Don’t Make These 10 Photoshop Mistakes

7. Not using the healing and stamp tools on a separate layer

Did you know that you can use the Healing Brush, Clone Stamp, and many other similar tools can be used on a separate layer? Don’t duplicate an entire layer just to clone out a couple objects. Instead, look in the option bar and set your tool to sample all layers. Now you can create a new layer and use any healing and stamp tool on the new layer.

8. Retouching so excessively that it looks like your photo’s on drugs

Excessive retouching is like buying a tracksuit with dragons on it. You think it looks cool but later, you’ll say to yourself, “What was I thinking? This looks stupid!”. We don’t always notice when we’re going overboard with the retouching until later. Before you save your file, do a before and after preview to see if you’re over-retouching. Better yet, ask someone for their opinion. If you went overboard, you can fade your retouching simply by placing all your adjustment layers into a layer group then lower the opacity.

8. Fixing brightness while blowing out highlights/shadows

When you adjust your photo’s exposure and contrast, you can sometimes lose details in the highlights and shadows. It’s important to pay attention to these areas anytime you are making tonal adjustments. Sometimes this means that you’ll need to use the Curve adjustment layer instead of the Levels or Brightness/Contrast adjustment layers.

10. Wasting your hard earned money on an expensive GPU/video card

Photoshop CS6 and CC is powered by the Mercury Performance Engine to better utilize your GPU.  If you use Photoshop’s 3D features heavily, then a better GPU may help with rendering times. Asides from that, all you need is any modern AMD/Nvidia GPU with at least 512 MB of VRAM. Plunking down $200+ for an expensive video card is most likely a waste of money as you’ll not see any performance improvements except with the 3D tools. If you want a GPU that’s great for Photoshop, quiet, and also pretty good for gaming, the GeForce GTX 750 TI is a great choice.

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