10 Photoshop Features You Must NEVER Use! + Better Options

[@PiXimperfect]

So who are you? Team Curves or Team Levels? 🔥

[@DujeJonjic]

First one to say levels is gay!

[@jazzlehazzle]

@@DujeJonjic Levels. But again, only bc it's just a little quicker workflow and I'm lazy. Curves reqs a little more attention to detail/fine-tuning. Yes Curves is a better, more precise result. But when Levels gives adequate result, that's good enough. Fewer controls = quicker.

[@DujeJonjic]

@@jazzlehazzle im just joking my guy, I really dont care. But totaly get what you wanna say.

[@kingcognito]

Curves are (on) another Levels!

I love curves. From WB to colour editing, to contrast editing, to even reducing colour noise! I do only infrared, so usually I have to deal with red noise only, so I can simply take that noise out by reducing the contrast of the red colour curve! The levels I sometimes use as a final check to see if I have enough highlights/contrast in the image.

[@joseygirl]

I didn't know that the Single Row Marquee tool even existed until yesterday when Brady from the TextureLabs channel uploaded a video showing a remarkable method for creating a "Depth Waves Scan Effect". Until I saw his video, I had never seen the Single Row tool used for anything. Thanks, Unmesh!

[@TommyClark]

I saw that video and was just about to post the same comment! You beat me to it ;) It's a pretty cool but niche effect.

[@22carmoon]

Bahaha, glad Im not the only one

[@Fredrik-iz4ou]

Cool but not very useful to most.

[@robertrc8852]

You can also use it to stretch colours from an image. Works really well with for example an aeroplane.

[@d3layd]

@@Fredrik-iz4ou i've used it to refine selections when cutting out objects that have straight upright edges for packaging.

[@desert_sky_guy]

Probably the most succinct and helpful explanation of curves vs. levels I've ever seen. Kudos, man! Thank you!

[@festivitycat]

Yeah I just never understood what curves was for so stuck with levels.

[@Jigsaw407]

You can use the sharpen brush nondestructively. Just put an empty layer on top of the image and use the sharpen brush on that one with the "Sample All Layers" box ticked. Too much sharpening? Reduce the opacity of that layer. Same with dodge and burn an other tools of that kind. It's only destructive if you use it on the one and only image layer.

[@_laloruiz_]

yeah but the alternatives do the same but with less steps and they are more precise and have more controls.

[@markusschlevogt]

Yes, but the problem is that you have no controls. For example, if you paint over an area too often with the sharpening brush, you automatically produce artifacts and halos. Although you can increase the transparency of the layer afterwards, you will still be able to see these artifacts and halos, just less so. You cannot remove part of the sharpening process afterwards. You can only erase the part on the seperate layer and sharpen it again, which is a lot more work than simply using one of the methods described :)

[@doubleArt_angel]

To be honest you can use any tool nondestructive just copy the layer make it a smart object and use masks.. That's the beauty of photoshop

[@PiXimperfect]

If it works for you, it’s the best method, for you! There’s no denying that. However, there’s a difference between decreasing the opacity, and decreasing amount, radius, and noise controls. Besides, if you sharpen too much; it will show artifacts, which opacity won’t be able to remove.

[@Jigsaw407]

@@PiXimperfect That's all very true. I just wanted to mention that these tools can still be used non-destructively.

[@JohnDlugosz]

Using an actual piece of sea-sponge (from a tourist souvenir from Galveston) on a wet print being developed in a literal "dark room" with dim amber lights... "This is destructive; you can never go back" The early Photoshop was easy to pick up by people who learned developing and printmaking the traditional way, because the tools were modeled directly on the printmaking tools. Youngsters wonder why the _dodge_ icon looks like that -- well, it's because that's what the dodging tool looks like! A teacher in that photography class taught that a new medium starts out by imitating the old medium and then evolves to a pure form of expression for that new medium.

[@enricozetti]

I think almost no "youngster" is wondering that. Just like the brush looks like a brush, the eraser looks like an eraser, the pen looks like a pen and so on everyone assumes the tools icons are shaped like the real life equivalent that inspired these. I've never had the opportunity to develop film in my life but that was still obvious. Also, does it really matter what an icon is shaped like? The video is just discussing better alternatives to outdated tools.

