Free Photoshop Tutorials!
Scroll through the list of free Photoshop tutorials at your leisure. Visit frequently as this list is ever-changing.
Beginner Post Processing Tutorials
Designed for those who are just starting out with photo post processing. However, even the seasoned pro can learn something new here.
Remove Tool Best Practices
The remove tool in Photoshop is fairly simple to use. It has very few settings but seems to work like magic until it doesn't. Here are some of my best practices for using the remove tool. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:28 Where is it? 02:02 Tool Size Settings 02:51 Pen...
The BEST Blending Technique in Photoshop
I love Blend If. That's no secret. I routinely praise it here on f.64 Academy, BUT it has problems. There are things I don't like about it. There are things I wish Adobe would do with it. There are things I wish were easier with it. I could sit here and hope that my...
RESOLVED! Delete Layer in Photoshop Error – DONG Sound Fix
There is NOTHING I dislike more in Photoshop than trying to delete a layer and getting a stupid dong sound and error message. It has driven me up the wall for centuries. BUT today, I figured out how to stop that annoying sound from happening and LIFE IS GOOD! Today we...
5 AWESOME Tips for MAGENTA Color Grading in Photoshop
PANTONE® Viva Magenta is the color of the year for 2023, and you all know how much I LOVE Magenta. So to celebrate this momentous occasion, I would like to share 5 ways you can use this amazing color in Photoshop. Tip #5 is a REAL doozy! ◄Chapters► 00:00 Intro 00:26...
Recover Deleted Photos
HELP! I DELETED EVERYTHING!!!! We've all done it, and if you haven't yet... you will! I promise! Sometimes it's an innocent accident. Occasionally, a memory card may get corrupt or wiped. What do you do when you delete your photos? Cry... yes, that's usually the...
Is Photoshop Ruining Photography?
How often have I heard the worst things about Photoshop and its implications that it's ruining Photography? I guess being an educator in this space, I am subject to the microscope, and therefore I see a lot and maybe even sometimes get attacked a bit for what I do. I...
Workflows in Adobe Bridge 2022
BRIDGE to the RESCUE! I can't be the only one... nope! I can't be the only one who has ever worked their tail off on a huge PSD file in Photoshop and accidentally saved all those juicy layers into a small file when resizing it for the web. I know, I know, it's a...
Art Sales… Where to Begin?
Where do I begin with selling my photography?If you have ever emailed me and asked me that question, you have probably received a less than ideal response. I know you come to me for many things, and most of them I have an answer to. But the truth is, I don't sell my...
The Histogram: 3 Things you may not know about it.
Like me, you've been looking at histograms for AGES, right? But have you REALLY been using it to its fullest potential? In today's video, I will share 3 tips for using the Histogram in ACR and Lightroom you wish you would have known sooner. ►Chapters◄00:00...
HUGE milestone 100K – THANK YOU!
So, here we are. Another huge milestone for me in less than one month. First military retirement, then 100,000 subscribers. What's next? Well, I do turn 40 this year, so there's that, haha. I made a video today to share my extreme gratitude for you and all your...
What your photography REALLY needs in 2022
New year, new resolutions, right? Well, how did that work out for you last year? You may have started a 365 project and made it 50 days before realizing it wasn't doing you any good. That's okay, seriously, no worries there, you tried! But, do you know what will...
Most INFLUENTIAL Person of f.64 Academy – Matt Kloskowski
Do you believe in Divine Appointments?I think about Divine Appointments a lot. These aren't coincidental meetings. These are meetings with someone you may or may not know that somehow influence your life and, in some cases, send it spinning in another direction. I...
Color Balance in Photoshop
Have you ever looked for a White Balance tool or Adjustment Layer in Photoshop? Were you shocked to find that there wasn't one? I, after 22 years of PS experience, am still quite shocked that there is no White Balance tool. We have tons of tools to control color in...
Three Expert Secrets for Color Grading
Let's face it, Color Grading and Color Theory are hard topics to grasp. Without a solid foundation for them, though, all of our colorwork is left hanging in the balance. While having a great understanding of color is important, that is a long-term goal. It takes a...
EASILY Color Grade ANY Photo
Finally ... Simple Color Grading! I have taught so many ways to color grade a photo that I can't even recall them all. They range from Gradients to Gradient Maps, and how many using Selective Color? Many of these techniques produce great results, but they can be...
A Different Look at Vignettes
Vignettes in Photoshop and ACR + Lightroom Vignettes are extremely powerful tools for grabbing your viewer's attention. They can very quickly make an ordinary photo look incredible! But, there are some problems with traditional vignettes. 1. They can look too...
