The Down and Dirty Guide to Getting Started with Photoshop with Blake Rudis

There’s one critical thing CreativeLive Photoshop Week instructor Blake Rudis always does before he even begins to think about editing any photos. He makes sure his workspace is set up for success.

Here are some useful tips from Blake to help you jump start your own Photoshop workflow to ensure it’s working for you.

Here’s a run-down of Blake’s top tips:

1. Delete any windows not in use and add in anything you know you will be using. 
2. Create adjustment layers to enable flexible control over the span of the editing workflow.
3. Use the curves adjustment layer to control tone which will direct the viewers eye through your image. 
4. Use the hue/saturation tool to adjust color and capture the same experience for your viewer that you had when you first took the photo. 
5. Add color grading to set the mood of your final image. Yellows and oranges add a warming effect while blues add a cooling effect. 

Once you’ve gotten comfortable with your baseline workflow, it’s time to discover the hidden gems that will speed up your editing time and make your photos shine. 

Here’s a quick look at Blake’s hidden gems:

1. Snapshots in Adobe camera raw allow you to edit images in multiple variations to refer back to with all the exact same adjustments. 
2. Gradient map adjustment layers will convert your image to black and white and help you gain control over the tonal range through hue and saturation of specific colors. 
3. Layer styles are used to protect the parts of an image you do not want impacted by an artistic color grading layer. Main takeaway here is protection! 
4. Highlight and shadow adjustments allows you micro controls to push and pull the highlights and shadows of a specific layer adjustment without impacting the entire image. 
5. Actions record your editing steps and allow you to automatically press play on any of your other photographs. Actions will speed up your editing and post-production time so you aren’t constantly repeating the same process over and over. 

---

Sign up for Blake Rudis’ upcoming Photoshop Week 2018 classes to learn tips and tricks to improve your editing style and post-processing workflow. RSVP Today.

---