Free Adobe Photoshop Tutorials For Creative Suite 2

Our free Adobe Photoshop Tutorials have been separated into 3 collections. This page features free Photoshop Tutorials for CS2. We also have a page of free Photoshop Tutorials for CS, and a page of free Photoshop Tutorials for CS3. If you own Photoshop CS3 you can go through all 3 collections, but if you have an earlier version of Photoshop, the tutorials for later versions will include features you might not have. To upgrade visit the Adobe Online Store. If you are a student get super savings at the Adobe Education Store.

Tips For Working With Layers & Type In Photoshop CS2
(From Jennifer Apple) Keeping with their proclivity for the sometimes infuriating rearrangements of menus and hotkeys from version to version, Adobe has made some changes to the Photoshop layers palette in CS2.

As I found myself running into a few walls while working on a job, I decided to share my little discoveries with everyone. Hopefully this will prevent some unnecessary headaches!

Read the Tips For Working With Layers In Photoshop CS2 tutorial.

Working With Type In Photoshop CS2(From Jennifer Apple) So is there really anything new to learn for when you work with type in Photoshop CS2? Actually there's quite a lot, and so I've put together a quick and easy tutorial that shows some of the new stuff you'll encounter.

You'll learn now to change the size of font previews, work with the bounding box, use Smart Guides to align type layers, how to change Type Orientation from the palette, rasterize from the palette menu, and also how to use the fast Warp Text options. So have a look!Read the Working With Type In Photoshop CS2 tutorial.

Photoshop CS3 Upgrade Options And Bundles From The Adobe Store

Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film, video, and multimedia pros and for graphic and web designers using 3D and motion. Get the full version for US $999, or upgrade for US $349. The standard version of Photoshop CS3 is available for US $649, or as an upgrade for US $199. See all upgrade options at the Adobe Store. See our CS3 Resource Center for free Photoshop CS3 tutorials.

Photoshop Extended is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, which combines all-new CS3 versions of Photoshop, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat 8 Pro. Upgrade options for customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can be found at the Adobe International Store.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Available At The Adobe Store

There are tons of new features in Adobe Lightroom 1.0 that you won't find in the beta version. From Clone and Healing functionality to metadata browsing, you'll be able to free-up post-processing time like never before. Get it now at the Adobe Store. Customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can find special pricing and offers at the Adobe International Store. For free Lightroom tutorials see our Lightroom tutorials page.


Total training has kindly provided us with some links to clips from their brand new training videos for Photoshop CS2. Here's a taste of what their new training videos have to offer.

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Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point lets you clone, paint and transform image objects while retaining visual perspective. In this clip you'll learn how to draw a grid that matches the perspective of your photograph, and how to set new source points and then clone and paint inside the grid.
See the Total Training CS2 "Vanishing Point Tool" video tutorial.

Camera RAW
In this video clip you'll get a first look at the new Camera RAW features in Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop 9). Camera RAW CS2 now lets you batch process images and import images into your choice of formats, including Digital Negative (DNG). Camera RAW CS2 also allows you to make automatic adjustments to exposure, shadows, and brightness and contrast.

In this clip you'll learn how to correct a very dark image, and how to use the new Auto Correction settings in Camera RAW CS2.
See the Total Training CS2 "Camera RAW" video tutorial.

Image Warp
With Image Warp you can easily create packaging mock-ups or other dimensional effects by wrapping an image around any shape or stretching, curling, and bending an image.
In this clip you'll learn how to create true envelope-style distortion with installed warp presets, and how to use traditional transformation settings to create a wrapping effect.
See the Total Training CS2 "Image Warp" video tutorial.

Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge is a stand-alone application, the next-generation File Browser, where you can process multiple camera RAW images at once; resize, rate, and label thumbnails; quickly review images in Slideshow mode; search metadata; and more.
In this clip you'll learn how to use the new View Controls for changing the size of thumbnails with a slider, and how to preview a variety of files, including fonts and color swatches in a document.
See the Total Training CS2 "Adobe Bridge" video tutorial.

Smart Objects
With Smart Objects you can perform nondestructive scaling, rotating, and warping of raster and vector graphics. You can even preserve the editability of high-resolution vector data from Illustrator.
In this clip you'll learn how to import a graphic and choose the Smart Object command, and how to shrink and then enlarge a graphic with no loss of detail.
See the Total Training CS2 "Smart Objects" video tutorial.

