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132 Comments
- stonebone4, on 01/13/2009, -6/+97Site's coughing and wheezing for me, just in case....
With the same goal in mind as 10 Common Mistakes Made in Type Design, this article was created to raise awareness and educate new Photoshop users and designers, not to make fun of or mock the one’s who use the below techniques and practices.
Below is a list of 12 common mistakes, misuses and various ways new users abuse Photoshop. I have fell victim to a few of these myself when first starting out, so I hope this article helps educate designers and other individuals new to Photoshop. I encourage all of you to add your own mistakes or tips in the comment section below.
Improper extraction methods
Many new and unexperienced Photoshop users depend on the magic wand, quick select or lasso tool to extract backgrounds or objects in an image. Photoshop’s “easy” selection and extraction methods have come a long way, but it still doesn’t compare to the precision you get with the pen tool.
The pen tool can be quite tricky to new users, but once mastered you will wonder how you ever used any other method. Other great methods of quick masking or extraction can also be used. Just don’t use the eraser tool!
Adding a slight feather to your extractions helps improve the appearance of your images.
Setting body copy
Photoshop can be used to create fantastic text effects, but that doesn’t mean you should use it for large areas on text — especially for body copy. That’s what InDesign, Quark or even, Illustrator is for.
Your text will not print as clear and sharp in a raster-based program like Photoshop. Stick with vector-based programs for large amounts of copy.
Using rainbow gradients
You know you’ve seen them a million times, and every time they get more jarring to look at. Just say no to rainbow gradients! (Caution: Grip your arm chair before clicking the link to the left!) :)
Now that doesn’t mean you should stay clear of gradients all together. I’ve seen plenty of designs and websites as of late using tactful gradients. Try blending the gradients from a lighter shade to a darker shade of the same color, instead of blending 2 or more disconnecting colors.
Assuming K=100 is Black
Many new designers, including myself at one point, thought that setting my K in CMYK to 100 would result in black. This is not the case… instead, it results in a dark grey.
Although you can get away with setting your K to 100 for black text, large areas of black should be set to ‘Rich Black’. Try using C=90 M=60 Y=30 K=100 — it will produce a much richer and noticeable black.
Overusing and abusing filters
I shouldn’t have to go into too much detail with this one, but I remember being obsessed with filters when I first experienced Photoshop. Even though they’re “fun and easy” doesn’t mean they make you look professional and experienced.
Overusing and misusing filters can easily make you look like an amateur.
Creating logos in Photoshop
Though this one can be argued, you should create logos in vector-based programs, like Illustrator, as much as possible.
Vectors are easily scalable and retain consistent clarity no matter how large or small you scale them.
Working under 300dpi in print
Many new users fall into the trap of working in 72 dpi (dots per inch). While this is true for the web, it should not be used when printing. Typically 300 dpi is best for print, but you should always check with your printer.
Also, when working with images that are 72 dpi in print, don’t assume you can just increase the resolution or size of the image and everything will be fixed. The image will appear pixelated and of lower resolution once printed.
Not learning shortcuts
No matter which program you are working in, learning shortcuts is a must. Not only will it increase your workflow by saving valuable time, but many of the tools require additional keys for added functionality.
You can even create your own in Photoshop by selecting ‘Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts…’
Not using layers and folders
Everything in Photoshop revolves around layers. I’ve seen many new Photoshop users neglect using little to no layers, only to regret it later. They make it much easier to edit, move, duplicate, delete, etc.
Also, naming your layers and structuring them into folders is essential, especially when dealing with large PSDs or if you’re a web designer. It will help you navigate around your project, save time and reduce headaches.
‘Desaturate’ to convert images to Black & White
This one is often over looked, even by experienced designers. Choosing Image > Adjustments > Desaturate for converting your image to black and white, often produces a flat, “lifeless” photograph.
Try converting by choosing ‘Image > Adjustments > Channel Mixer’. Check off ‘Monochrome’ and then adjusting the Red, Green and Blue channel sliders — this produces a much richer image.
Beveled, embossed and drop shadows
Similar to rainbow gradients and abusing filters, beveled and/or embossed text can be labeled as unexperienced. Unless you have a valid reason, stay clear of these or use sparingly.
