If you are an amateur photographer who is trying to find the best way to edit photos in Photoshop fast and professionally, look though these simple steps to make your photos pop and glamourous.

Why Photoshop instead of thousands photo editing programs?Though there are many free Photoshop alternatives, this software is an undeniable leader because of many powerful features and tools it offers. There are many online and free tutorials, photo editing freebies and plugins, etc.

Check out these main photo editing stages that will answer the question of how to edit photos in Photoshop and also give some tips on basic and professional picture retouching.

The image post-processing stage is an integral part of digital photography. Even if you took a picture that looks perfect to you, there is always place for a little photo editing magic.If you feel overwhelmed by the price this program has, you can use Photoshop free to make sure that such capabilities are worth each cent. 

STEP 1. Make Cropping for Photo Composition

 The first thing all professional recommend starting with when you perform Photoshop photo editing is to decide on the size of the picture in order to improve the composition. Will you print a photo, put it in the frame or upload to a social network: Instagram, Facebook, etc.?

On the example you see a photo for Instagram and in order to upload it without cropping, the size was changed to 4: 5.

To crop a photo, select the Cropping Tool in the toolbar, then choose the necessary aspect ratio by clicking on the drop-down menu (in the upper right corner) and selecting “No Limit”, “Original Ratio” or any of the “Presets” options.

You can also enter the appropriate size in the text boxes next to the menu. Drag the corners or edges of the image to get the desired cropping. Press “Enter” or click the “Commit” icon to complete cropping. Done!

Cropping is a very simple and seemingly irrelevant step in photoshopping images process. However, it greatly improves the composition. If you don’t know how to crop a specific photo, experiment with different variants to find the composition that suits you best.

STEP 2. Adjust Exposure to Make Colors Pop

There are situations when your photo is slightly overexposed. As a result, it is impossible to achieve the correct exposure; the colors are rendered unrealistically, which is perfectly seen on the skin. Fortunately, using some Photoshop tools you can easily fix this problem by adding more details to your image.

You can get access to these tools by clicking “Image” (in the menu bar) and selecting “Adjustments” in the drop-down menu: Brightness Contrast, Levels, Curves, Exposure, Shadow/Highlights, HDR Toning. 

These tools are not difficult to customize. Actually, Brightness/Contrast, Exposure and Shadows/Highlights require you to simply move the slider while editing photos in Photoshop. However, if you have a more difficult task, you will have to read a few forums or watch a couple of tutorials. This will help you get more accurate settings, especially with HDR Toning, Curves and Levels, which are the most frequently-used Exposure adjustment tools.

STEP 3. Remove Defects and Blemishes

 If you have taken a portrait photo, opened it on your computer and noticed some defects, don’t rush to delete the picture and move to the next one. There are many methods to fix defects in photos. Here are some tools to help you:

Spot Healing Brush Tool

Choose the Spot Healing Brush Tool on the toolbar. Next, select the necessary brush size using the drop-down menu in the upper right corner, then choose to the type. It may be “Content-dependent” or “Close match”.

Clone Stamp

Select the “Clone Stamp” on the toolbar. Adjust the size of the brush as you need.

Use the “Alt + left mouse button” combination to “clone” the clean area you want to use for the spot. Click or drag the cursor around the spot to color it with cloned pixels from a selection point. Also, you can adjust the opacity if it is necessary while photoshopping images.

Patch Tool

Select the Patch Tool on the toolbar (grouped under the Spot Healing Brush tool). Next, select "Source" (under the taskbar).

Use the cursor to create a selection around the spot. Drag the selected area to a clean place that is closest in color and look to the place that you are trying to restore.

Healing Brush Tool

Select the Healing Brush icon on the toolbar. Choose the necessary brush size using the drop-down menu in the upper right corner. Choose Sampled as the source.

Use the Option + Click keyboard shortcut to select the cleanarea that you want to use as the source.Click or drag the cursor along the point you want to correct.

Tip: If your lens is dirty, dust particles will seep into your photos and constantly appear in the same area in each shot. To fix this problem, clean your lens with a special tool.

STEP 4. Remove the Red-Eye Effect

 
If your camera was improperly configured or there was poor lighting in the studio, you may get a “red-eye defect”. To solve this problem, there are many methods you can use while editing photos in Photoshop.Some of them are done in one step, while others require hard work. Actually, the final effect will be almost identical, so don’t bother much.

Open Photoshop and upload the necessary image. In the left panel where most of the tools are located, find the “Red Eye Tool” or use the “J”hotkey. Adjust the brush size and zoom in a picture so that it is comfortable to work.

Ready. Now, just click on the area in the eye that you want to correct, repeat the action with another eye.

STEP 5. Make Color Correction

If everything was OK with white balance when you took images, there will be no defects to correct while doing Photoshop photo editing. In case this parameter wasn’t adjusted properly, your pictures will have a distorted color cast, which negatively affects contrast, vibrance and saturation.

For example, the shot may have a bit of a blue tint. It isn’t such a terrible problem and you can leave it as it is. Or you can use Adobe Photoshop to correct this defect and get more accurate colors in your shots. The easiest tool to use in this case is the Color Balance Tool that regulates the coloring of a photo, as well as midtones, shadows and highlights. You can also try the Selective Color Tool if you need to fine-tune only certain colors of your image, for instance, the skin tone to remove a red/yellow tint.

Use “Color Balance” in Adobe Photoshop:

Click “Image” in the menu bar, then select “Adjustments” > “Color Balance”.Choose which tones in the image you want to change (shadows, midtones or highlights). Check the “Keep Brightness” box.Check the “Preview” box to see your real-time settings. Done! Now, you just need to move sliders to get the desired color balance.

Tip: If you are working with a RAW image, use “Curve” to adjust and correct white balance.With the help of 3 curves: green, red and blue, you can easily add or remove a shade.You can also use Vibrance, Hue/Saturation or Channel Mixer (in the Adjustments section) for stylizedcolor correction to give photos a Matte, Pastel or Film effect.