[@davidgambin2551]

There are probably more "youngsters" than you think who actually have done photography in a darkroom. And yes, photography was destructive and photoshop is not, congratulations for finding out!!

[@redemptusrenatus5336]

@@enricozetti Obviously it does matter what an icon is shaped like, that's why they're ICONS. It's meant to represent something without using words. If it didn't matter, we'd could just use random shapes for each tool but that wouldn't make any immediate connections with what the tool might do, hence, the paintbrush. The dodge tool makes sense to someone coming from developing and printmaking the traditional way but for someone who's grown up where film is all but a distant memory, it doesn't make an immediate connection. The only obvious connection you probably made with the dodge tool is that it must look like some kind of tool that is used for "dodging" ... but the actual connection to how it was used outside of digital work I doubt was as obvious unless you'd studied it.

[@enricozetti]

@redemptusrenatus5336 icon design is relevant, but I think it's not relevant in the way you are assuming. Examples would be countless. The pen tool is a stylographic pen that is very uncommon, magnifying glasses are also uncommon, i've never had those U shaped magnets nor have i ever made a lasso and what the hell is a polygonal lasso? Even the fact that the arrow is an arrow is not that straightforward if you think about it.. no one uses arrows to point at things.. hourglasses were a very common icon to indicate wait even though it's a long gone technology, and now we have these spinning circles, are they some allegorical representation of a clock? probably. Why is the turn-off icon that circle with the line on top? Why is bluetooth icon shaped that way? There are surely reasons, you can google it if you want but i don't really care that much. All of these designs are fine. The fact that almost anyone is using these objects has never been a problem. We have learned what they do and that's fine. I've never seen any young people having difficulties in using these commands or the software in general. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is way more common to meet a very skilled young photoshop artist who has never entered a darkroom than to find an experienced film developer who is also a very skilled photoshop artist. It's two different tools, after all, and what you do and the way you do it is different even if there is a correspondence of certain concepts.

[@lorenzomoro1970]

Right, I used to paint with kodak ink on transparent film to create masks to be used in slide animations. When PS version 3.5 introduced masks I immediately recognized them, other people struggled to understand them. Anyway, nowadays there are obsolete features which are preserved only as a legacy of the past.

[@adelavalle]

I love the way you show us your way of understanding the world of Photoshop, as well as how easy it is to find the most productive side of it. Really thank you

[@razonnahid]

I love the Magnetic Lasso tool and still using it. Sometimes we have images that need to select every curve of edges. Like jewelry images; they have so many small curves that automatic selection can not catch and is totally impossible with pen tool. in tat case, magnetic lasso tool does a fantastic job but of course you've to use this carefully and with full concentration.

[@arthworldenterprise]

In agreement it's useful

[@julieboyle170]

I had even forgotten about some of those features you thought useless. How funny is that - I didn't even miss them. Thank you for sharing.

[@dramklukkel]

Single row selection was useful for wire removal in film. Like Terminator2 were Arnold jumps his bike into a dry canal. That scene required removing the wires the bike was hanging from. An early version of PS was used to do the trick.

[@2amarok]

I have been a digital graphic artist for over 40 years. I began scanning on room-sized machines like Crosfield, Hell, & Magnascan. I have been using Photoshop for color correction & editing since version 2, and I have NEVER used Levels. It’s like using an out-of-control sledgehammer. Curves allows finesse and control not possible with Levels.

[@babie2angel]

I haven't used Photoshop in almost 5 years and OMG it has changed drastically. Of course the first thing I did was go to your channel to learn everything and get caught up. I watched your videos all throughout college, even taught my professors a few things with your tips and tricks. I appreciate your videos so much, thank you for keeping me updated

[@bagnasty]

I was aware of all those tools and I just realized after watching this that I had not been using them. I was very surprised to learn that the curves method did everything levels did and more. Thanks a bunch!

[@RaphaelChan888]

Just when I think Umesh is talking about a feature I've known about for years, I still learn something new about it! This is one of the few KZbin channels where I actually click Like before watching the video, because I know it's always informative.

[@DreOneil]

Hey, I use the Dodge and Burn Tools non-destructively by creating and new layer then do a 50% Gray fill, change the blend mode of the layer to overlay, then just use the Dodge or Burn tool.