Smart Sharpen Filter
The new Smart Sharpen Filter lets you easily counteract common image blurring with fine correction control based on the specific blur types: motion, lens, and Gaussian.
In this clip you'll learn how to use the new Smart Sharpen Filter, and the difference between the Smart Sharpen Filter and the Unsharp Mask Filter.
See the Total Training CS2 "Smart Sharpen Filter" video tutorial.

Remove Red Eye
Remove red eye from a photo with the new Photoshop CS2 one-click red-eye correction tool, which supports 16-bit images and lets you set pupil size and darkening level.
In this clip you'll learn the most common causes of red eye, how to select the Red Eye Tool from the toolbox, and how to remove red eye completely with one click from the Red Eye Tool.
See the Total Training CS2 "Remove Red Eye" video tutorial.

Shadow Highlight Filter
The Shadow/Highlight Filter lets you modify the shadows and the highlights in an image to independently reduce the contrast of an image. In this clip you'll learn how to change the default Shadows and Highlights settings to avoid flaring.
See the Total Training CS2 "Shadow Highlight Filter" video tutorial.

Match Color
In this video clip you'll learn how the Match Color Command functions work so you can match the colors of one layer or image with the highlights of another layer or image.
See the Total Training CS2 "Match Color" video tutorial.

SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - CSS Web Tool
All versions of SiteGrinder generate web pages with graphics, styled and even scrolling web text, rollover buttons, popups, and multi-level menus. Interactive elements can be constructed from graphics, text, or a mix of both, and function across multiple web pages that are automatically linked to one another.

Convert a web template to finished web site - no slicing or coding
SiteGrinder uses the names of your layers to generate pages. You simply add hints like "-button," "-rollover," and "-link" to the end of your layer names, then open SiteGrinder from Photoshop’s File> Automate menu and click the Build button. SiteGrinder can create an entire website containing styled text, rollover buttons, popups, text and graphic menus — all from the layer names in Photoshop. Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. Read our review of SiteGrinder.

How To Sharpen An Image In Photoshop - Sharpening Tutorial
Our friend Mark Galer has sent us a free sample chapter on techniques to sharpen images in Photoshop from his book Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills.


Here are 4 sample clips from Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS2 hosted by Deke McClelland. In this Masters Collection Series of video-based training, host Deke McClelland provides more than 8 hours of detailed instruction for advanced Photoshop topics (see review).

Liquify Filter Warp Tool
In this sample clip you'll learn the following:
 How to work with the Liquify Filter Dialog Box.
 How to use the Liquify Filter's Warp Tool to make subtle adjustments to an image.
See the Liquify Filter Warp Tool video tutorial.

Camera Raw Color Controls
In this sample clip you'll learn the following:
 How to work with the new Color Sampler Tool to set specific color sample points.
 How to use the Temperature and Tint sliders in the Color Controls dialog box.
See the Camera Raw Color Controls video tutorial.

Surface Blur Filter
In this sample clip you'll learn the following:
 How to use the Surface Blur Filter for photo retouching.
 How to adjust the Threshold and Radius values to control your blur.
See the Surface Blur Filter video tutorial.

Exposure Command — Photoshop CS2 (Photoshop 9) Video Tutorial
In this sample clip you'll learn the following:
 How to work with 32 bits of data per channel.
 How to modify the brightness and contrast of an image using the Exposure Command.
See the Exposure Command video tutorial.


How To Sharpen An Image In Photoshop — Advanced Sharpening Techniques
Most if not all digital images require sharpening. Most cameras or scanners can sharpen as the image is captured but the highest quality sharpening is to be found in the image editing software. The best sharpening techniques are those that prioritize the important areas for sharpening and leave the smoother areas of the image well alone, e.g. sharpening the eyes of a portrait but avoiding the skin texture. These advanced techniques are essential when sharpening images that have been scanned from film or have excessive noise, neither of which needs accentuating by the Unsharp Mask. So let the project begin.

Working With Shadows In Photoshop - Advanced Shadow Techniques
Learn the fine art of isolating and preserving delicate and complex shadows for transplantation to exotic new backgrounds. The flower for this tutorial was photographed on a cold winters morning in Victoria whilst the sand hails from the Great Indian Desert in Rajasthan. Unlikely bedfellows, but with a little craft the two can lie together comfortably within the same frame – but only if the subtle shadow is captured with all of its subtlety and delicately transplanted to its new home in the desert. This is how...!


