Adobe just released Photoshop 2025, their big annual update when everything comes together. The following tutorial from Photoshop Café provides an overview of the most important features, along with a brief description of how to use them and improve your everyday workflow.
Photographer Colin Smith is the right man for the job because he’s made his living using Photoshop for the past 20 years. He’s authored 21 books on the software and has conducted training sessions for Adobe, Apple, and other notable clients. Some of what you’ll see may be familiar if you’ve played with the beta, but there are plenty of brand-knew capabilities in this official version.
Today’s episode doesn’t represent a deep dive into everything Photoshop 2025 offers. Rather, Smith’s goal is to present the why and how of the new capabilities he considers most important, innovative and transformative. Down the road we’ll bring you in-depth. Individual lessons on most, if not all, of these powerful tools.
If any of these tools are missing from your workspace Smith explains how to quickly get them where they belong. He begins with Remove Distraction which has a new option for automatically removing people that detract from the impact of an image. A quick click highlights people in a shot. If there’s more than one it’s a simple matter to eliminate all persons, or just the ones you find objectionable.
Unwanted powerlines and telephone cables are other common distractions that can really clutter up outdoor photographs, and there’s an Auto-Remove capability for quickly eliminating these unwanted elements. Basically all you have to do is create a new layer, choose Sample all Layers, and then select the Wires and Cables option from the Remove Distractions dropdown panel.
Firefly 3 is another topic of conversation that includes both Generative Fill and Generative Expand. You’ll also learn a new way remove or generate a background with ease, and how Batch Generate functions within the Generative workspace.
Follow Smith’s advice and experiment with these new tools so that you’re primed and ready to go when we take a close look at each of these tools in separate lessons. Then head over to the Photoshop Cafe instructional YouTube channel where there is a wide assortment of videos for users of all skill levels.
And be sure to check out an earlier tutorial we featured that demonstrates how another image-editing expert uses Lightroom to process autumn photographs and achieve foliage with stunning yet realistic fall colors.
One of the greatest challenges when processing dull nature and landscape images is creating an eye-catching effect that retains a believable, realistic look. The solution often rests on the proper use of colors, and this tutorial from the PHLOG Photography YouTube channel demonstrates a foolproof method for getting the job done to perfection.
Instructor Christian Mohrle is an acclaimed German landscape photography pro whose comprehensive tutorials are among the favorites of Shutterbug readers. Today’s episode demonstrates why Mohrle says “Split Toning is Lightroom’s most powerful color-grading tool,” and he explains the simple steps required to use it to advantage.
As with all of Mohrle’s lessons there’s a link beneath the video for downloading his sample image so you can make the adjustments yourself as they’re explained. This is a super contrasty scene with bright highlights in the sky against very deep shadows, so Mohrle begins by quickly merging five shots into an HDR image to help balance the tones.
Mohrle then makes several global adjustments to the resulting “base image” to prepare it for the selective enhancements that follow, beginning by changing the profile from Adobe Color to Adobe Landscape which immediately boosts Saturation. He also increases Exposure, drops Highlight a bit, opens up Shadows to reveal more detail, and uses the Crop tool to fix a slightly skewed horizon.
Other preliminary enhancements include correcting White Balance and Tint, bumping up Vibrance and Texture, and introducing a subtle glow to the top portion of the shot by reducing Clarity and Dehaze. Now it time to target specific areas locally with the use of simple masking that begins with a Color Range Mask over the sky.
Then there’s a Radial Gradient that provides more “punch” to the water in the middle of the frame. Mohrle then moves to Lightroom’s Color Mixer to deal with the fact that “the colors are still kind of strange,” and you’ll see how quickly he resolves this unsightly problem,
By now the original shot had evolved from weak to good, and it’s time to introduce a Split Toning effect that takes the image all the way to great. Mohrle walks you through all the necessary steps and then he completes the impressive transformation with very careful sharpening.
You can find many more most-processing techniques like this one by paying a visit to the popular PHLOG photography YouTube channel.
And be sure not to miss a tutorial we featured with another accomplished outdoor shooter who demonstrates how to capture spectacular landscape photographs with a smartphone when your “real” camera equipment is resting at home.
