How to Retouch & Smooth Skin in Adobe Photoshop – Quick Beginners Tutorials
Learn how to quickly retouch and smooth skin in a portrait using Adobe Photoshop.
How to Remove Anything with Adobe Photoshop – Quick Beginners Tutorial
How to Remove Anything in an Image with Adobe Photoshop CC – Quick Beginners Tutorial
Learn how to quickly remove things from pictures using Adobe Photoshop CC. In this tutorial you will learn about the Clone Stamp tool, and how to effectively remove objects, people or anything from an image.
How to Save & Export Images from Adobe Lightroom
Watch this quick video tutorial to learn how to export and save images from Adobe Lightroom.
How to Batch-Automate Image Tasks in Adobe Photoshop
Knowing how to automate changes to multiple images in Photoshop is essential. Cropping, or white-balance correcting a folder full of images one-by-one is tedious and unnecessary. This photography tutorial will go through Photoshop Actions, and the Automate-Batch feature to automate the same operations for an infinite number of images. Tutorials on Photstoric.
Step 1: Make a Working Copy
Open the folder that contains the files to edit. Create a copy of one of the files in the folder. This file will be your dummy or maquette for making changes.
Step 2: Create an Action
Select Window – Actions. Then click the Create New Action button. Actions are saved series of Photoshop operations so that common or complex steps can be accessed later or used for automated tasks.
Step 3: Name Action
Enter a descriptive name for the action.
Step 4: Record Action
After creating a new action, the red record button will now be active. Every operation made will be recorded in the action. In this tutorial, the image has been resized to 700 pixels wide and the image has been toned. Any combination of operations and effects can be applied.
Step 5: Flatten Layers
After every operation has been completed, flatten all the layers so that the image will save as a jpeg. If you started with psd file and you want to keep the layers, don’t flatted them.
Step 6: Save & Close the Image
Saving the image while still recording the action will allow Photoshop to quickly run through each image in the Batch without a save dialog box popping up for each image. Also, close the image while still recording for the same reason.
Step 7: Stop Recording Action
Stop recording the action by clicking the square stop button. No further operations will be saved and the action will be complete. If an operation was missed, delete any steps and begin recording where the mistake was made.
Step 8: Delete the Working Copy
Delete the working file copy that the action was preformed on in the folder of images.
Step 9: Open the Batch Automater
Under file, click Automate then Batch.
Step 10: Batch Automater Settings
Match the settings in the above images. Choose the action set and the specific action. The source is folder, and choose the folder with the images. Be careful that only the images you want changed are in the folder. If you’re worried, create a copy of the entire folder to run automater on.
Step 12: Run the Automator
Press OK and the automator will begin quickly running the action on every image in the folder.
Conclusion
Using Automate – Batch is the fastest way to make the same changes to multiple images in Photoshop. It is an enormously powerful tool, and will speed up any photographers work flow.
For other automate questions, please post on the Digital Editing Forum. Requests and suggestions are encouraged for future tutorial topics and should be submitted to the Requests topic.
How to Batch-Rename Files in Mac OS X
Batch-Renaming Files in a Sequence in Mac OS X
Keeping your photographic library neat and searchable is a time consuming but important chore. Renaming your files in Finder is a must for an organized computer filing system. The most useful step towards total file organization is batch-renaming files. This photography tutorial will use Apple’s Automator and the Finder to create a simple service-script to rename multiple files in an ordered sequence. Photography tutorials on Photistoric.
Step 1: Automator Service
Open Automator. A pop-up will ask you to select a type for your document. Select Service.
Step 2: Rename Finder Items
In the search bar begin typing Rename Finder Items. Click and drag Rename Finder Items into the right window pane.
Step 3: Action Options
a. Delete the Copy Finder Items action
b. At the top of the right pane, select files or folders from the Service Receives Selected menu
c. At the top of the right pane, select Finder.app in the In menu
d. The action box will say Add Date or Time, change this action to Make Sequential
e. Check New Name in the Make Sequential action box
f. Check the Make All Numbers box and change to 3
g. Select the options tab at the bottom of the Make Sequential action box and select Show this action when the workflow runs
Step 4
File > save the document and name it Batch Rename
Step 5
a. Select all files to rename and press cmd & left-click or right-click on a mouse to show the context menu
b. The Batch Rename service will now appear at the bottom of the context menu
c. Click to initiate the batch-rename
Step 6
a. Enter a new name such as year_event and all the files that have been selected will now be sequentially renamed
Conclusion
The Rename Finder Items action in Automator is the easiest and fastest way to batch-rename files in Mac OS X. This method can be applied to any type or number of files. Be sure to pick a file naming sequence such as date_event_name, and stick with it.
For other file questions, please post on the Digital Editing Forum. Requests and suggestions are encouraged for future tutorial topics and should be submitted to the Requests topic.
How to Remove Dust in Adobe Photoshop

1936. Taxicab driver along riverfront. Saint Louis, Missouri. Photograph by Arthur Rothseinin.
It’s often impossible to remove all the dust from family photos, lenses, historic images or negatives before scanning or taking the picture. Luckily, Adobe Photoshop has the post-processing tools to clean any image. This photography tutorial will explore the use of the Clone Stamp Tool and its options to effectively remove dust and scratches from any image without decreasing its quality.
Curated historic photography on Photistoric.
Step 1: Load the Image
Load the file into Photoshop.
Step 2: Clone Stamp Tool
In the Tools Panel select the Clone Stamp Tool.
Step 3: Clone Stamp Tool Options
The settings for the Clone Stamp tool can be found in the upper left corner of the window in the Options Panel. Set the hardness to 0% and the size to a diameter that will just fit around the dust specs. Alternatively, the stamp size can be made bigger with the close bracket ] key and smaller with the open bracket [ key.
Step 4: Clone Tool Sampling
First, Identify areas of dust. To begin using the Clone Stamp Tool, sample a dust-free area by holding alt and left-clicking. Crosshairs will appear while holding alt. The Clone Stamp Tool works by duplicating a circular area and blurring the edges. When removing dust, the tool essentially just pastes a small part of the picture without the dust, over the area with the dust. For the best results, sample from a dust-free area very close to the area that needs to be repaired without overlapping it. You will want to match the tone and gradient if possible. You can continue to clone other dust specs from the same sample area, but it is recommended that you sample in different areas so that obvious visual repetition does not occur.
Step 6: Covering Hairs
For strings of dust or hair, sample above or below with the Clone Stamp Tool, then click and drag across the dust string.
Alternative Methods of Removing Dust
There are other methods of dust and scratch removal in Adobe Photoshop. Many of them apply a blanket filter that softens the image, and wipes away film grain and other details along with the dust and scratches. These filter methods can be further refined for minimal damage to the non-dusty areas, but the Clone Stamp Tool method outlined in this tutorial will ensure a localized treatment that maintains the integrity of the image.
Conclusion
Once the basics of the Clone Stamp tool are understood, removing dust from photographs is simple. Continue using the clone stamp tool to remove as much dust as desired. Use the same process for dirt, blemishes or other imperfections and impurities. This method can be time consuming, and exhaustively removing every speck can be nearly impossible. A little dust here and there, in the opinion of Photistoric, will not take away from the quality and emotion of an image.
For other dust removal methods or questions, please post on the Film & Negative topic of the Photistoric Forum. Requests and suggestions are encouraged for future tutorial topics and should be submitted to the Requests topic.