Step and Repeat

Video Tutorials

The Step and Repeat Slice Effect That Made Me Feel Like a Photoshop Insider

There’s a specific kind of embarrassment that hits when someone shows you a technique you’ve never heard of and you realize you’ve been doing it the hard way for years. I’ve been freelancing in Photoshop long enough that I thought I had a pretty solid handle on the non-destructive workflow stuff. Then I watched Aaron Nace’s latest PHLEARN tutorial on building a portrait slice effect from scratch and immediately learned about “step and repeat,” a technique I had somehow never encountered.

August 16, 2026

Video Tutorials

Build a Repeating Lightning Bolt Background in Photoshop (The Step-and-Repeat Method)

There’s a specific kind of panic that hits when a client asks for “something more interesting” in the background of a portrait shot that’s already been edited, color-graded, and basically signed off. You don’t want to blow up the existing work. You just need to add a layer of visual energy without rebuilding the whole thing from scratch. This is exactly the situation Aaron Nace tackles in this PHLEARN tutorial, and the approach he takes is genuinely clever.

July 25, 2026