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What designers use most in Photoshop?

M

michelef1l

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 29, 2009
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VA
Possibly teaching Photoshop class...

Just wanted a general consensus of what graphic designers use most in photoshop?

I have a bag of tricks, but I always like to know what other people use just to see what is most popular, beneficial, etc...

You can always learn from other people, don't ever think you know everything :)
 
I'm not a qualified graphic designer, but when doing design work I use the guides and find them very helpful (much more helpful than the grid). Adobe must know this, because it is one the features they refuse to add to elements.

Other than that I like vector masks, the character and paragraph palette, layer styles, the Refine Edge tool (which I find more helpful than extract) and the save for web and devices tool.

Which features you make use of will of course mostly depend what you are trying to achieve though.
 
um I know this might seem strange thing to say but if you are teaching intermediate level photoshop shouldn't that mean you are equal or higher than that so wouldn't you have an idea of where to start :confused:

As to what is used most in photoshop, doesn't that depend on the task at hand, touching up a photo is going to use completely different tools to working on a composite piece using imports from illustrator or designing a webpage layout for example.
 
You should probably know this if you are the teacher??? Might want to find out what they were already taught in the intro class and go from there.
 
Top 4 for me are Masks, Layers (of course), Clipping paths, and Blend modes. For an intermediate course I would think you would want to focus on how Photoshop intergrates with other applications. How do you go from Photoshop to Illutrator/Indesign and back again? What color modes should you be using for the various output options? You could teach a whole class on color and prepress.
 
I would have to say drop shadows, multi colour gradient and lens flare because they are an endless muse of annoyance and brilliance :cool:
 
On top of what everyone else said, I would teach how-to's such as editing photos (clearing up skin, sharpening, color correction, etc). Maybe come up with projects that force students to utilize the tools. Best way to learn photoshop.
 
PhotoShop can be a Swiss Army Knife for graphics. Layer management should have been taught on an introductory level in the previous class. Adjustment Layers are invaluable. They let you make changes without really altering the original. During my intermediate classes, we were taught how to use PhotoShop as an auxiliary program to InDesign. We were taught how to manage size, resolution and color model so that a pic would drop into a page layout program properly prepared for print output. I found the integration of applications fascinating.

Dale
 
THX1139 said:
Top 4 for me are Masks, Layers (of course), Clipping paths, and Blend modes. For an intermediate course I would think you would want to focus on how Photoshop intergrates with other applications. How do you go from Photoshop to Illutrator/Indesign and back again? What color modes should you be using for the various output options? You could teach a whole class on color and prepress.
Click to expand...

i was about to suggest everything you just wrote. masks are great and integrating photoshop with illustrator is key to success
i'm having a hard time distinguishing if the OP is asking for teaching advice or actual photoshop advice..
 
So let me get this straight you are teaching a class on Photoshop to graphic design majors yet, you don't know the topic yourself? You might want to reconsider teaching the class if you don't know anything about it.

Graphic designers can use anything at any given time in PS depending on the job, so really what you need is a good knowledge of all of PS. I would say start looking at some tutorials.

PSDTuts.com
photoshopstar.com
tutcast.com

Those are all good places to start, but I feel that your students may already know this if they intended to be Graphic designers.
 
Concepts of non-descructive editing:
Use masks instead of eraser
Use adjustment layers instead of actual adjustments
If you can't do it any other way, just duplicate and backup the layer so you have a fall back.
 
Thank you to everyone who answered my question and didn't automatically jump to a conclusion. I have reworded my question to better clarify what I was looking for to those who did...

I simply wanted to see what other people use. I do know the subject matter, but I don't like to assume I know everything. You never know what someone might use all the time that you have forgotten or just didn't know about.

The beauty of Photoshop is the fact that you can do SO MUCH. And different tools are more important to different people. I just wanted to see what tools were brought up the most and to see if anyone had ideas that I hadn't come up with.

Isn't sharing ideas the whole point of this forum anyway!?!?

Once again, thank you to everyone who didn't assume. We all know where that gets you. :D
 
I agree that this is totally about the task at hand.

If I am doing photo editing / photo montage for a print publication the tools (and thinking) I use are totally different than when I am using photoshop as a layout/prototyping tool for interface design (for example).

The strength of photoshop is that it supports many different workflows. I think you need to define the tasks or roles that you will be touching upon in your class, and then we can give you better advice.
 
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