Quick Photography Tips

Photoshop is a very powerful program and it can be tempting to go a little over the top with all the magical effects that you can apply to your image with just a few clicks. Here are my top 4 Photoshop cliches to try a few times and then avoid…

1. Black and White with Color Accents

This was a pretty popular effect around the time Pleasantville came out. Since then it’s just been too overused. It can still look good with the right photo but be very careful because mostly it just looks tacky. If you must do it, see our Black and White with Color Accents tutorial here. Oh, and don’t even think about making your portrait photos monochrome with bright blue eyes!

2. Fake borders

Forget torn edges, picture frames, film borders, drop shadows, etc - just let your image speak for itself!

3. Sepia

Again, a sepia effect can be a good thing if you use it on the right photo. The quickest way to add a sepia tone is to add a new Photo Filter adjustment layer, select the “Sepia” filter from the drop down and then adjust the density slider to taste.

4. Artistic / Paint Brush / Sketch Effects

Nobody’s going to be impressed by your ability to select preset effects from a menu! If you’re going to use them, do so sparingly and appropriately!