Drop shadows should also be treated properly and with care. When applying a drop shadow, make certain to pay attention to other lighting in the image. You don’t want drop shadows coming from all directions causing an image to appear unbelievable or fake.
Also, adjusting or toning down drop shadows is important as well. They should be subtle and soft, not dramatic and harsh.
Not taking advantage of guides and grids
You wouldn’t believe how many designers “eye” things up instead of pulling out guides or using the grid in Photoshop. They’re there for a reason… use them. - Sonan, on 01/13/2009, -5/+86#13. Adding misspelled text layers to pictures of cats.
- hackingtravel, on 01/13/2009, -0/+52Man sentenced to MS Paint for 5 years for Abusing Photoshop.
- skiguy7070, on 01/13/2009, -0/+40misuse/overuse of lens flare should have its own paragraph
- cloudberries, on 01/13/2009, -2/+37You have a strange definition of "misuse"
- presidentraygun, on 01/13/2009, -0/+26I didn't see making my bulge look more prominent on that list. So I'm in the clear.
- stonebone4, on 01/13/2009, -1/+26Once you erase something, it's gone. If you use a Mask instead, you can go back and refine your extraction if you notice a mistake, or you can disable the mask altogether in case you need something out of the stuff you're hiding. Imagine it like ripping up and throwing away your change after buying a soda with a $20 bill.
The eraser tool also makes a mess when you use it since it's hard to make it be precise. - Falldog, on 01/13/2009, -0/+24No mention of fake/over done HDR?
- jstohler, on 01/13/2009, -0/+23It's just not the same unless Donnie tells us.
- Wogger, on 01/13/2009, -3/+24Photoshop Disasters is a decent blog to read if you want a laugh, although it doesn't tell you how to correct the mistakes.
http://photoshopdisasters.blogspot.com/ - Supernova36, on 01/13/2009, -5/+26Using the stock filters on photos should be #1, and since it won't load, I'm going to assume that it is.
- neocreo, on 01/13/2009, -1/+21Nothing wrong with using the built in filters in photoshop... as long as you know your way around the settings or at least tweak the defaults. I assume that is what you mean by using stock filters...
- rahga, on 01/13/2009, -0/+20K100 is black. Go to any newspaper, and the black ink the the black wells are 100% black as black can be. However, the layer of ink that transfers onto the sheet isn't black as night... but if it was, that's because the ink is too thick and it would transfer to other sheets and your fingers.
"Rich Black" is simply the dumping of additional ink from other colors to make it appear darker. However, NEVER do this for newspaper art unless you work for the paper and are well aware of what will happen to the printed output, and never do this for commercial printing unless you know the shop will allow it. Whenever you do rich black, you use more ink than typical, which could affect quality control of the press in question, and you also introduce color registration issues that you don't have with black alone. For example, rich black body text will more often than not create a rainbow effect because no press gets registration of everything 100% correct when you toss in factors like web growth and adjustments made during the run.
If you are using rich black for your work alone on your desktop printer, then go ahead. Have fun buying extra ink. - Cine, on 01/13/2009, -1/+20That was actually a pretty good article. I was expecting things that were obvious, idiotic mistakes. Instead, there are actually some good tips here.
I'll be completely honest and say I didn't know K100 wasn't black. To my defense, I haven't worked much with print, though. - graemee, on 01/13/2009, -1/+18What did they miss LENS FLARE?
- BigLou, on 01/13/2009, -3/+19Wow... just wow! I immediately stopped reading as soon as I saw the K=100 is not black. Does this guy really know what the hell he is talking about? If you're using photoshop for raster print graphics, you best be using c=0, m=0, y=0, k=100 for solid black. The only reason it shows up as "dark gray" is because there's a color setting in the preferences that change it to that dark gray so that you know you're using the proper black for print.
The problem is, if you use #000000 for black (which is perfectly fine for web and screen design), you will actually be mixing 75% cyan, 68% magenta, 67% yellow, and 90% black. Not only does this cause horrible halftone where a solid black is needed, but it can waste ink if printed at home.
