Now, you’d probably expect me to say this, but with this book at your side you will start to feel more confident with Photoshop. After using this software on an almost daily basis for the past few years, I believe there are just three main things you need to know in Photoshop. I’m not talking an in-depth, advanced understanding, but rather a basic understanding of three things: layer masks, brushes, and blend modes.

Sure, there’s lots more to Photoshop than layer masks, brushes, and blend modes, but if you know how to use these three tool groups, then all that’s left is practice. Whether you’re looking at what work has gone into retouching a simple portrait or what went into creating an incredibly detailed composite, layer masks, brushes, and blend modes will be at the heart of it.

What Is the Photoshop Toolbox?

Whether you’re new to Photoshop or you have been using it for a while, you likely know that there is never one single technique that gets you perfect results for every picture you use it on. Because of this, my advice is always to get to know as many techniques as you can that do the same kind of thing, so that when you do come across a situation when, for example, your favorite skin smoothing technique isn’t working so well, you’ll have another technique in your toolbox that you can take out and try.

About This Book

This book is split into a few distinct sections. We start off with what I’m calling “The Basics,” which is where I cover layers. I guess I could have included layers as the fourth area you need to know in Photoshop, but as I see it, layers are Photoshop. If we don’t know what they are and how to use them, then we’ll still be staring at the welcome screen like I did when I first started. So, if you don’t quite get what layers are, then chapter 1 is a MUST. Don’t skip it; otherwise, nothing we do in the rest of the book is going to make sense. Okay?

In chapter 2 we’ll take a look at layer masks. Once I’ve explained what these are so that you understand exactly why you’d be interested in them, we’ll start looking at how we can use layer masks in our workflow to save time, in our retouching, to create special effects, and more.

Chapter 3 is where we take a look at brushes. When I first started using Photoshop, I thought that the brushes were only for those folks who can draw (and I am most definitely not one of those people), but oh how wrong I was! Brushes are an incredibly powerful tool in Photoshop and you’ll find that there are seemingly endless ways to use them. They are, without a doubt, one of my favorite tools in Photoshop for creating effects and retouching.

In chapter 4 we look at blend modes. This is where magic really can happen. Don’t worry, we won’t go into all the mathematics of why they do what they do, but you will come away from this chapter with a greater understanding that will ultimately help you move forward as I cover various techniques that range from basic to advanced.

I thought it would be good to add in a bonus chapter with some of my favorite tips, tricks, and techniques not covered elsewhere in the book, so look for those in chapter 5.

It’s great to learn about lots of different techniques, and there are plenty of them in this book, but there’s no better way to cement this new information in your brain than to use these techniques in a workflow—that’s where chapter 6 comes into play. We’ll work our way through a complete retouching project from start to finish, beginning with an out-of-the-camera file and following through to the final print-ready image.

As you work with this book, you’ll discover that working in Photoshop is very much a personal practice, and what you do and the order in which you do it doesn’t have to be regimented. Remember, there is no right or wrong way to do something in Photoshop; there are simply good and bad results. You use the techniques how and when you choose because it’s your Photoshop Toolbox!

How to Use This Book

The best way to learn is to follow along, so make sure you download the files for this book at the link found at the bottom of this page.

To get the most out of this book you don’t necessarily need to start at the beginning and work your way through page by page. I’ve written it in such a way that you can simply dive in and out. However, like I said before, if you’re fairly new to Photoshop and don’t quite understand the whole layers thing, I’d definitely recommend you check out chapter 1, “The Basics.”

What I really want this book to do is encourage you to approach Photoshop with the mindset of “what would happen if . . . ?” Once you’ve gone through a technique, think about where else you could use it, or even how you could adapt it. Experiment. Take sliders to their minimum and then to their maximum—what does that do? Try different blend modes to see how they affect your image. You can’t break Photoshop (I’ll show you what to do in case of emergencies in chapter 1), so just experiment and play with it because that’s how new techniques are discovered.

Finally, before you get started, I’d like to thank you so much for purchasing this book. Please keep me posted with your progress. I’d love to see anything that you go on to create, and hear about your successes having used some of what is contained in the pages ahead.

Keep creating, but most of all, keep enjoying!

Best wishes,

Glyn