[@rahulrawat3620]

Yes i use also with 50% grey layer

[@PiXimperfect]

You can just use the brush tool with black and white. It will have the exact same effect since it’s a gray layer.

[@rahulrawat3620]

It’s work perfectly

[@AnnaVahtera]

Basically the answer to pretty much every "how do I do X in Photoshop" is "layers." When they were introduced back in the day (I think it was Photoshop 3.0?) nobody knew how fundamentally they would change *everything* in image manipulation.

[@Tom_YouTube_stole_my_handle]

Yes, Photoshop 3. I was there! When there was still a printed manual in the box.

[@DustyDingoPhotos]

I remember using layers in Paintshop Pro (v 5 I think) . . . which was . . . free!

[@Liam_Maddog]

@@Tom_KZbin_stole_my_handle …and was often bundled with a scanner purchase 😁

[@hugojackson6822]

Great video. I always wondered about the Single Row selection tool, why is it even there, but I admit I have used it in some very specific cases at times. I would love to see a follow up video on why were these tools added to Photoshop in the first place, back when Photoshop was a lot more limited and trying to emulate tools used on film photography.

[@PauloSousa86]

I think there are caveats for all of them, not to be incorporated into a work routine but, as a means to some specific thing or moment, for example, the sharpen tool is a quick way to lightly sharpen, areas that got slightly out of focus (for example when you merge pictures but photoshop messes the focus, or with the new generative). the dodge, burn, and sponge are the same and limited by shadows highlights or mid-tones, to do the same you need to create a new layer set it to 50% grey on overlay use the blend if, and switch between dodge and burn with the "Alt" key. it's a quick-fix method you can sometimes use and is right there. The levels I use mostly to set white and black points while checking with the "Alt " key, an easier menu to use in my honest opinion. The auto adjustments are sometimes, good for checking, but sometimes the colour or white and black points are off and you don't notice because you're working too long on an image.

[@nicoloco1971]

I personnally use levels and curves, my point : levels are like buying a sandwich (quick and easy), curves are like cooking yourself (the ones who love and know how to do it can go further)

[@michaelfitzsimmons8393]

I found your video incredibly helpful. I use Photoshop almost daily in my job as a Marketing Associate and one time I was tasked to remove the background from a band's photo. I spent hours using magnetic lasso to crop out the background. Not anymore!

[@maxwellmem]

Back in the day I got frustrated with the magnetic lasso tool and gave up. It was sort of a deterrent from using Photoshop as I found it too time consuming and difficult. Now that there are better tools, it makes it much easier and I'm enjoying learning Photoshop via your beginners course.

[@innocentkboateng]

*I finally understand why you so much love curves, I'm totally sold!, but I personally think in simple case scenarios, I'll still use levels, except, as illustrated, I need to adjust different parts. But then again, your explanations makes a lot more sense. Thanks for always sharing*

[@peanin]

Danke!

[@Cre8tiveWoman]

ADMIN HERE: On behalf of Unmesh Dinda, thanks for your contribution and watching!

[@RobertGlockner]

I agree that curves are easier for the changes shown. But if you work in LAB color mode, Levels are the easiest way to enhance the color contrast in A and B without introducing color cast. You may know 'The Canyon Conundrum'. Simply change the lower and upper bounds to i.e. 0 ->15 and 255 -> 240 in A and B and get a not so intrusive push up in colors. Great videos btw and I learn very much from them

[@paulhoffman-music]

Levels has been a crutch for me for so long. And channels seemed too intimidating. I’m gonna try and change my ways. Thanks for another enlightening video!

[@treffermedia9202]

Your videos are just pure perfection, the intro and outro animations and the sound design are just melting me. Then inbetween you are sharp and going in the perfect pace. . You figured youtube out, 100% perfection. Thank you

[@pistelli57]

After Adobe changed its privacy policy, saying that it can have access to all your work and even monitor whether what you are doing is legal or not, I stopped using Adobe programs. I've never seen such a harsh invasion of privacy. They claim that they will use the arts of all users to feed their AI. Does not make sense. Inspection can be automatic or manual. If the automation suspects that you are doing something illegal, it will trigger an alert and someone will check what you are doing. I work with some confidentiality contracts and have completely lost trust in the company. Acceptance of the new terms is mandatory. There is no exit. I'm migrating to Affinity.

