Photoshop How To

We all make mistakes on occasion when editing our images because, let’s face it; Photoshop is a very involved tool. The good news is you can limit these unfortunate errors by watching the five-minute tutorial below

This episode from The Photographic Eye YouTube channel, reveals what instructor Colin Smith says are the three worst photo-editing mistakes you can make. He explains that “these common errors make photographers look like noobs,” and we’re pretty sure you’d prefer not to be described in that manner.

Smith begins with what he calls “sizzle sharpen.” This occurs when you take a heavy-handed approach to sharpening an image, and that often results in ugly halos that really ruin the shot. Fortunately, there’s a quick and simple method that provides far superior results.

Mistake number two is what Smith refers to as “clown saturation.” It’s equally common as over-sharpening, and just as destructive to photographs. As Smith explains, it’s OK to give images a boost in color, as long as you do so with caution.

Clowns wear garish costumes so they’re easily visible by folks in the cheap seats at a circus, but that’s not how you want your photos to appear. And, again, he demonstrates how to take a much more subtle and natural-looking approach. Here the trick is to use Photoshop’s Vibrance slider, rather than the saturation tool, to get the job done right.

The third faux pas described in the video has to do with creating composites in which one photo is of lower resolution than the other. What Smith refers to as a “resolution miss-match” is easy to avoid with the quick fix he provides.

While the common mistakes illustrated in this episode are all potential image-killers, they’re all extremely easy to avoid. So, seriously, watch the video and don’t be a noob.

You can find more helpful advice like this on Smith’s YouTube channel, so take a look and subscribe.

And for more simple tips from another image-editing expert, check out the tutorial we posted, revealing a powerful secret for achieving perfect automatic selections.