Don't even get me started on the fact that he never mentioned one of the MOST COMMON mistakes: setting your document in CMYK for print or RGB for screen/web. - F0RMLESSNESS, on 01/13/2009, -3/+17First of all you don't morph the head, you would "retouch" or "clone" it, morphing is for 90's music videos and power rangers. Secondly it's not a misuse it's actually what Photoshop is for, but it doesn't have to be just nude models obviously. Nice try on trying to be clever though, you almost had it, don't give up!
- adverpart, on 01/13/2009, -3/+16Photoshop has no vector support? That's *****.
Photoshop text is vectorized by default. It'll be rasterized if you export to a JPG or whatever, but that's true no matter what. The PSD stores the text as text data, not bitmaps.
Same with logos. You can absolutely do vector graphics in Photoshop and resize it however you want, then export it in whatever format you need to. This guy doesn't seem very familiar with the program.
I'm not saying Photoshop is the *best* program for this stuff, it's definitely not, but it does have the capability.
And saying not to use K = 100 for black under any circumstances is crap. It depends on what you're doing and what your printer's requirements are, etc. You would never use rich black for body text (which he says you can't do for some reason even though you totally can). - tinkafoo, on 01/13/2009, -2/+15Can someone Photoshop this website back into existence?
- aimhelix, on 01/13/2009, -0/+10Most photoshop filters are very good, considering you know how to use them in combination with other filters or image effects. You can fake a lot of realistic textures simply by using effects. I'm a designer and I see a lot of people though who use Filters thinking that it adds 'pop' or wow factor when it's just cheesy to the trained eye.
Once in a while I come across designers I want to punch in the neck because they feel like adding the 'Lens Flare' just made their project ace. - GuruOfLiberty, on 01/13/2009, -0/+10#14 - Disdaining others who enjoy a list in order to achieve some smuggy high off self-righteousness. You're probably 'that guy' that reinsures little kids enjoying Guitar Hero they can't really play a guitar.
- nikki2300dk, on 01/13/2009, -0/+10I think you forgot a "not" in that last sentence.
Perhaps by "print" he's not referring to something being professionally printed, rather printed out on a home or office printer. If you pay someone to print something and K=100 isn't black... that's on them. - kmb1794, on 01/13/2009, -0/+10As the inventor of photoshop, I can only say it is perfect and there is no wrong way to eat a reese's, as it were.
- freshy84, on 01/13/2009, -1/+11How about 12 Common Hosting Mistakes...
1. Choosing a host that can't withstand the digg effect! - nikki2300dk, on 01/13/2009, -0/+9People who have only done web graphics need to learn A LOT to do print graphics well. It's a lot easier to go the other way.
- cadmiumpaint, on 01/13/2009, -1/+9#1. Learning photoshop tricks does not make you a designer, it makes you (at best) a production artist/retoucher/hobbyist.
- SneakyNinja, on 01/13/2009, -4/+12#13. Thinking just because you know a little more about PS than the newer users that are learning the application, you are some how a superior being and those below you don't deserve to own PS.
- Griff7272, on 01/13/2009, -0/+7In my experience, most pre-press managers will see that your blacks are separating on more than one printing plate, and ask you to fix it. They won't put it on the press.
- dshPls, on 01/13/2009, -1/+8I'm currently working on a Flash website that started as another agencies PSD file. Keep in mind this is a good paying job too, with an agency that handles many top notch clients. Anywho, the main designer added glows to some objects, and the dude used the ***** default piss yellow color for outer glows! FFFFBE to be exact.
I don't want to say anything, but at the same time copying them in Flash with the built in glow filter makes me feel dirty... - netfool, on 01/13/2009, -1/+8Don't diss MS Paint. My old Platoon Sergeant was *AMAZING*. He would create incredibly detailed images of warriors, dragons/monsters, etc, pixel by pixel. I was blown away when I saw his work; my opinion of him instantly changed.
He told me he had a job lined up with DC Comics about 10-15 years ago, but something didn't work out so he ended up going to work for The Man (the Army).
- meretrice, on 01/13/2009, -0/+6I know this isn't photoshop, but I wanted to cockpunch J. Michael Strazinski (sp?) for his orgasmic use of lens flare on Babylon 5. I ***** you not, in one scene like 20 ships arrived simultaneously at B5 and *each one* flashed a lens flare. WTF is *that* about?
Lens flare needs to die.
"Oh look, I added an effect to my photo to make it look like I am a ***** photographer. On purpose! win!"