[@jichaelmorgan3796]

Well said

[@reginat595]

I've never thought of dodging and burning with black and white on another layer, I'm going to try that! Thanks for the video.

[@JacksonCarson]

50% gray layer Soft Light soft round bruch black or white (or gray). You can also use color if you want to get adventurous with making, say, brown shadows, etc.

[@reginat595]

@@JacksonCarson Thanks! This works beautifully!

[@marklutnes935]

Great video! I miss being able to create reflective water with Photoshop's 3D functionality. I learned how from the very video you showed for it here and afterwards I added a reflective body of water to just about everything. I've learned other ways of creating reflective water from other of your videos after Photoshop's 3D went away but I still remember fondly of learning how to with Photoshop's 3D.

[@sebseb3034]

I never use these tools neither but used them when I was a beginner in retouching 😁 Now I always prefer to have full control and non destructive process.

[@soumik231]

life changing tips.. I can't even distinguish between the useless and the useful tools since I still consider myself as a beginner. So, no disagreeing from my end. So much so, what makes this video special is the alternative techniques you have been teaching through out.. masterpiece!

[@ecoquer]

Most tools like the dodge and burn tools, sponge tool and so on, it seems like they existed before smart objects were a thing

[@JacksonCarson]

Yeah - I wonder how many of these options (like Sharpen or whatever) were left in to support old actions. Take them away and people who have been using their favorite Actions for 20 years would be enraged. I think they could hide the stupid redundant tools from the menu but still let them work with Actions though, maybe?

[@yinoveryang4246]

Nonsense. Masking tools my friend. I used to think this was the case also. The Sponge tool is the only one I've not found an exceptionally good use for,

[@afroditim.421]

I cannot be a photographer without you

[@PiXimperfect]

It’s your effort that makes you who you are! Thanks so much :)

[@christianlaesser9079]

Hahaha, the Magnetic Lasso tool... only a mouse and too impatient to learn the Pen tool. Exactly! And I'm in the Curves team, although I love to be surprised by LUTs too: they often change a wrongly lit photo into something beautiful, and I finally play with hue and saturation to get it back to "natural". Thank you for sharing - as always.

[@denciftci]

You are a great teacher!! There are so many talented people out there but the way you explain things are unique. You make very complicated things so easy to understand and this is a gift not so many people have. Thx a lot.

[@maximusmarketing]

Hi Unmesh! I've watched you videos for years and have learned so much from you. I still go back and rewatch them from time to time when I can't remember how to do something that's not in my normal workflow. In this video you say there's no reason to use Levels. I think I started using levels to create a slight vignette based on your advice (or it could have been someone else). I only use it in some of my photos, but what I do is move the lower slider (output levels) from 255 to around 220 and then with a very large soft brush (in black) I highlight the subject. So my question is this: Should I be doing this a different/better way? I appreciate that you do say "keep doing it, if it works for you" but I was wondering if you could address this specific use of a Levels layer mask. Thanks man! ~Max

[@jamilgotcher365]

Some of those features like Auto Color and Levels are just quick ways to check if your image needs a color adjustment (Auto color) or a contrast adjustment (levels). I know how to use curves but Auto Color and Levels can quickly tell me that my image needs an adjustment to improve it. I always do any adjustments on a copied layer so I don't do anything destructive. And there are ways to adjust Auto Color and Auto Tone etc. Go to the edit menu where you will see the "fade auto color" and or "fade auto tone" it's only available immediately after you use Auto Color and or Auto Tone or Levels. There would be several ways to dial those effects back without being destructive, because your doing this on a copied layer for starters. One of the ways to dial back Auto Color is after you use Auto Color, you then can go to the Edit menu and it says "Fade Auto Color" or you could just reduce the opacity of the layer you did your adjustment, then flatten. Or you could do an inverted mask and paint the adjustment where you wanted it. Sometimes Auto Color is good for a quick check to see if your image is too warm yellow or too red or pink skin tones, whatever, Auto Color will make the image too blue if your image was too yellow., it's telling you to adjust your image, it needs less yellow. Now regarding using Levels, sometimes I like to use levels as a quick check to see if I need to darken the blacks or lighten the whites. You can quickly see if you have space in front of the histogram on the right end (whites) or left end (blacks) that there is room to create more contrast when there is space on the left or the far right. Sometimes I'll think I'm finished with an edit and I've been surprised when I looked at levels and saw that I needed to drag in the sliders on both sides a little because of the space on either side (in front and the back). Improves my image so much. Visually, it's easier and quicker to see if you need to do this by looking at levels and looking for the space before the whites and behind the blacks. It's kind of like when you use one of the presets in Raw and dial it back a little but it did improve your image when you thought it looked good before but it looks better after you use the preset even if it's just 10% of the effect. It's like the thing you didn't know your image needed until you checked the levels or added the preset.

