The Best Photoshop Tutorials for Beginners

Photoshop is one of the most famous graphic design programs in the world — so ubiquitous, in fact, that “photoshopping” has become slang for digital editing. Artists, photographers, and aspiring graphic designers should all learn how to use the software. Here are some Photoshop tutorials beginners can start with.

Photoshop for Beginners by Envato Tuts+ on YouTube

This three-hour YouTube Photoshop tutorial walks beginners through the absolute basics. It explains how layers work, teaches students how to crop and resize images, and covers important skills like selecting and masking. It also goes over Smart Objects, color adjustment, retouching, and exporting images. 

The tutorial includes source files so people can follow along and practice their skills in Photoshop. Considering the video is free to watch, it packs in a lot of valuable information and can help lay the groundwork for learning more advanced skills.

Photoshop Tutorials on Adobe

Sometimes, it’s best to learn a skill right from the source. Adobe offers official Photoshop tutorials for beginners on its website. Although these 10 short videos don’t cover everything, they can help viewers get started with the graphic design software by explaining how to work with layers, change image sizes, add filters, and more. 

Photoshop for Complete Beginners by PiXimperfect on YouTube

In eight lessons, students will learn about everything from pixels to blending modes. The instructor perfectly balances contagious enthusiasm and professionalism while offering detailed explanations of Photoshop’s many features. Plus, the tutorial includes files to practice on. It’s free and easy for anyone to access on YouTube. 

Photoshop Fundamentals on Udemy

Education tech company Udemy offers online courses in countless subjects, including graphic design. Its free Photoshop Fundamentals course is a great tutorial for beginners. 

In just 41 minutes, instructor Hardy Fowler covers the very basics of Photoshop — such as the canvas and brush features, filters, and masks — with a specific focus on preparing students for digital painting classes. Students can then progress to Udemy’s more advanced Photoshop painting tutorials. 

Photoshop CC: The Essentials of Photoshop In Just 2 hrs on Udemy

Another free Photoshop tutorial for beginners, this Udemy course teaches students the basics. It covers layers, masks, blending, filters, and other fundamentals of using Photoshop. It even lets students practice their new skills by offering real-world practice projects they can download. 

After taking this course, students should be able to enhance a basic portrait and start practicing digital coloring and painting skills. The course also includes a $5 voucher for intermediate and advanced Photoshop painting classes.

Photoshop Full Course Tutorial (6+ Hours) by Learnit Training on YouTube

This free YouTube video is a valuable way to start learning the ins and outs of Photoshop. Instructor David Casuto calmly walks viewers through moving and transforming objects, using the lasso tool, dodging and burning, adjusting hue saturation, and more. The tutorial includes exercise files so viewers can practice what they’ve learned. 

This YouTube video is six hours and 28 minutes long, but viewers can easily navigate through it using the table of contents posted in the description. This organization makes it easy for people to skip to specific topics they want to learn, like using lens flares or 3D text. 

Amazing Photo Effects in Photoshop on Udemy

In just an hour and 37 minutes, this free Udemy course covers how to create fun photo effects through layering in Photoshop CC 2017. Instructor Enver Gurban also explains how to correct the color and tone of images so they look more realistic. Students may want to take a more basic tutorial first, but this short course is a great place to start when learning how to create photo effects. 

Photoshop CC for Web Design Beginners on Udemy

This free tutorial is geared toward learning Photoshop CC, the updated software version of Photoshop. It introduces students to website graphic design and teaches them how to create a simple, minimal web page design. It also provides plenty of Photoshop files to practice with. 

The course covers basic skills like using layers, groups, shapes, and the paintbrush tool. It introduces students to zooming and panning, different blending modes, and inserting text. It also teaches a few important keyboard shortcuts that come in handy when using Photoshop. 

Master Photoshop in 30 Days by PHLEARN on YouTube

PHLEARN’s YouTube channel features an extensive Photoshop playlist that viewers can look through at their own pace. The playlist features 31 tutorial videos to help people master the basics of Photoshop. The videos are short — with all of them less than 26 minutes in length — which makes it easy to incorporate them into a busy schedule. 

The tutorial starts by teaching viewers the essential skills of opening, editing, and saving files, then moves on to more advanced topics like selecting hair and swapping out skies in landscape photos. It also covers the use of Smart Objects, lighting, and useful tools. The course is easy to follow and users can pause or rewind videos at any time. 

Photoshop CC for Dummies by Peter Bauer

The For Dummies series is a classic among tutorial and how-to books. This title offers a beginner-friendly introduction to Photoshop CC. 

Starting with the basics, the book covers layers, tones, painting, and more, including how to fix common problems. By the end of the book, users should be able to combine multiple images and even apply Neural Filters. It’s a great reference for anyone wanting to learn Photoshop from scratch.

Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book by Andrew Faulkner and Conrad Chavez

Another useful Photoshop tutorial for beginners, the official Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book teaches readers the software from the ground up. It includes 15 project-based lessons that illustrate step-by-step techniques like creating composites, preparing images for the web, and image enhancement. 

The files that accompany the book let readers work on the projects in each chapter. Additionally, buying the physical book gives readers access to an e-book enhanced with videos and multiple-choice quizzes. 

How Do I Do That in Photoshop? by Scott Kelby

This book is a great resource for quickly looking up how to do something in Photoshop, including the locations of specific tools, features, and shortcuts within the program. The book is geared toward photographers and anyone wanting to edit photos. It uses simple, down-to-earth language and straightforward instructions for navigating the software’s many twists and turns. It’s the perfect adjunct to a more comprehensive Photoshop tutorial. 

Adobe Photoshop: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features by Stephen Laskevitch

Anyone wanting to learn the ins and outs of Photoshop can benefit from reading this book. It starts off by teaching the basics, then goes into greater depth as it progresses. It uses real Photoshop lessons to teach readers how to set up a workspace in Photoshop, utilize different brushes and fonts, use Smart Objects, and more. The book also comes with course files so readers can practice what they learn. 

Learning Photoshop Is a Valuable Skill

Anyone interested in art, photography, and web design should take the time to learn Photoshop. Knowing how to use this graphic design software goes a long way. But it isn’t necessary to take formal classes — today, there are many free and inexpensive Photoshop tutorials for beginners available online and in book form. It’s simply a matter of finding the right one.