Adobe Photoshop Tutorials & Articles By Jennifer Farley

Use Photoshop To Add A Title To An Image - Working WIth Text
There are times when you need to put a title on an image, whether for print work or for the web. Sometimes you might put it above the image, often you might place it below the image, but one way to add a nice elegant title is to actually put it in the image. In this short tutorial I’m going to use Photoshop to do just that.

Designing With Paragraphs Of Type - Photoshop Type Tool Tips
In Photoshop, you will often use point type - a few discrete words or lines – which are added by clicking once with the Type tool and then adding some text. Often, however, a design may call for full paragraphs of text. You can design complete paragraphs of type in Photoshop and you don’t have to switch to page-layout program to get paragraph type control. In this short Photoshop tutorial I’ll show you how to do it.

Hand Colouring A Black And White Photo In Photoshop - Photoshop Tutorial
You can hand colour a black and white photograph in Photoshop in a number of ways. In this tutorial, I’m looking at how to add colour by making selections and using adjustment layers. Let me preface this by saying, THIS EFFECT DOES NOT LOOK NATURAL! It will not look like a colour photograph, but is great for a retro look and can be good fun on old pictures. However, nobody will mistake it for an original colour picture.

How To Make A Dotted Line Brush In Photoshop
The dotted line is a very useful tool in graphic and web design for separating areas of information. If you've used Illustrator or InDesign, you'll know that it's simple to stroke a line so that it appears dotted. However, Photoshop doesn't offer this as a standard feature. I'm going to show you how you can easily create a dotted line by making a custom brush.

Adobe Photoshop Drop Shadows - Drop Shadow Tips
It’s really easy to add a drop shadow to any object on a layer in Photoshop. Just select the layer in the Layers palette and then click on the “Add a layer style” button at the bottom of the palette and choose Drop Shadow from the drop down menu. This opens up the Layer Style dialogs box and you can choose your drop shadow settings from there. Simple.

Working With Photoshop Blending Modes & Opacity - Photoshop Tutorial
In this Photoshop tutorial, I’m taking a brief look at opacity and blending modes in Photoshop and how you can create different image effects by using them. I’m not going to look at each of the blending modes – there are 23 of them – but more an overview of how they work. When you blend layers you are changing the way pixels on the different layers mix with each other and this gives us some cool (and unusual) results. Blending modes can be a great way to compose multiple-image artwork.

Matching Image Sizes When Dragging Between Documents
People new to image editing in Photoshop are often puzzled when they drag an image from one document window to another document and the sizes don’t match. You may have found that you have two documents which look about the same size when they are side by side, but when you drag one photo onto the first image appears really small (or really big). So what’s the story? Well, you need to look at the resolution of each image to understand why this happens.

Using Photoshop's Art History Brush To Create A Painting Effect
Rather than using Photoshop filters to create a watercolour or painterly effect, you can use the Art History Brush in Photoshop to create a nice looking "painting." And it will make you feel like you’re part of the process of making something because with this tool you need to make decisions about how the effect will look

Photoshop Photo Effect - Haunted Grungy Look
A very popular look I’ve noticed recently is a sort of haunted, gritty photo look. I saw an advertisement in a magazine for “House” the TV program with Hugh Laurie and it uses this effect of grittiness combined with bright coloured eyes. In this Photoshop tutorial I’m going to show you how to make something similar in Photoshop.


Below are links to sections of a sample chapter from the ExtremeTech book, Hacking Photoshop CS2 by Shangara Singh. We've divided "Chapter 9 Hacking Selection Masks" into the following 3 sections:

Creating And Saving Selection Masks
Selections can be created in a number of ways. They can be created from the ground up using the selection marquee or lasso tools, or with painting tools by entering Quick Mask mode, or they can be based on the luminosity or the color data in the image. They can also be created from existing paths and path components. In ImageReady, you can create selections from slices.
Go to Creating And Saving Selection Masks

Editing And Modifying Selection Masks
Very rarely is a new selection perfect. Invariably, you have to do some work on it before you can use it. Fortunately, after you have stored the selection in an alpha channel, you can modify it in a number of ways. You can use painting tools, transform commands, or filters to modify the alpha channel and then load it as a selection mask.
Go to Editing And Modifying Selection Masks

Selection Mask Quick Hacks
The following hacks cover some of the methods most commonly used for creating selection masks. They are presented here in one place for your consumption. Feast on them from time to time when you feel hungry.
Go to Selection Mask Quick Hacks


Skin By Lee Varis - Photoshop Retouching - Free Sample Chapter

Far from a manual on fashion or nude photography, Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies is a comprehensive tutorial on how to photograph all types of people: young, old, and dozens of ethnic varieties. This is a fabulous little book and we're very happy because our friends at Wiley have sent us a free sample chapter to give away. Download Beauty Retouching (PDF - 1.4 MB) and then follow the steps and watch what happens.

