Lens Blur and Depth Map

The Lens Blur  has more control than the Gaussian Blur which we are accustomed to. A Depth Map enables you to selectively shift the focus in an image and blur the rest, the degree of which you can also set at will.

This is a free stock photo

The same with selective blurring with Lens Blur and a Depth Map. The tutorial is here

Other tutorials are here

Pastel Look

Some images look good if they are given a soft pastel look, which can be achieved in Photoshop. All you need are some Layers, the Curves, the Gradient Map and Gaussian Blur. 

This is a free stock photo.

The pastel effect.

The tutorial is here

Vintage Look with Photoshop

Making an image black and white from color takes just a single step -- CTRL+SHIFT+U. But it leaves an image flat. How does one overcome this and add a vintage look with a slight tint? It is not difficult to do if you know the secret of the Black and White Adjustment Layer, as also Gaussian Blur, Layer Masks, besides Adjustment Layers.

This is a free stock image to which I will give the vintage look.

The vintage look.

The tutorial is here

Other photoshop tutorials are here

Lab Color and Levels - Making Colors Pop

You can make colors in an image pop in a variety of ways in Photoshop. The easiest is to turn the image into Lab Mode and use Levels. Learn this little trick and you will be able to do it too.

I have opened this free stock image.

The same image after turning into Lab Color and applying the Levels trick.

The tutorial is here

Other tutorials are here

Curves Adjustments Layers Secrets

You must have used Curves and Curves Adjustment Layers. There are some secrets in using this powerful tool in Photoshop. Curves should not be used in an arbitrary manner, but there are ways to use it correctly. You can work on selected portions of an image with Curves, but you must know how to do it.

This is a free stock image.

The same image after correction with Curves Adjustment Layers. You can do it too. Learn the secrets of using Curves with full control.

The tutorial is here

Other photoshop tutorials are here

Content Aware and Protect skin tone

Content Aware is a feature of Photoshop CS4 and above. Among the many uses that Content Aware can be used is for resizing in an unusual way after checking the 'Protect Skin Tone' icon. It works better than crop.

Here is a free stock image. Note that there is a lot of space at the left and a bit at the left. The easiest option would be to crop it.

I have used the Content Aware with Protect Skin tone to resize the image. It is very simple and can be done in a few steps.

The tutorial is here

Other photoshop tutorials are here