Intermediate Post Processing Tutorials
For those who already know a trick or two in Photoshop and want to learn a bit more.
Before Using Generative Fill Watch This!
Today, let's dive into the world of Adobe Photoshop, specifically its hot new feature - Generative Fill. As cool as this tool is, it's got a quirky limitation that might frustrate you as much as it does me: the 1024 rendering limit. But don't worry, I've got some tips...
Next-Level Color Control ACR 16.0 & Lr 13.0
What's new in ACR 16.0 and Lightroom? An EPIC Color Theory tool that I never knew I needed, and now that I have it, I am STOKED! This color range feature for modifying color is next-level color theory at play, and it's at the RAW level. WOW! The only thing I could ask...
BETTER Skin Tone Selections in Photoshop
Have you ever wondered why ACR and Lightroom are so good with skin tone selections, but the native tools in Photoshop are antiquated? I have. It baffles me that masking is so easy to do in a program that just recently received masking. Yet Photoshop, which has had...
AMAZING Skin Tones using GRADIENTS in Photoshop
Photographing and editing skin tones can be a difficult task. Take them too far, and they saturate quickly, but don't take them far enough, and you could have lifeless skin. A fine balancing act exists for proper skin tones between on-location lighting and...
Remove Tool Best Practices
The remove tool in Photoshop is fairly simple to use. It has very few settings but seems to work like magic until it doesn't. Here are some of my best practices for using the remove tool. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:28 Where is it? 02:02 Tool Size Settings 02:51 Pen...
DON’T use CLARITY • Use THIS instead
Want to know how to get the ABSOLUTE best detail in your photos WITHOUT using Clarity and Texture? Well then, you're in luck! I'm gonna show you how to get incredible details in Photoshop! This method will give you incredible details in your image without the harsh...
GREAT Color Photography EXPLAINED
*Do you struggle with color in your photography? Me too!* I accidentally stumbled upon a checks and balances layer that can help you determine a few things. Be prepared to go through your portfolio with a fine-toothed comb. After watching this, you will be able to...
FINALLY! a Phenomenal Photoshop Update – 24.5
Finally, a MAJOR Update to Photoshop that ACTUALLY helps us in our workflow in multiple ways. I WILL NOT be covering beta tools in this video as they are not in the official release. No generative AI Fill. We'll save that for another day. We will cover the new Remove...
Fix Landscape Highlight Blowouts with Selective Color in Photoshop
Let's face it: no matter how good you are or how many landscape photos you've taken, you WILL face highlight blowouts. It's not a matter of IF, but WHEN! Ideally, we want to get everything perfect in-camera, but if we don't, we no longer have to throw out those...
Fix Hot Spots & Highlight Blowouts with Selective Color in Photoshop
Dang! This may be one of the most genius uses I've discovered for fixing Hot Spots in portraits and Color Grading Highlight Blowouts in landscapes. Many people reach for a Luminosity mask for these corrections, but I've got something that will blow any Luminosity Mask...
BETTER Foliage Color NOW! • with Selective Color in Photoshop
True yellow/green color separation for foliage is a difficult task without the proper tools. ACR and Lightroom can only get you so close! You NEED Photoshop's Selective Color Tool to go all the way. Luckily for you, I've done all the hard work 🙂 More often than not,...
Realtime Clipping Warnings IN Photoshop!
One thing we should avoid like the plague while editing in Photoshop is overly blown-out highlights and clipped shadows. If we aren't careful during editing, we could do more harm than good while working. Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom have clipping warnings built...
AMAZING Double Exposures with Blend If in Photoshop
Creating double exposures in Photoshop is a relatively simple task. Most will go straight to masking, and that is one great technique. However, there are other methods, like Blend If, that can give us a unique look for double exposures. What is double exposure? In...
The BEST Blending Technique in Photoshop
I love Blend If. That's no secret. I routinely praise it here on f.64 Academy, BUT it has problems. There are things I don't like about it. There are things I wish Adobe would do with it. There are things I wish were easier with it. I could sit here and hope that my...
Painting with RGB Color Curves in Photoshop
We often use Curves in our workflow. It's a staple in almost every genre of photography. But how often do you venture into the beautiful world of color or RGB Curves? Probably not as often as you'd care to mention. No worries, I didn't either. At least not until I...
5 Hidden Gems in Photoshop – Feels Like Cheating!
Photoshop is LITTERED with hidden gems. Play around enough in there, and you'll find two notebooks full and a day's work! Ask a handful of Ps educators what their 5 hidden gems are, and I can almost guarantee you'll hear mixed results. So how do you narrow it down to...