/sorry, major pet peeve
//you started it - anonymiau, on 01/13/2009, -2/+8One common internet mistake: use a server that can't handle traffic.
- cJw314, on 01/13/2009, -0/+6I have to disagree; Photoshop has such a capability to NOT "destroy" image data (pixels) that the eraser tool should simply not be an option when "extracting" something.
If you're using the eraser tool for extraction, you might as well be using MSPaint. - alski707, on 01/13/2009, -0/+6I'd go one further and say ***** up *everything* you touch (but esp. photos) because your monitor isn't calibrated, or at the least not realising what your monitor does and does not do correctly.
I've killed many good photos without realising because for a long time I wasn't aware that my trusty old CRT had a massively inaccurate and uncorrectable black-point, and was missing nearly 20 of 256 shades of grey (displaying dark greys as black) that also had knock-on effects of darkening highlights and over-saturating colours.
I discovered that the problem was fairly correctable using my graphics card's control software to raise the output level, and despite still not being calibrated its now close enough.
A good site for checking things like this, including black-point is:
http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/Calibration/mon ...
Though unless your monitor is a very cheep TN type panel, black-point shouldn't be an issue, colour reproduction however can be (ESP. if the panel is 6 bits per pixel instead of 8, which many cheeper TN's with fast grey-to-gray times are) - shadowmanjack, on 01/13/2009, -1/+7My name is Donny and you suck at Photoshop.
- BrendanJB, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5What is wrong with the built in filters? I've been using them for about 6 years now, last 4 professionally, and they've been able to handle any effect I've wanted to achieve.
Granted you have to KNOW what all the sliders do to be able to use them properly and how to use the filters in correlation with certain layer effects etc, but I have had no issues with the stock filters at all.
However, if you want to point me to a list of 3rd party filters that ARE actually better, I will more than gladly eat my hat. - alski707, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5I think the point about the eraser tool was fair, since if you do use it a lot you can often find that you've erased part of a layer that you later want back, although by its very name its obviously a "destructive" tool people will use it anyway because they don't know of a better method.
For most people its much better to just use a layer mask so you can recover an area later if you realise you needed it. - inactive, on 01/13/2009, -2/+7Where's the one about making fat chicks skinny?
- Ghorloch, on 01/13/2009, -1/+6Thanks for posting that Stonebone4! I wasn't able to access the link and appreciated being able to read the article.
- d03boy, on 01/13/2009, -1/+6Views are not necessarily correlated to Diggs
- OwdenBowden, on 01/13/2009, -0/+5I understand why you do not want to say anything (given the current economic times) but eventually you should before you get blamed for the crap work. As I see it, I guess the main designer doesn't "KNOW" photoshop (or what he/she is doing) and this can be a big plus for you because you then become the goto guy for saving the day.
- teamcoltra, on 01/13/2009, -2/+6Mmm... Emma Watson is a babe.
- EtherGnat, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4I was tasked with taking OUT a rather unfortunate bulge on a publicity shot we had taken for a video editing equipment donation at a high school. Doing it was kind of disturbing in and of itself, but I was terrified somebody would come in my office and want to know why I was zoomed in on this high school guy's crotch.
- cadmiumpaint, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4i have to disagree with you on the quick mask. I can make a clipping path with the pen tool faster and more accurately than with the quick masking.
but like you said, its all about personal work flow and whatever works for you to get the best results. - MarshalBanana, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4 A friend of mine worked at the post production studio that worked on Superman Returns, and they had to "de-bulge" Brandon Routh for pretty much the whole film. He said it was funny cause you'd walk around the place and everyone would have giant crotches on their monitors.
- inactive, on 01/14/2009, -0/+4Uh poopc4.. you don't have a clue what you are talking about.
High powered graphics are done more efficiently through photoshop every day of the week - themoop, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4Dugg for the "503 error"
- DiggityDugged, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4lens flare
- WhoDoneIt, on 01/13/2009, -1/+5I'd agree with most of this list, however, personally, I hate using folders. The OD in me loves the organized feel to it, but the feeling that things are hidden ***** with my brain. I'd rather 99 layers out in the open. Crazy, I know.
- foomojive, on 01/13/2009, -0/+4http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=obama+birth+ce ...
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