Here’s a quick exercise that should be interesting. There are over 70 tools in the toolbox in Photoshop. But take a moment to think about how many of them you actually use? For me, it’s about 10. How about you?
(Find out more about The Photoshop System)
Why is this important? Because after teaching tens of thousands of people over the years I’ve found that people think that because a tool or feature is there, they have to learn it. And that mindset could be holding you back, because some of those tools where A) Never meant for you as a photographer and/or B) Old legacy tools that don’t have a place in today’s workflow. So you could end up spending your time and energy learning something that has ZERO value to you and your photo editing.
And I’d like to change that which is where this video comes in. Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
I’ve learned a ton from you. Read your books (terrific), watched your tutorials (just right in length-all the info you need without any wasted time), and taken in-person classes (at the old NYC camera show), even got a hug from you once (you’re not a bad hugger).
Just watched the “Making Photoshop Simpler” tutorial about cleaning up PS. I don’t agree with you about getting rid of the pen tool. I use the pen tool all the time. Usually to get a tiny sliver of a selection (eg. between a body and an arm) to create a new layer to clone stamp onto. That said, PS is pretty crazy with about six ways to accomplish any task. Thanks for your great work.
My favorite saying in these situations… just because you don’t agree with me doesn’t mean I’m wrong 😉
Hi Matt,
I am pretty sure I remember you did a review of great monitors to connect to our MacBook Pro (M1 Max chip) laptops.
Am I remembering correctly?
If so, what monitor would you recommend in 2022 that does not cost the world ( less than $650 USD)
Hi Janette – hopefully this helps out. I don’t really have any recommendations in that price point: https://mattk.com/photography-computer-and-monitor-recommendations/
Thank you
Your video is easy to understand
Thanks, AGAIN. I have both your courses bur didn’t get to these features yet.
That would be helpful
Thanks Matt, as a newbie to Photoshop, I found this to be very helpful. are these videos all available for viewing at a later date on your site?
Hi Doug. Yes they live on my website and YouTube channel. Thanks
Very cool!
Hi Matt
I’ve purchased many of your online courses and give them all high marks for ease of use and excellent content. I do have a question when considering getting you new 2022 PS and LR bundle. I do have both 2020 versions. Is the new 2022 version that different from my version that warrants me upgrading. Also are there any pricing discounts for upgrading?
Hi Joseph. Just log in to your account and download the courses or watch them online. They were automatically updated for 2022. No action is required on your part and the videos are already updated. Thanks!
Great tutorial Matt. I found this very informative & helpful as a novice Photoshop user.
Maybe I’m old fashioned but I use a lot of the tools you said to ditch!
Your presentation (Make Photoshop Simple) as usual is packed full of useful information; however, It would be most helpful if you published a list of tools that you recommend hiding.
Thanks
I would appreciate having this as well.
very informative matt love the way you teach
When PS is updated do the Window and Toolbar menus return to default settings?
Just a quick thank you!
Another great session, Matt. Thanks.
I couldn’t agree more – though I disagree about the polygonal lasso tool which I find invaluable for architectural images. As for simplifying the workspace, Greg Benz has a free download called Photoshop Custom Menus which hides the “unnecessary” stuff and colour codes the rest. It can been found at
https://gregbenzphotography.com/photography-tips/simplify-photoshop-with-custom-menus
Great presentation. I needed this information.
nowadays photographers, using design works with photoshop, for their projects, and probably they are not giving their projects to the designer, especially in India.
Very useful. Making the program more approachable … nice
You can also move them so that the tool you use in a group is on top, i.e., it’s the one you see.
Setting up a named Workspace and saving your changes can save you a BUNCH of steps, especially if you do art work on your photos…
Holy crap, never thought about this. but i made a coffee, opened PS and made everything that could be visible, visible, that was interesting. then went back to my normal setup. i have no issue with all the tools. I now use Actions in button mode most of the time due to how i mostly use PS, but i think they need to give use more control over what actions/’buttons’ are visible in the button mode by having and editable list with a more buttons pop out for the other actions/buttons you use less. I could shorten my main list of actions in button mode (which i guess is made for speed reasons) to about 10 items with the rest in an ‘others’ or ‘more’ pop out list. this button mode style needs to be separate from the normal actions mode as i use them each different for different reasons.
Your video was very interesting as you mentioned a couple of things i never thought about and i made a couple of small changes. I use the colourising menu items to leave everything there but create ‘my list’ so when i go to a menu item i normally use i know it will be green with yellow as less common and no colour as not really used for normal photography stuff.
Love it! Gotta take a look at that ’Menu’ option ….I think that might work for me.
Thanks Matt, this helps a lot!
“The History Brush isn’t needed”. Oh no, I use it all the time when processing photos. For example, I might sharpen a photo and then set the history state to before the sharpen and paint out all the parts I don’t want sharpened with the History Brush. To me it’s quicker and easier than selecting the things to be sharpened or creating a mask to paint them out.
As I said at the end… people will disagree 🙂 I would never do it that way and never teach it that way – but if it works for you go for it. All that matters is the end result, not how you got there.
Thanks, Matt! I’ve been meaning to clean up my PS menus for months now. You made it really easy to follow and decide what to keep and what to hide.