[@naavapasternakswirsky5410]

I'm always learning new techniques from you - thanks so much!

[@janehuntington2764]

I can't believe I'm going to add a comment....but I've worked as a professional retoucher for years, and I use all of these tools-often not in the way he was showing, but they are useful. And I work none destructively-this includes the sharpen tool (cleans up mask areas that are too soft, so they don't need to be redrawn). I also use burn and dodge tools when creating soft light 50% grey burn dodge layers-much better than using the brush, which tends to create saturation layers. As far as curves and levels go, I'm on both teams! Using levels is very, very useful, especially when I'm cleaning up the whites without affecting darker colors-it's much easier than correcting it in curves. Sorry about that!

[@dggd]

You are one amazingly knowledgeable person. You really know your stuff and explain it well.. I've learned quite a bit of advanced stuff from you thru many of your videos. Thank you for sharing your expertise. ❤

[@turitamasnyirbator]

Single row or column tool is good to create a vertical or horizontal colorfully striped abstract picture by transofming a selected row or colum from any photo.

[@bartmanstl]

Great video Unmesh. You defend your choices well and never say you are the end all be all.

[@KenC221]

The single row/column tool has been used by web developers to create background colors/gradients for websites. It is more efficient to have such a small file and then repeat it across the page to create gradient features in backgrounds. The shift toward cleaner web design has made this of limited use now, but that is who really benefitted from the tools.

[@IanJones942]

1:18 Destructive only if you're not using layers.

[@giovannidigitalart]

def. non destructive is the way to go when ever possible. Spot on. some of these tools never made any sense specially if you fall on the painterly side of your career. Excellent video.

[@thoughtsy]

I learn something new every time! Was on team Levels, but I might be switching to Curves.

[@Fredrik-iz4ou]

You're right about Levels, however, if you know exactly what you want to do, the more limited Levels option is cleaner if you don't want to use the extra "cluttering" features of curves. But sure, they could remove the tool and include its map to curves.

I must say I did everything the "secure" way for years, but after noticing that I hardly have to undo anything anymore, I am totally fine with Dodge & Burn etc. - it's just faster. If I do heavy edits I just use the "snapshot" feature, so I can go back to the "before" anytime, weakening an effect later on. When I edit a photo for an hour, maybe I create 3-5 of these snapshots. Especially important after changing the composition or using liquify etc, because such effects will of course make it impossible to revert back to an older state.

[@kuremotokyo]

😊Hello Unmesh ! I have a question about shortcuts! I ❤ to use the clone tool and its shortcuts to rotate it or change its size. ❓️My question is: Is there a shortcut to return it to its original size or initial rotation? Because every time I have to open the clone window to rewrite 0 degrees of rotation or 100% size, and that interrupts my workflow.😢 KEEP CREATING 👍

[@max22able]

Hate to say it, but I wish I knew about Single Row Marquee earlier! My cad renders sometimes produce a line of missing pixels at one side of the image; yes, Edit>Stroke could give border editability, but I sometimes need to select just one line of pixels. But I take your point, very unlikely to need in regular photographic work.

[@JoseCastillo-bc4cy]

PIXmperfect, at minute 20:10 how do you pan and zoom at the same time while using lasso tool? How shortcut keys work in this case for pan and zoom while lasso tool?

