Whenever Photoshop gets an update it’s easy to concentrate on headline-grabbing features while overlooking other new and important capabilities that aren’t considered as “revolutionary” but important nonetheless. Today’s eye-opening tutorial from Adobe expert Julieanne Kost reveals 10 recent upgrades that are deserving of note.

Kost is a highly respected photographer, educator, and an expert at all things Adobe whose popular YouTube channel has 55K subscribers who appreciate her how-to videos that have received over 4M views. There’s a very good chance that the tutorial below will change your post-processing workflow forever more.

Be prepared to take a few notes because Kost covers a lot of ground in nine minutes as she runs through her list of oft-ignored features that includes everything from tricks with Photoshop’s Gradient tool, fonts and type, Generative Fill, the Adjustment Brush, and more.

She begins with Photoshop’s familiar Select Subject and Remove Background capabilities and demonstrates how much they’ve evolved when image processing is set to Cloud. As she says, “With the improved processing expect to see improvements to subject detection, masking of fine details, edge selection, and the selection of holes within an object.”

Next on the list is a unique way to create gradients by choosing the Stripes option found in the Method dropdown menu. This approach is super helpful when your goal is to achieve interesting effects with abrupt transitions between colors.

Tip #3 has to do with the fact that more that 1,500 new fonts have been added to Adobe’s Type library, “including many of the most popular fonts of all time from monotype, such as Helvetica, Gotham, and Avenir. Another noteworthy upgrade is that Photoshop’s Frame tool now supports custom shapes. There are a variety of presets, but you can also use the Shape panel’s fly-out menu to load additional legacy shapes or even create custom shapes of your own.

We’ve barely scratched the surface of everything you’ll learn about the new Photoshop enhancements you may have missed, along with helpful advice for putting them to work. Once you’re done be sure to visit Kost’s instructional YouTube channel where you’ll find many more transformative methods for making the most of Adobe’s image-editing software.

And don’t feel ignored if you’re a Lightroom user because we recently featured a tutorial from another post-processing export who demonstrates his seven favorite hidden Lightroom tools that you should start using today whether you’re a beginner or more experienced photographer.

When high-speed performance, barrier-busting capacity and dependable reliability matter most—during the everyday Capture, Transfer/Edit and Backup process all photographers follow—turn to Sandisk® for end-to-end storage solutions.

Full disclosure: This article is brought to you by Sandisk.

Capture: Sandisk Extreme PRO® Memory Cards
Content creators and enthusiastic still photographers should not be stifled by mediocre storage capacity or sluggish read/write operations of the memory cards inside their cameras. Period. That’s one reason why so many professionals rely on Sandisk Extreme PRO® memory cards.

A typical 128-megabyte card may be large enough for many portrait, street-shooting and landscaping adventures, but falls woefully short when photographers turn their attention to 4K UHD video or Full HD slow-motion, for example. And small, slow cards do not accommodate the serendipitous unexpected.

Sandisk Extreme PRO memory cards go the distance and empower users to record longer and save more images. Sandisk Extreme PRO SDHC and SDXC UHS-I cards and Sandisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I cards are available in capacities up to 2TB¹ and are backed by a lifetime limited warranty². They also come with a two-year subscription to RescuePRO® Deluxe data recovery software, which can help recover accidentally deleted files.³

The 2TB¹ Sandisk Extreme PRO SDHC and SDXC UHS-I cards can record a staggering amount—up to 47,368 24MP photos (38MB each) shot in Raw format. Or it can store up to 2,808 minutes of 4K UHD video recorded at 30 fps (641MB/minute), or about 4,147 minutes of slow-motion Full HD video recorded at 240 fps (434MB/minute).⁴

SanDisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I cards can unleash your action video camera, Android™ device, laptop, or handheld gaming console with up to 2TB¹ of storage. They can record up to 1,324 minutes of 5.3K video recorded at 30 fps (1.36GB/minute).⁴ Or they can store up to 300 2-hour movies (6GB each) downloaded in Full HD quality.⁴

Are They Durable?
Sandisk Extreme PRO memory cards are built to thrive, even in severe conditions. They are temperature proof, humidity proof, waterproof, shock proof, drop proof, magnet proof, X-ray proof and wear-out proof.⁵

Price & Availability
Sandisk Extreme PRO 2TB¹ SDHC and SDXC UHS-I cards have an MSRP of $299.99 and can be ordered directly from Sandisk. Sandisk Extreme 2TB¹ microSDXC UHS-I cards have an MSRP of $199.99 and can likewise be ordered from Sandisk.

Transfer: Sandisk Card Readers
High-speed, high-capacity cards perform best when paired with the right card reader. Leveraging Sandisk QuickFlow™ technology for high-speed offloads, Sandisk QuickFlow™ microSD UHS-I Card USB-A Reader (MSRP $21.49) empowers end-to-end image transfer quickly.

