera RAW and Adobe Bridge. Adobe Photoshop 201—Photoshop Advanced covers special effects, working with layers, and vector drawing techniques.
||CPN723|| from Lumenbrite presents the foundations of Photoshop, including layers, masks, and effects, plus the basics of typography and composition. ||CPN724|| covers more advanced techniques, like image manipulation, blending, and working with vector graphics. The course will also explore Smart Objects. Students can also take both classes together as ||CPN722||.
Noble Desktop's ||CPN118|| is an in-depth course covering the fundamental skills of Photoshop through more advanced photo editing techniques. Students will start with retouching photos, correcting color, creating photo composites, and using layers, masks, and filters. Students will also learn how to save files for printing and digital upload. Students may retake the class for free within a year.
||CPN124|| from ONLC Training introduces the interface, navigation, and tools included in Adobe Photoshop. Core skills include retouching, cropping, adjusting color, using layers, applying gradients and masks, and adding type. ||CPN125|| is for students who want to continue with a more advanced Photoshop course, including shortcuts and tips and tricks to improve Photoshop workflow. Both classes can be taken together as Adobe On-Demand: Photoshop Complete (Levels 1&2). Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom—Retouching for Photographers is an advanced Photoshop class that also covers Adobe Lightroom, an application that makes non-destructive changes that can easily be reversed.
Students will get an introduction to Adobe Photoshop CC in Adobe Photoshop CC—Part 1 from New Horizons. Topics include navigating the application and using the photo editing tools. The course also covers Adobe Bridge for organizing files. ||CPN113|| focuses on the creative uses of Photoshop and is good preparation for the Adobe Certified Associate Visual Design Exam.
Go from beginner to experienced user in General Assembly's ||CPN118||. At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to create a document, import and export images, using the basic tools for image manipulation, and add text. More advanced techniques include working with layers, masks, and effects, organizing and streamlining the workflow and uploading and printing. There are no prior requirements for this class and beginners are welcome.
Emory Continuing Education offers training in many different Adobe products in the Atlanta area. ||CPN133|| is a beginner's course covering the basics of photo editing, like retouching, resizing, cloning pixels, and adjusting color. Students will learn to use selection tools and work with layers, masks, and channels. Quick fixes like red eye reduction and correcting lens distortion will be included along with working with type and choosing a file format. ||CPN134|| reinforces the skills covered in Level 1 and continues with advanced techniques like creating composites from multiple source images, using vector graphics, lighting effects, and perspective tools. Students will complete several class projects to get hands-on experience with Photoshop.
NYC Career Centers has an ||CPN118|| to help students learn to improve their photos and graphics. Begin with removing unwanted elements from photos using the selection tool and other functions. Adjust color and contrast, put images together to create a new collage, create digital art with features like layers, masks, and filters, or add type and text to images.
Photoshop is often a starting place in video production and beginners can learn how to do that in Adobe Photoshop Level 1 from the Manhattan Edit Workshop. The course covers understanding how digital images work, becoming familiar with the Photoshop work area, basic photo corrections, working with selections, layer basics, quick fixes, masks and channels, typographic design, vector drawing techniques and saving and uploading files. This class is geared toward Producers, Editors, Assistant Editors, and Motion Graphics Artists interested in learning Adobe Photoshop.
Certstaffix Training offers a hybrid Adobe Photoshop (2024) Course with students in a computer lab in Atlanta and a live remote instructor. Students will learn to edit, replace, and repair sections of photos, blend images, add typography, and add animation. Other topics include animating repetitive tasks, save files to cloud storage, and export files in multiple formats. Students can also choose to take the course live online.
If you want to learn Photoshop but don't have time for a bootcamp course, Noble Desktop offers ||CPN714||. This accelerated class covers the most important photo editing functions, like retouching, removing elements, and saving files to print or upload to the web. This class is a good choice for amateur photographers or anyone who is curious about what they can do with Photoshop. Students who want to go further can take Noble's Photo Retouching Certificate to learn to retouch photos, manage a digital photo collection, and color-correct images. This class introduces Adobe Lightroom.
Noble's Photoshop Advanced course refines the skills introduced in ||CPN714|| so students can explore the full capabilities of Photoshop. Students will work with more difficult selections, learn how to streamline their workflow, and combine images to create new pieces. To take full advantage of what Photoshop can do, students can also sign up for a Photoshop Masterclass. This course includes everything from beginner photo manipulation to incorporating AI with Adobe Firefly.
Anyone who wants to move into a professional career involving photography should consider taking a certification exam. Noble's Photoshop Certification Program is designed to help students unlock their creative potential and earn an Adobe professional certification. The course includes two Photoshop classes, six hours of private tutoring, additional videos to help with exam preparation, and the cost of the Adobe Certified Professional exam for Photoshop with proctoring. One free exam retake is included in the cost of the course.
Students who want to learn Photoshop to become Graphic Designers should consider Noble's ||CPN548||. This in-depth course includes classes in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator, plus a graphic design portfolio bootcamp to help you put together a digital portfolio to attract the attention of future employers.
Another option is a ||CPN890|| from Noble Desktop. Students interested in learning Photoshop to design websites can also learn web coding with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Learn to add photos and videos to a WordPress website and design page layouts with Figma for clickable prototypes. Classes in this certificate course include Figma Bootcamp, UI Design Bootcamp, Web Development with HTML & CSS, Flexbox, Grid, and Bootstrap, JavaScript for Front-end, Front-end Tools and Portfolio, HTML Email Bootcamp, and ||CPN907||.
If you are a business owner looking to retrain or upskill your employees in Adobe Photoshop, Noble Desktop can meet your corporate training needs. You can schedule classes at your offices in a conference room with a live or remote instructor for the classes of your choice. Noble's catalog includes ||CPN714||, Photoshop Animated GIFs, Photo Retouching Certificate, Photoshop Advanced, Photoshop for Web Design and UI, ||CPN118||, or ||CPN548||. Noble can also design courses to meet your specific needs.
Noble offers group class vouchers at a bulk discount. Employees can schedule individual classes according to their own schedules. Instructors are experienced industry professionals and attendees receive handouts, exam guides, and access to training videos to help them reinforce new skills. Find out how you can help your staff build their skills at corporate@nobledesktop.com.