[@simoeqr1113]

If you are using a mouse, you can hold the spacebar to switch to the pan tool temporary, and you can use the scroll wheel to zoom while continuing to use the original tool you were working with. However, you need to activate this feature in the settings. In his case, he uses a tablet, and I think he has a shortcut on it to zoom and pan.

[@LongLensPhotography]

burn is actually pretty useful. You can target shadows quite specifically and it is great for a quick job. Obviously you could get more control by using adjustment layer, setting visibility properties and all that but is it worth it? In many cases no.

[@TrishaBelman]

Nice video! I don’t think the sharpen tool is that useless. While it’s non-destructive, managing too many layers is annoying for some of us. They should improve it and make it like the smart filter for a win-win solution.

[@TheWooloomoolloo]

Must admit you're right about all the options that curves provide and do much better. The question is WHY such useful functions, as found in Auto Functions, are hidden deep inside the menus. No chance an as yet inexperienced user could stumble upon them and put them to good use. And, taking the chance, have you got anything on better use of Assign Profile. You can really boost the colours and hues, and apply masks, but are there any hidden tricks for all these CIE, Image P3, Hasselblad and other profiles?

[@JacksonCarson]

Option (Alt) - click on Auto to open those up in Levels or Curves. You don't have to go into the menus. He shows menus so people learn.

[@mattesckelson510]

I often use the blur & sharpen tools when editing masks directly, like if the edge of a selection needs to be more or less crisp. Same with burn & dodge.

[@brucefulton]

That's not the way I was taught to use dodge/burn. I add a layer with Alt+NewLayer, change the blend mode to overlay, and check fill with Overlay-neutral color. Then, you have a new dodge/burn layer so it's non-destructive, the dodge/burn tools work as they should with the controls they have, you can choose the mode (highlights, mid-tones, shadows) and so on. Kind of like what you are suggesting, but with a little more control, IMO.

[@fildyb]

I use the single row/column marquee tool to make single lines stroke! You basically select with the single row marquee tool, then add a stroke, and that's how I end up with a single, thin line. Useful for different designs in my opinion.

[@steve-4045]

Auto Color is often worth trying to touch up the look of the picture, often followed by Fade, changing amount or choosing just luminosity, color, or hue, depending on what looks good. I will try it at times when I know I want to change something, but I’m unsure of what.

[@sytsebakker]

wow, I learned a lot in the last 22 minutes. I'm very thankful. Greetings from the Netherlands

[@federicoimperiale8747]

Great video as usual!! I really liked your previous tutorial on 3D contrast using 3D in Photoshop; once Adobe discontinued it, I was quite disappointed, as it became part of one of my main workflows. Any advice on how it would be possible to achieve the same effect in Photoshop now without having to use Substance, Blender or similar softwares?

[@CarlosEmusic]

Dodge and burns tools 3:23 levels 7:56

[@raphaelcarrand6032]

Levels is useful, especially for beginners. It's a simple "one purpose tool", and make an easy bridge with the basics settings of Lightroom. Of course, you can use Curves instead, but Curves can often become Curses in inexperienced hands.

[@Thelifeinhispalm]

Absolutely great. You've pointed well. I prefer the CURVE TOOL than levels too. With th CURVE Tool I have more control. Thank you, Umesh

[@vperalta]

This has to be one of the best instructive videos you have made. I enjoyed the logic behind your moving from one way of doing things, to a more practical way. Great job!

[@christophesurman641]

definitly I love yours videos. I'am following you since a long time and your indian accent allows me, I'am french, to anderstand every thing you say. But the best thing is that in every video you explain all your action. Many thanks Umesh and congratulations for your collaboration whith Adobe.

[@dogblessamerica]

I find levels pretty useful for scanned drawings where I want to eliminate slight shadows and smudges while leaving pencil lines

[@mr.octopus-plag]

I've advocated for Curves for many years. I really don't see why someone uses Levels at all. But I never tried the Auto curves, interesting! Also, great tip about the Adjustment Brush Tool, I didn't notice it!

[@doug_gemmell_photography]

You can use the sharpen tool then go to edit and fade the sharpen. I find that very useful and quick when I want to add just a small amount of sharpen to a part of the photo.

[@alexnemec]

I use the dodge and burn tools regularly to finetune masks, often together with the blur tool.

