THE OBJECT SELECTION TOOL

10 WAYS TO REMOVE A BACKGROUND

Photoshop offers a host of ways to cut out people and banish backdrops – but which is best?

THE REMOVE BACKGROUND QUICK ACTION

PROS Super-quick and easy CONS No control May

THE SELECT AND MASK COMMAND

WATCH THE VIDEO https://bit.ly/3xlRYsD PROS Comprehensive set of

THE BACKGROUND ERASER

PROS Easy to use Gradual control CONS Can

MASK ALL OBJECTS

PROS Very quick Makes a mask for every

MAKE CUTOUTS WITH CHANNELS

PROS Quick and effective Lets you create highly

THE BLEND IF CONTROLS

PROS Quick No need for selections or masks

THE FOCUS AREA COMMAND

PROS Useful for masking sharp areas CONS There

THE PEN TOOL

PROS Ideal for cutting out hard-edged objects Gives

PEN TOOL BASICS

The Pen tool works by plotting either straight

PAINT A LAYER MASK

PROS Fully manual control Good for tidying up

TOP OF THE CROPS

How to make the most of the powerful features lurking within this invaluable tool

GET BITTEN BY THE ULTRA MACRO BUG

Learn how to take incredibly-detailed close-up insect photos cheaply using extension tubes and focus stacking skills with James Paterson

EXTREME MACRO PHOTOGRAPHY

1 TRIPOD FOR STACKING Focus stacking involves shooting

STEP BY STEP CREATE FOCUS-STACKED

Shoot your insect in segments to create stacks for each then merge into a super-detailed panorama

ESSENTIALS

Your quick-start guide and reference to image editing in Photoshop

CREATIVE CLOUD PLANS

CHOOSE THE PLAN WITH THE COMBINATION OF TOOLS AND STORAGE YOU NEED

PHOTOSHOP CC

FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS Photoshop is

ELEMENTS 15

£79.99/$99.99 WINDOWS, macOS Elements is the consumer

LIGHTROOM CC

FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS Lightroom

LIGHTROOM CLASSIC

FROM £9.98/$9.99 PER MONTH WINDOWS, macOS Lightroom Classic

LIGHTROOM MOBILE

FREE (PREMIUM: £4.49/$6.49 PER MONTH) IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP MIX

FREE IPAD, ANDROID Mix enables you to merge

ADOBE COLOR

FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID If you ever need

ADOBE SHAPE

FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Adobe Shape enables you

ADOBE BRUSH

FREE IPHONE, IPAD, ANDROID Adobe Brush enables you

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP SKETCH

FREE IPAD As the name suggests, this app

ADOBE COMP CC

FREE IPAD If you’re a designer who wants

BEHANCE CREATIVE PORTFOLIO

FREE IPAD, IPHONE Behance is the online social

PHOTOSHOP FIX

FREE IPAD Fix is a retouching app for

THE IMAGE-EDITING WORKFLOW

Manage your photos from capture to output in three stages

THE BASICS OF RAW PROCESSING

Discover how to process your raw files to perfection

SIX ESSENTIAL LAYERS FOR PHOTOS

The six most frequently used Photoshop layers for