If you are serious about online marketing, basic design skills are a must. Whether you want to make a few quick adjustments to a photo before posting on Facebook, or need to change a banner ad for your new campaign, Photoshop is the undisputed king of design software that will let you create virtually any look you want.
Photoshop is so comprehensive that it can be overwhelming to the beginner. With the ability to do just about anything, where do you start?
We suggest starting with the basics. Here are seven basic Photoshop skills you will use again and again as a marketing professional.
Using Layers
Layers let you move, arrange and edit objects and/or text independently. This vital feature is a super time saver. Knowing how to create, delete, group and merge layers lets you easily edit and repurpose your photos and other digital files.
Straighten a Picture
Using your own photos keeps you safe from copyright issues. However, it’s easy to snap a photo only to discover that it’s out of kilter. You can salvage crooked pictures in a flash with Photoshop’s ruler tool, once you know how.
Create Adjustment Layers
Sometimes you need to play with your design a bit before you come up with the right look. However, you might not want to lose the original. Instead of creating a lot of confusing duplicate layers, Photoshop lets you easily create an adjustment layer that lets you apply an effect, and toggle back and forth between options with a click of the mouse.
Remove Spots and Blemishes
Little imperfections such as pimples or stains can ruin the impact of what you’re trying to sell. It should come as no surprise that Photoshop has a tool you can use to make those annoying blemishes disappear. You can learn how to use it in two minutes or less.
Remove Red From Eyes
Sure, you might have stayed awake all night setting up your latest funnel, but there’s no reason to look like it. Just reach for Photoshop’s red-eye tool, and you can banish those flash photo demon eyes forever in about three clicks.
Isolate an Object
If you design ads, web pages or virtually any other piece of marketing material, you will often want to place an object over a different background, or eliminate the background altogether. There are a number of ways to do this. Some take hours, others only minutes. Needless to say, the sooner you learn the quick solutions, the better.
Apply an Effect to an Object or Text
Photoshop offers a wonderful array of effects you can use to spice up any object or text in your design, including drop shadow, bevel, glow, and many more. Adding them is almost too easy — once you know how, you may need to hold yourself back from going overboard!
Get Started Learning Photoshop
Check out the slideshow below for step-by-step instructions on how to do all of the basic Photoshop skills in this article.
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Author Bio: Rocco Lungariello is a Marketing and Social Media Content Creator at New Horizons. He has been generating content surrounding the IT Industry for more than four years.
