5 Photoshop mistakes photographers make that they should avoid

It can take a while to figure out what does and doesn’t work in Photoshop for new photographers. We’ve all been there. We’ve discovered some new tool or technique, and we go overboard. We think it looks amazing, we start doing it to every image, but we’re really doing ourselves more harm than good. In the long run, it’s all part of the learning experience, but the sooner we figure this stuff out, the sooner we can move on.

This video from YouTube channel Photoshop Tutorials, highlights five of the most common Photoshop mistakes photographers make. I’m not sure I entirely agree with the first one. I do in part, though. Why do something with a dozen layers if one will do? Aside from anything else, it’s wasted time. Sometimes, you really do need 100+ layers, though (but, please, learn to group them).

Admit it, you’ve probably done all of these at some point. You may have only done some of them once or twice, but you still did them. There’s nothing wrong with that. We all have to learn at some point. Learning what not to do is just as important as learning what we should do.

Creating too many layers – Learn to group them or use Smart Objects to organise
Not using Smart Objects – They’re one of Photoshop’s most powerful and valuable features
Using the wrong document settings – DPI doesn’t make a difference if you’re not printing, and if you are printing, don’t convert to CMYK. Let your printer do it.
Unnecessary Luminosity Masking – Many of Photoshop’s filters and effects will let you specifically target highlights, shadows or midtones anyway.
Overprocessing – Just stop with the plastic frequency separation, overcooked HDR and ridiculous vibrance levels.

As far as my personal Photoshop experience goes, the only one I don’t think I’m guilty of is #2. Sure, I used Photoshop without Smart Objects, but that’s only because Adobe hadn’t implemented them yet. As soon as they were available, I jumped right in and never looked back. They’re absolutely amazing.

Don’t beat yourself up too much over Photoshop mistakes, though. Failure is how we learn.

What mistakes have you made with Photoshop that you’ve ended up regretting? Did you go back and delete the work afterwards to clean up the evidence? Or have you left it up as a lesson to others? Let us know, and show off some of your own failures in the comments.

Kriztoper

“don’t convert to CMYK. Let your printer do it.”, its fine if your outsourcing your print. If you have a personal printer, its good to learn the output colour of different types of paper (matte, glossy etc.) and having a good calibrator like the spyder or i1display.
- Kaouthia
  
  Drivers for most (consumer) personal printers are optimised to receive an RGB image when it comes to photos.
- Alexander Möhle Fotografie
  
  @kaouthia:disqus I’m definitely with @disqus_g2CnWhykRn:disqus here. As a graphicdesigenr with enough experience when it comes to printing, I need to disagree with your point. If you have a cheap personal printer at home then you are printing in crappy quality most of the time so quality doesn’t matter. Most of the people owning a cheap printer wouldn’t think of converting to cmyk anyways. If you have a better Printer and if you are at least considering converting your image, then I attribute you a certain level of knowledge. If thats the case, absolutely DO convert, so you can check the changes, happening to your picture on your (hopefully) calibrated monitor. Sorry to disagree, but your point makes absolutely no sense to me…
  - Kaouthia
    
    That’s fine, but graphics design is not photography. If you have a better printer that absolutely requires CMYK conversion, then you don’t really need to ask the question in the first place anyway and this article is not for you. 🙂
    
    For the people who need to ask the question, RGB is generally best as those who create the hardware and develop the drivers expect most people to not even know how to convert to CMYK, so are therefore optimised for RGB and they do the converting themselves.
    
    Most pro photo labs (again, not design) also generally request RGB files for printing, not CMYK.
Gandalf

no luminosity mask? … wtf.
only a clueless person would say luminosity mask are useless… just another stupid article from a noob.
- Kaouthia
  
  It doesn’t say DON’T use lumonosity masks, just that sometimes they’re unnecessary as the capability is already built into some of the tools.