[@ZenonTorbacz]

Dodge and Burn on Grey Layer with Soft Light is perfect :)

[@JacksonCarson]

As is black and/or white soft paint brush on a gray layer with soft light.

[@LeahyPhoto]

PixImperfect has a video explaining how you may not need the grey fill in the Dodge and Burn layer.

[@JacksonCarson]

Good point. You can use a transparent layer too.

[@MilanRegec]

The Blur/blur more (and sharpen counterparts) are there for historical purposes and compatibility with ancient actions. Also, for photo-printing very often you get better results if you just use blur before you hit print.

[@mirko4678]

The magnetic tool gives me more control to refine a selection made automatically with another tool. Those tools (object selection tool, quick selection tool, etc) are useful to make a selection quickly but are far from perfect to deliver a clean job.

[@andywagoner]

hey, when you're resizing your brush tool, you're getting a red image on your screen so you can see what size it's going to be and how soft or hard it's going to be. I love this keyboard shortcut but for some reason I no longer get the red shape as a preview. I cannot figure out how to get that red preview shape back. can anyone help me out? I use a Mac.

[@jrbling25]

Red preview overlay. This may not be your issue, but I used an old intel with Nvidiai GPU for a while, at some point the GPU support was dropped or not sufficient for all features. I do think this was also a bug at some point but that was several years and versions ago You may also try resetting your photoshop preferences. You'll probably have much more success troubleshooting if you do some searches (if you haven't).

[@andywagoner]

solved! under preferences-performance then click on Use Graphics Processor.

[@scottwackett8172]

Always used Curves over Levels since the 90's. For me it offers up a more user friendly tool over Levels. Over the years it's come to my attention that 'good' High End retouchers in the Creative Advertising space use Curves over Levels too. My pet hate is when people work destructively in PS! I see all too often - Sloppy. On a positive note, nice work fella!

[@Billwzw]

So many of these questionable tools are in Photoshop for backwards compatibility - they are the original tools created in 1990 and just never removed since it's easier to carry them forward rather than re-educate the user base. The logic back then was to add features, never to remove them. Just listen to Unmesh talk about the 3D tools going away and it's easy to understand why.

[@AntonioGju]

Now I feel guilty usung the Sharpen and Sharpen More options... I've been using those fore 6+ years, not like always but I sometimes want to just click and be done with a shallow sharpen that I don't need the control and thats it

[@terrymcgovern6846]

Oddly enough, I recently saw a comment from Deke McClelland which was the opposite of your Curves/Levels one: He wondered why anyone needed curves when levels did the same things. Personally, I use both. I often find that targeting a specific area is very helpful. Deke didn't go into detail about how he would accomplish that with Levels, but he did say that I was free to use whatever I wanted. As for the rest of the ten, I am in pretty much complete agreement.

[@endritberisha9366]

Backround eraser is good if you combine with selection tool,you select object mask it and if is for example a tennis tennis racquets its gonna be frustrating croping it 1 by 1

[@c.augustin]

Many of the tools and filters are there, because they represent basic image manipulation techniques/algorithms. And sometimes this is what is needed, nothing more. If I only need to brighten the image temporarily, to make shadows visible (for spotting in my case), I use a simple Levels Adjustment layer to switch it on and off as needed (same to darken the image). It always depends. Additionally, having lots of layers and masks increases the file size and slows down saving the image - and it counts with 80 MP (or larger) files on many machines. With modern Macs, where SSD storage is at a premium, many have only limited storage space (and cloud storage isn't always a solution for that either). So sometimes simple destructive methods can just do what is needed. But overall it is good to know the alternatives (this field or area blur was news to me and could be helpful at times).

[@NeboSato]

I had stopped doing photography and photo editing for three to four years. I was really an expert, and I can’t believe I’ve forgotten 25% of the material because Photoshop is so complex. The moral of the story is: never stop using Photoshop, because it feels like learning all over again. Thank you for reminding me of what I used to know as a professional before.

[@amirreza2612]

OH God 8 years old me would've loved to hear about backspace in the magnetic lasso tool.🤣 Same as you it was like magic to me, fell in love with cs4 back then.