Advanced Post Processing Tutorials
While the title says “Advanced”, this category is for anyone who wants advance themselves further in photo post processing. While these tutorials are not for the Faint of Heart, they are taught to a level anyone who is willing can understand.
Before Using Generative Fill Watch This!
Today, let's dive into the world of Adobe Photoshop, specifically its hot new feature - Generative Fill. As cool as this tool is, it's got a quirky limitation that might frustrate you as much as it does me: the 1024 rendering limit. But don't worry, I've got some tips...
AI Gen Expand = HORRIBLE • Watch for Tips
Photoshop 2024 is here, and Generative AI is as well. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use the Generative Expand command in the Crop tool to fill in data around your image. It's a phenomenal concept with some horrible results. BUT, I would never present a...
RESOLVED! Saving ACR Profiles in ACR 15.4.1
Have you tried to save a profile lately and gotten a horrible error message popping up?I have, for the last 3 versions of ACR, actually. The problem with ACR vs. PS is that we can't backdate the installation once the newest has been installed like we can with PS or...
LINEAR PROFILES • What’s So Special About Them?
Linear Profiles... if you spend a great deal of time editing RAW files, you have more than likely heard of Linear Profiles. By design, Linear profiles are made from a DNG copy of your camera-specific RAW file. They are brought into Adobe's DNG editor, and the tone...
Why I dont use the Photo Filter
I talk a lot about Color Grading, Color Theory, and the tools you can use to manipulate the looks of your photos. However, I have never spoken about the Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. Why is that? From my research and experimentation, I have found that the Photo...
Selective Color for Better Tones (Video)
Using Selective Color to get better tones in PhotoshopYou know my workflow, Tone, Color, Artistic Effects, right? I preach it all the time and more often than not, I teach how to get better colors through your tonal work first, right? Well, recently, I...
How to Make Luminosity Masks Look Like Child’s Play
The Evolution of Luminosity Masks I love Luminosity Masks, I have been using them for ages, and they have been an integral part of my workflow. Before we get too far into this post, I want to clarify that I have nothing against the Traditional Luminosity...
![LUT Profiles Best Practices in ACR and Lightroom [Video]](https://f64academy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Custom-Lookup-Tables-in-ACR-and-Lightroom-f642-400x250.jpg)
LUT Profiles Best Practices in ACR and Lightroom [Video]
Make Your Own LUT Profiles For a few months now I have kept my techniques for making Lookup Table Profiles a secret. Well, not really a secret, but I have held off on making a tutorial about it because what I am about to share with you is invaluable. ...
The Color Dodge & Color Burn Blend Modes
Dodging and Burning with Blend Modes and Colors If you have spent any amount of time with me you know that I am always trying to come up with new ways of using Blend Modes. I have recently started experimenting with the Color Dodge and Color Burn Blend Modes. At...
Luminosity Masks versus Blend If
The pixel bending fight of the year! I get this question all the time, "Blake, what is the difference between using Blend If and Luminosity Masking?" It is a great question, and my answer usually goes something like this: Luminosity Masking and Blend If are, by their...
Replacing Skies in Photoshop with Blend If
Sick of Blend If yet? Well too bad! Last week while we were in Yosemite we had great weather for shooting, but most mornings were cloudless. We noticed that in the morning the skies were pure white but as the day progressed the clouds would roll in. Our afternoon...
Compressed vs Uncompressed Raw Files
To be compressed or uncompressed raw files that is the question! Sony recently announced their uncompressed Raw files for their Alpha 7 line. Traditionally Raw files have been formatted with a Loss-less compression. This is a way to compress a file but not lose any...
The Lighten Blend Mode
The Lighten Blend Mode and the Sea of a Million Waves! A few weeks ago I conducted a tutorial showing off the various Blend Modes in Photoshop, but I hesitated to get too far into the Lighten Blend Mode. The Lighten Blend Mode can be a powerful asset in photo post...
Why the Zone Systems in Photoshop?
The Zone Systems... with everything else out there... why bother? I get this question a lot... why the Zone Systems? I'd say at least 3 times a month. With the Launch of the new Zone Systems Master Class I feel like I have not heard the end of it! However, I get...
How to Fake Neutral Density in Photoshop!
No Neutral Density filter? No problem! Fake Neutral Density! Let's face it, long exposures are awesome but they require expensive Neutral Density Filters, time, and patience... lots of patience! I really enjoy using a 10 Stop ND filter to get those long sweeping...
Curves Adjustment Dodging and Burning
Flash Tutorial Friday! This is the first tutorial in a series I am calling Flash Tutorials. I wanted them to be under 90 seconds... ha, if you know me that just is not possible! So I decided to go with 3 minutes. In these Flash tutorials I will show you a new and...