Things that can be done in Photoshop - Part I

A lot of people are surprised by how flexible Photoshop (and other image editors) are. In this short series, I'll tackle some of the highlights

Adding and Removing content

This is basically the bread and butter of Photoshop what people usually mean when they say an image has been Photoshopped (a term Adobe dislikes). From the very small - pimples and zits and minor scratches, to the very large - people, buildings and even whole backgrounds.

Now this is pretty much without limit.

Adding pretty much boils down to matching the lighting/quality/colours of the original image.

Subtracting less than full frame elements is a tiny bit more work than adding, but as long as there is something nearby that you can clone/heal from it isn't too bad. Removing background is quite easy - green screening makes it easier still, but as long as there is some contrast between foreground and background it's a quick job regardless.

Sharp, defined edges make both of the above much easier, but if one is willing to put forth the time/effort - hair and other things are possible. They are constantly improving the "Edge Defining" of Photoshop. Until that is perfected though, a rough edge and some post work blurring and smudging makes more sense than fiddling with sliders (contrast/feather/radius/expand/contract).

Moving picture elements is basically subtracting, then adding without as much correction for light/colour needed - depending on the shot.

In this quick video, I'll show an object being removed via the clone and heal tools.