[@StarBust-xq6mk]

Just found your channel today. Only the second of your videos I have watched. Instant sub. Excellent content! 👏 🏆 ❤

[@vincealcazar2870]

Hey Adobe: looking to "lighten" the byte burden of Ps, start with these 10 Ps features. Great vid!

[@steve-4045]

I use levels when I just want a quick and dirty solution, and I’m not coming back to the image to adjust things later. When I need more control, I use curves. It’s a matter of using the best tool for the job, as usual.

[@butchphillips]

a lot of those features and tools were part of Photoshop 2 and 3 - they just carried over and Photoshop did not really open up and modernize until version 5 when we got multiple undos and other toys.

[@JacksonCarson]

Multiple undo was an amazing addition! (not to mention Layers!!!)

[@butchphillips]

@@JacksonCarson yep, i went to an Photoshop 5 beta prelaunch party. we got our hands on PS5 that way for attending. before they showed us the app, they asked what is on your wish list. i was first and said, multiple undos!

[@fredkelly6953]

I started in photoshop 4 but realised pretty quickly that the best tool to learn was the pen tool. I still use it because it is clean but the selection tools these days are usually sufficient. The lack of control with the old tools were substandard back when but the smart tools now have made them obsolete.

[@ZCCanvas]

Your editing skills are next level. This was so informative and fun to watch! ❤❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@rodneyschmidt3652]

Pretty happy about the discontinuation of Photoshop's 3d features, overall. They were always clunky and slow and annoying. The only thing I wish they would keep in Photoshop is the normal / bump map utility. That at least made sense, generating a basic normal map from a bitmap.

[@JacksonCarson]

Yeah - it sucks that bump maps are gone. I was also super bummed when they got rid of shake reduction. I used that a lot with my handheld photography.

[@ArminSteiner]

great Video. My guess would be that this are old functions from way past and Adobe just did not bother to remove them.

[@Phrosti_]

The blur and blur more options confused me when I first started using Photoshop. I used the column marquee tool to create shines and sparkles for comics, then I discovered the Pen tool. The magnetic Lasso tool has never worked for me, ever.

[@Kreative3DMedia]

Level works with numeric values, which is really important in some cases. So although Curves and Levels overlap, they are not 100% interchangeable

[@billpholde4816]

You win, you just cured me of my levels habit. Another great video!

[@davidc7763]

Single row/column tool is useful when editing or working with UI elements. For example, making adjustments to a screenshot of a mobile app.

[@BryceDriesenga]

Yours might be better, but I've done a similar thing for Dodge & Burn for a while where I create a 50% gray layer and then use dodge/burn tools on that and set it to overlay.

[@pedrurr]

your videos are so easy to understand but packed with information, just a masterclass on tutorials

[@abjr303]

Agree with all except levels. Thanks Umesh.

[@subhankitbasu620]

@piximperfect Can you explain about he ongoing Adobe terms and conditions ?

[@googleboughtmee]

Just curious, is there a reason you duplicate the background layer to turn it into a smart object? You can click the padlock icon on the background layer to let you manipulate it as a normal layer

[@PiXimperfect]

Yes, just to have a reference of the before and after. Not technically required.

[@JacksonCarson]

​@@PiXimperfect I usually make the smart object and then hit command-J to make a quick duplicate of the original for that. I very often find myself making a bunch of adjustments to one smart object and then changing opacity over the original to fade my changes a bit. I like having a SmartObject for the original so I don't accidentally make a destructive change to it. I know I could lock it, but SmartObjects are free. And I can always double-click it to change something in the Original and have it applied to all instances.

[@uncle0eric]

Aren't the levels tool and the curves tool just different "controls" for the same subroutines? (Genuine question - I don't know the answer.)

[@RobertKarlBerta]

I suspect user choice of various tools is based on how long a person has been using PS. Old timers get used to one way of doing something and stay with that even though better ways are now available. I started around PS 2. Talking to people or seeing KZbin videos from people like yourself has shown me the better ways of doing something and I am not afraid to toss out the old and in with the new. I am mainly an astrophotographer so have learned a lot of tricks from other astro imagers... and share those ideas with others as we further refine those technics.

[@TigraPolosatiy]

The olny Features You Must NEVER Use is a new Adobe's Terms of use 🙃