Yes, you can become a touchup artist with no previous experience, which is just the way it should be. The book is a complete start-to-finish approach to integrating everything from posing models to shooting and retouching candid scenes. Order Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies at Amazon.com (37% discount).



Franklin McMahon is a professional photographer/digital artist. His work has been featured numerous times on the cover of FACE (as well as several other magazines), and from browsing his online portfolio it's evident that he's done zillions of commercial and fashion projects.

Although tutorials are not a featured aspect of McMahon's blogspot, he has posted some online tutorials that he produced for Creative Cow. You can access them by going to his tutorials page and scrolling through to see the videos. Here's some of what you'll find:

Free Photoshop Tutorials - CS2 Secrets - Compositing
"Here is part one of a three part series of videos I produced for Creative Cow on Photoshop called CS2 Secrets. This one covers photo compositing in Photoshop CS2 with details on the place command as well as photo merge. Some very cool techniques if you work with photos."

Free Photoshop Tutorials - CS2 Secrets - Animation
"Did you know you can do animation in Photoshop CS2? Here is part 2 of my 3 part video tutorial on Photoshop CS techniques focusing on Photoshop Animation."

Free Photoshop Tutorials - CS2 Secrets - Photo Effects
"This video tutorial centers on adding dramatic photo effects to your images, adding accents as well as highlighting different areas. Tools covered include mask mode, blur, selective blur, sharpen, dodge, burn and the fiber render engine."

Photoshop CS2 - Tools covers some of the new additions to Photoshop's toolkit, including "type previews, spot healing, red eye removal, workspace options, menu altering, web galleries, and export to video."

Photoshop CS2 - Vanishing Point is intended for slightly more proficient users, and demonstrates how to map images onto 3D planes with this awesome new tool.

Free Adobe Photoshop Video Tutorial - Layer Styles
"In this video I go over gradient and color overlay styles, and how to use them to make very dramatic photos."

Free Adobe Photoshop Video Tutorial - Fonts
"Here is a tutorial on Photoshop CS2 on how to make your text look great with kerning, double bold, faux and styles."Free Adobe Photoshop Video Tutorial - Layout
"In this tutorial video I go over Photoshop layout design techniques such as color schemes, fonts and alignment."

In Photoshop CS2 - Adobe Bridge, McMahon goes through "sorting and arranging a photo shoot to show the new features and options in Adobe Bridge - which ships with the Adobe Creative Suite 2."



In "Using the Lens Correction Filter in Photoshop CS2" Photoshop expert Colin Smith demonstrates some of the capabilities of one of the powerful new features in Photoshop CS2. From the site:
"The Lens Correction filter in Photoshop CS2 is truly amazing, being able to repair all kinds of distortions. Not only can it remedy the bulging created by a wide-angle lens and the weird distortion created by taking a photo too close to a subject – such as the bulging nose of a friend – but it can also straighten images taken at angles and make them appear as if they were shot straight on. To demonstrate, let’s take an image that suffers from many problems and correct it."
Read Using the Lens Correction Filter in Photoshop CS2.
Adapted from How To Do Everything With Photoshop CS2 by Colin Smith.

Create An Online Portfolio Gallery With PhotoshopPhotoshop makes it very easy to build an online portfolio. I will show you how in just a few steps and we can do it all from the File Browser in Photoshop CS or Bridge in CS2.

Using Channels To Mask Out Difficult Images In PhotoshopThis tutorial will focus on using Channels to help mask out complex objects with clean edges. This technique will also save you a lot of time. We will use Alpha Channels, Quick Masks, Levels, Brushes and Color Range.

PhotoshopCafe.com - Colin Smith Vanishing Point Tutorial
You can also view a Quicktime Photoshop CS2 tutorial on the Vanishing Point from Colin Smith at his Photoshop Cafe site.
View the Vanishing Point Tutorial from Colin Smith



There are some good Photoshop CS2 video tutorials from Russell Brown at his Photoshop Tips and Techniques site. Also look for his special scripts for designers and photographers who are working with Adobe Bridge CS2.

