Graphics How-Tos

Manage iPhone Photos

It doesn't take long to figure out how to snap a picture with your iPhone's camera. This article goes beyond the basics to cover sharing those photos, deleting several at once, and syncing select photos on your computer with your iPhone. Read to the end for the best iPhone camera tip ever.

Give Portrait Photos the Spa Treatment

Discover the secrets of beautiful young skin, bright white teeth, and a great complexion. Of course, it's all done with advanced layering techniques in Photoshop CS4.

Safely Export Pictures from QuarkXPress

This process is ideal when you want to give a Web developer pictures that you cropped, rotated, or altered in QuarkXPress. It's also useful for converting a picture from one file format or color space to another.

Combine Image Creatively in Photoshop

Learn how to collage images in Photoshop CS2, CS3, and CS4.

Photoshop Crop Tool Tutorial

Since the first daguerreotype, photographers have cropped their images to hone in on the details that matter most. The crop tool does that, as well as straighten and more.

Prep and Color Scanned Drawings in Photoshop

Matthew Richmond of The Chopping Block shares his expertise -- and a Photoshop Action -- in this free tutorial.

Composite Unique Landscapes in Photoshop

Learn how to create a surreal landscape scene by blending or merging multiple stock photos in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

Edit Colors Independently in Photoshop

Shift one range of colors without affecting other colors. You may not even need a selection or mask!

Draw Paths with Photoshop's Pen Tool

It might seem odd to find vector-drawing tools in a pixel-pushing program like Photoshop, but once you understand it, you'll turn to it often. Use the Pen tool to draw clean, controllable shapes and paths; to cut out something from a photograph's background; and to create shapes that upscale without distortion.

Combine Illustrator Patterns with Photoshop Masks for Instant Visual Appeal

With this technique, you can create eye-catching imagery without fancy plug-ins or big stock photo budgets.

Illustrator How-to: Distribute Art Around a Path

When you want to align objects to something other than a straight path -- for example, 12 stars in a circular pattern -- you have to go back to Illustrator's beginning.

Get to Know Photoshop's Pen Tool

Experts use Photoshop's Pen Tool to get the best selections for difficult masking job. Easy? No. Best? Usually!

Create Gradient Watermarks with Photoshop

Subtle watermarks not only discourage thieves from snagging your online images, but they can also promote your name without intruding too much on your photographs.

Shooting Photographs for the Web

Photos that look great as large prints can shrink into muddled, fuzzy messes when viewed on a computer monitor or, worse, a mobile phone. Here's how to compose, shoot, and process your images so they work well on the small screen.

Combine Images Quickly in Photoshop

In one easy-to-swallow video, you'll learn how to use Photoshop's simple yet powerful Paste Into Command to merge two images.

Design a Unique Twitter Background

Make your Twitter page stand out (in a good way!) with these four simple tips.

Create an Artificial HDR Effect in Photoshop

True high-dynamic-range photography requires multiple shots of the same image with different exposures. But with this technique, you can create HDR-like effects even if you had time to take only photo!

Create an Image Sandwich in Photoshop

Here's how to weave a photo behind and in front of text using Photoshop. It's a great technique for brochures, newsletters, magazines, and anywhere you want to grab attention with something a little out of the ordinary.

Clipping Drop Shadows in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign

Learn how to create an object with both a transparent fill and a drop shadow in three major software programs.

Creating Sharp Images: The Big Picture

To get sharper photos, you just apply the right sharpening settings in Photoshop and you’re done, right? Not quite. To create consistently sharp pictures, pay attention to important factors at every step of your photographic workflow -- especially steps that affect image contrast.