Sandisk Extreme PRO SDHC and SDXC UHS-I cards, when used with Sandisk® Professional PRO-READER Card Reader SD and microSD, also deliver read speeds up to 200MB/s and write speeds up to 130MB/s.⁶ Similarly, Sandisk Extreme microSDXC UHS-I cards provide read speeds up to 240MB/s and write speeds up to 140MB/s when used with the same equipment.⁶
Add further speed and utility to your workflow by using a Sandisk® Professional PRO-READER Card Reader with the optional PRO-DOCK 4 (sold separately). The PRO-DOCK 4 accommodates four card readers and enables simultaneous offload of multiple memory cards therefore speeding up your workflow.

The Sandisk Professional PRO-READER Multi Card Reader has an MSRP of $49.99 and is available now directly from Sandisk. The PRO-DOCK 4 has an MSRP of $339.99 and can be ordered from Sandisk.

Scratch Disk & Field Edit at High Speed
When your photo and video sojourns demand mobility with scratch disk convenience, and for a secondary copy of your important data, add the new Sandisk Extreme PRO with USB4® protocol and Thunderbolt™ 4 compatibility. Copy your 4K video at turbocharged speeds.
Available in 2TB and 4TB capacities¹, the Sandisk Extreme PRO with USB4 is a dependable, portable, high-speed SSD (Solid State Drive) that fits in your pocket and helps protect your data even under the most trying conditions. The next-gen USB4 interface delivers up to 3800 MB/s read speed⁶ and up to 3700MB/s write speed⁶, and is backwards compatible with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 devices. It supports Thunderbolt™ 4 as well. Additionally, it offers expanded connectivity to many smartphones, laptops and tablets.

Measuring just 5.51 x 2.7 x 0.47 inches (140 x 68.7 x 11.9 mm), and weighing only 6 ounces (172 grams), the Sandisk Extreme PRO with USB4 has a rugged silicone shell and forged aluminum chassis. The IP65 water-resistant design helps withstand splashes, rain, and spills.⁷ Survive accidental falls with drop protection up to two meters.⁸ It’s covered by a five-year limited warranty⁹ and for easy everyday carry, it features a sturdy carabiner loop so you can attach the drive to a belt or backpack—or attach your own safety lanyard.

Ready to “grab and go” in an emergency? Backup critical images, video files, important documents (and other data you simply cannot afford to lose) on a Sandisk Extreme PRO with USB4 and keep it in a place that’s easily accessible when you need it.

The Sandisk Extreme PRO with USB4 has an MSRP of $259.99 in the 2TB¹ configuration and $399.99 in the 4TB¹ capacity. Both can be ordered directly from Sandisk.Backup On Command & Automatically: Sandisk Desk Drive
Every photographer has a sad tale about lost images. That’s unfortunate and unnecessary.

Dependable backup strategy requires the right gear and of equal importance, proper work habits. Follow Sandisk’s recommended 3-2-1 backup procedure: three copies of your data; two different media types; one off-site copy.

For primary data storage, look to the Sandisk Desk Drive. Available in 4TB and 8TB capacities¹, this Solid State Drive (SSD) features USB-C™ connectivity (plus a USB-C to USB-A adapter), blazing fast read speeds up to 1,000MB/s⁶, has a very small footprint of 3.9 x 3.9 x 1.6 inches (99 x 99 x 40mm) and weighs a scant 0.59 pounds (268g) or about 9.5 ounces. And it’s protected by a three-year limited warranty.⁹

The 4TB Sandisk Desk Drive has an MSRP of $299.99 and can be ordered directly from Sandisk. The 8TB¹ version is available for an MSRP of $569.99.

For an added measure of reliability, deploy automatic backup software¹⁰ with your  Sandisk Desk Drive to accumulate redundant background backups. Sandisk Desk Drives come with backup software¹⁰ access and are compatible with Apple Time Machine (which comes preinstalled on all Macs).

Buy Directly from Sandisk
Benefits of buying directly from Sandisk include free standard shipping on eligible orders of $50 or more, free 30-day returns, and the ironclad assurance that you’re buying authentic Sandisk products. Please refer to website for details about free shipping, free returns and all warranty information.

∞ Shutterbug Staff

1. 1TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. Actual user storage less. 

2. 30-year warranty in Germany, Canada and regions not recognizing lifetime warranty. See www.sandisk.com/wug   

3. Registration required; terms and conditions apply. 

4. Approximations: results will vary based on file size, resolution, compression, bit rate, content, host device, pre-loaded files, and other factors. Full HD (1920×1080), 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) and 5.3K (5312 x 2988) video support may vary based upon host device, file attributes and other factors. See www.sandisk.com/HD. 

5. Card only. See product packaging or www.sandisk.com/proof for additional information and limitations. 

6. Based on internal testing; performance may be lower depending upon host device, interface, usage conditions and other factors. 1MB=1,000,000 bytes. 

7. IEC 60529 IP65: Tested to withstand water flow (30 kPa) at 3 minutes; limited dust contact does not interfere with operation. Must be clean and dry before use. 

8. Based on internal testing. 

9. See www.sandisk.com/wug.

10. Download and installation required. Terms and conditions apply. User account registration may be required. 

Wildlife photographers often use long telephoto lenses to “fill the frame,” but there’s more to capturing a great photo. Previously, I wrote about photographing wildlife through animalscapes. Now, let’s discuss the use of negative space – an often underused technique that deserves more attention.