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Stop Reaching for the Lasso Tool First — A Smarter Way to Think About Photoshop Selections
Tools & Techniques

Stop Reaching for the Lasso Tool First — A Smarter Way to Think About Photoshop Selections

I was sitting at my usual corner table at once coffee shop, headphones in, trying to cut out a product shot for a client on a deadline. The object was a glass bottle, semi-transparent, with a label that had soft edges on one side and hard edges on the other. I spent 45 minutes with the Pen Tool before I stopped, stared at my screen, and genuinely asked myself whether I had any idea what I was doing.

Fake a Stunning Sunset in Photoshop (Without Waiting for Golden Hour)
Video Tutorials

Fake a Stunning Sunset in Photoshop (Without Waiting for Golden Hour)

There’s a specific kind of client email that used to stress me out. The one that goes: “We love this shot but can it feel more… golden hour?” And the photo in question was taken at 2pm in flat Texas sunlight. Not exactly magic hour material. For years I’d either reshoot or apologize. Then I started actually learning what’s possible with Photoshop’s adjustment layers and gradient tools, and that panic evaporated.

Why I've Been Sleeping on Physical Filters (And What Finally Changed My Mind)
Video Tutorials

Why I've Been Sleeping on Physical Filters (And What Finally Changed My Mind)

I’ll be honest: I’ve spent more time fixing color casts in Photoshop than I care to admit. You know the ones. That sickly green or magenta tint that creeps into a long exposure shot because you slapped a cheap ND filter on your lens and hoped for the best. Then you’re back at your desk in whatever coffee shop you’ve claimed for the day, burning 20 minutes with Hue/Saturation layers trying to un-ruin what was otherwise a perfectly good shot.

Puppet Warp in Photoshop: How to Repose Subjects Without a Reshoot
Video Tutorials

Puppet Warp in Photoshop: How to Repose Subjects Without a Reshoot

There’s a specific kind of client pain that every retoucher knows. The shoot went great, everyone’s happy, and then someone in the approval chain asks why the subject’s arms look “a little stiff” or why the legs don’t quite read as dynamic. You stare at the photo. They’re not wrong. But going back for a reshoot isn’t happening, and liquify feels like the wrong tool for anything beyond a gentle nudge.

Why Game Studios Need to Keep Iterating (And What That Means for Your Design Workflow)
News

Why Game Studios Need to Keep Iterating (And What That Means for Your Design Workflow)

The Never-Ending Update Cycle I’ve been watching the gaming industry’s approach to post-launch support evolve over the past few years, and there’s a lesson here for digital creatives that goes way beyond just playing video games. Game studios are increasingly realizing that launching a product isn’t the finish line—it’s the starting gate. And honestly? That mindset should absolutely influence how we approach our design projects in Photoshop. Commitment to Continuous Improvement Recently, industry leaders doubled down on their promise to keep supporting their projects long after launch.

Turn Any Photo Into an Illustrated Design Asset in Under 5 Minutes
Video Tutorials

Turn Any Photo Into an Illustrated Design Asset in Under 5 Minutes

There’s a specific kind of client panic I know well. You’ve got a photo that’s technically fine but creatively boring, a design layout that needs something, and a deadline that does not care about your feelings. I’ve been there more times than I’d like to admit, sitting in a coffee shop on my second Americano, staring at a stock photo wondering how to make it not look like a stock photo.

Stop Guessing Which Selection Tool to Use — Here's the Cheat Sheet You Actually Need
Video Tutorials

Stop Guessing Which Selection Tool to Use — Here's the Cheat Sheet You Actually Need

If selections aren’t clicking for you in Photoshop, I promise it’s not because you’re bad at software. It’s because there are about a dozen different ways to make a selection and nobody ever explains when to use which one. I spent the better part of my early freelance years defaulting to whatever tool I’d used last, regardless of whether it was the right call. Spoiler: it usually wasn’t. Getting a better grip on selection tools is genuinely one of those skill-ups that changes how fast you work, not just how well.

Liquify in Photoshop: The Tool You're Probably Underusing (And How to Fix That)
Video Tutorials

Liquify in Photoshop: The Tool You're Probably Underusing (And How to Fix That)

I’ll be honest with you. For way too long, I treated the Liquify tool like that one kitchen gadget you only pull out for a specific recipe once a year. I knew it existed. I’d used it in a panic to fix something weird in a portrait. Then I’d close the dialog and pretend it never happened. It wasn’t until I started digging into Aaron Nace’s work over at PHLEARN that I realized I was barely scratching the surface of what this thing can actually do.

How to Wrap Textures on 3D Objects in Photoshop (Without Losing Your Mind)
Video Tutorials

How to Wrap Textures on 3D Objects in Photoshop (Without Losing Your Mind)

I’ll be honest with you. The first time I tried to texture a 3D object in Photoshop, I spent about 45 minutes dragging things into places where they didn’t belong, watching textures stretch across geometry like a grocery bag over a basketball, and ultimately just giving up and going back to flat design. Nobody talks about how disorienting Photoshop’s 3D workflow can be when you first get into it. There are panels everywhere, nothing behaves the way your muscle memory expects, and the relationship between your texture file and your 3D object feels weirdly indirect.

How to Rescue a Damaged Old Photo in Photoshop: Plan First, Clone Second
Video Tutorials

How to Rescue a Damaged Old Photo in Photoshop: Plan First, Clone Second

Client work will humble you fast. Early in my freelance run, someone handed me a scanned family photo that looked like it had survived a move, a flood, and a toddler with a crayon. I opened it in Photoshop and immediately started clone-stamping like a maniac, no plan, no structure, just vibes. Two hours later I had a mess that somehow looked worse than the original. That experience stuck with me, mostly because I invoiced for it anyway, but also because it taught me that photo restoration has a correct order of operations and I had been ignoring it.

Build a 3D Wireframe Globe in Photoshop (Without Destroying Your Computer)
Video Tutorials

Build a 3D Wireframe Globe in Photoshop (Without Destroying Your Computer)

There’s a certain kind of Photoshop project that looks impossibly complicated from the outside but is actually built on two or three clever decisions made early on. A wireframe globe is exactly that kind of project. It looks like something you’d need a dedicated 3D application to pull off, but Photoshop handles it surprisingly well if you know which tools to reach for and, more importantly, which workflow traps to avoid.

Fake the Light You Wish You Had: Color Gradient Enhancement in Photoshop
Video Tutorials

Fake the Light You Wish You Had: Color Gradient Enhancement in Photoshop

There’s a specific flavor of frustration that comes from shooting a solid portrait in flat, boring light and knowing the subject deserved better. The photo is technically fine. Exposure is good. Focus is sharp. And yet it looks like a LinkedIn headshot when it should look like a movie poster. I’ve been there more times than I care to admit, usually sitting in whatever coffee shop I’ve claimed as my office that week, staring at a Lightroom catalog full of “technically fine” images.