Adobe Photoshop, the industry standard for digital art, can be used for photo editing, graphic design, digital painting, animation, and much more.
Quick Facts #
- Price: Part of Adobe Creative Cloud subscription – 7-day free trial, a monthly fee after that. There is a discount for students.
- Platforms: Mac, Windows, iOS & Android
- Recommended For: Beginners and Advanced users
- Where to Access: Adobe Creative Cloud Student Subscription or Adobe Photography Plan. Also available for free on HCC lab computers and AppsAnywhere.
Things to Know #
Photoshop is a multi-purpose tool that can export a number of different image file types, and even create basic animation. It is an incredibly powerful tool, but advanced users who want to focus on a specific type of media may find more success with the in-depth features in Adobe’s more focused products (e.g. Lightroom for photo editing, Illustrator for graphic design, Animate for animation projects).
Unlike Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop uses pixels rather than vectors, so it is not as effective at creating images that need to be scaled to multiple different sizes (such as a logo or icon).
There are an incredible amount of tutorials for Adobe Photoshop on the web so if you’re feeling overwhelmed just remember that Adobe provides tons of free tutorials that are updated frequently, incredibly detailed, and helpful.
Getting Started Guides #
Adobe Photoshop for Beginners – A free course to get you working and feeling comfortable in Photoshop.
Photoshop Tutorials – Adobe’s own Get Started and other guides.
Photoshop Toolbar and Tools for Beginners – A detailed guide on familiarizing yourself with the Photoshop toolbar.
Additional Resources #
AppsAnywhere – A virtual computer lab available to UMW students. Includes Adobe Creative Cloud and many other programs.
Visual Design Accessibility Guide – Check out our tips and resources on how to make your audio projects more accessible.
Free Photos and Graphics Resources – A list of websites where you can find free photos and graphics to use for your project.
Photoshop User Guide – This page also has a link to their community forum.
Want More Help? #
- Book an appointment with a consultant at the DKC. We would love to help you with your photo editing & digital art projects!
- Check out our Getting Started with Photo Editing Guide and Getting Started with Graphic Design Guide for some additional tips and tricks and common mistakes.
Reviewed by Haley Gosman 04/10/24