CS2 Vanishing Point Tutorial (QuickTime - 18 MB)
Learn some great new ways to move objects in accurate perspective.

Instant Exterior - CS2 Vanishing Point Tutorial (QuickTime - 27 MB)
Discover a creative way to use this new feature to update building exteriors.

Then Suddenly, They Vanished! - CS2 Vanishing Point Tutorial (QuickTime - 16 MB)
Learn to paint in perspective with Vanishing Point.

CS2 Bridge Workflow (QuickTime - 46 MB - Adobe Photoshop CS2 Only)
Learn to take images directly from your camera and work with them in the new Adobe Bridge application.

CS2 Camera RAW (QuickTime Tutorial - 24 MB)
Take a close look at the new features in Adobe Camera RAW.

CS2 Exporting RAW Images (QuickTime Tutorial - 12 MB)
This tutorial includes information on using the new Image Processor that was previously known as Dr. Brown's Image Processor.

Open Type and Photoshop CS2 (QuickTime Tutorial - 8.9 MB)
Gain fine typographic control with Illustrator CS2 and Photoshop CS2.

Creating a Watermark Action (QuickTime Tutorial - 21 MB)Create an Action that will magically work on both a horizontal and vertical image.



There are 10 PDFs by Julieanne Kost & Daniel Brown that you can download from the Adobe Evangelists site that contain an enormous amount of info about Photoshop CS2.




There are 3 Photoshop CS2 tutorials available from the Adobe site. The first two are available in MOV and PDF format. It is suggested that you watch the movie for an overview, and then follow the companion Adobe PDF tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Perform Nondestructive Transformations
[MOV: 9.2 MB / PDF: 500 KB] Perform as many transformations on an image as you'd like in Photoshop CS2 without worrying about losing image quality.

Correct Lens And Camera Angle Distortions In One Simple Process
[MOV: 9.0 MB / PDF: 650 KB] Don't let a distorted photo spoil your project. It's easy to correct even the most extreme visual distortion with Photoshop CS2.

Defining Perspective Planes To Redesign A Building
[PDF: 270 KB] In the past, you had to stretch, skew, and transform new image elements to make them conform to the perspective of an existing photo. Now, in Photoshop CS2, the revolutionary, new Vanishing Point plug-in handles the chore of matching perspective for you.

Adobe Bridge
Adobe Bridge software is the new navigational control center built for Adobe Creative Suite 2 software and its components. Based on the File Browser introduced in Photoshop 7.0, Adobe Bridge goes a step further by providing centralized access to your suite project files, applications, and settings. With file organization and sharing, plus Adobe Stock Photos, at your fingertips all the time, Adobe Bridge is where you keep your ideas moving. There's a Flash movie available on the page that shows how Adobe Bridge serves as the hub for Creative Suite projects.

Adobe Digital Imaging Solutions
Watch a Flash video featuring a group of top Photoshop experts and photographers who discuss Photoshop CS2. There are other resources on this page as well.

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To redeem our exclusive discount coupon, use promotion code save20pss in your shopping cart. You could save hundreds of dollars. Use this special link to see the full offer.

Total Training for Adobe Photoshop
Learn Adobe Photoshop with 21 hours of interactive Adobe Photoshop tutorials. This is training for real-world situations and includes additional tips and techniques used by the pros.

Regular Price: $299.99 (take 20% off with coupon)

SiteGrinder 2 - Photoshop PluginThere often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.

Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.

Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder 2 seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder 2, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.

Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.

Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder 2 can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.

Photoshop Book - Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews
An inspirational and user-friendly guide to creative image editing, Photoshop CS2: Essential Skills provides direction for photographers and designers alike who have ventured into the realm of the 'digital darkroom.' The book offers a progressive curriculum to guide you through Photoshop with a series of clear, step-by-step projects designed to place knowledge into a practical context.

Whether you simply want to retouch an image, create a glamour makeover or create a highly sophisticated montage - this book will give you the essential skills to complete the work to a professional standard.

The accompanying CD-ROM and website, www.photoshopessentialskills.com, offer additional teaching and learning materials which form a library of indispensable supporting resources including:
• All of the images used in the text
• Over four hours of QuickTime movie tutorials to support the practical projects
• A range of presets (including layer styles, curves, shapes and gradients)
• Camera RAW files
• Free extra chapters in e-book form.