Photoshop: Industry-Standard Image Editing

Photoshop is Adobe’s flagship image editor, first released in 1990 and now celebrating 35 years as the industry standard for photo retouching, digital painting, and image manipulation. While newer tools have taken over UI design, Photoshop remains unmatched for pixel-based creative work.

Key Specs

How Designers Use Photoshop

Photoshop serves different purposes depending on your design specialty. Here’s where it fits into modern workflows.

For Photo Retouching and Compositing

Remove backgrounds with AI-powered Select Subject, clean up blemishes with the Healing Brush, and combine multiple images into seamless composites using layer masks. Product designers use this to create hero images for landing pages, pulling products from stock photos and placing them in custom scenes. Fashion and portrait photographers rely on Photoshop’s non-destructive adjustment layers to perfect skin tones, lighting, and color grading.

For Creating Design Assets

Design custom textures, patterns, and brushes that you can’t find in stock libraries. Create noise textures for brutalist web designs, grain overlays for vintage aesthetics, or custom brush sets for digital illustration. Export these as PNGs with transparency to use in Figma, Framer, or web projects. Designers building brand systems use Photoshop to create unique visual elements that differentiate their work.

For Digital Painting and Illustration

Use pressure-sensitive brushes with a Wacom or iPad to paint original artwork. Photoshop’s brush engine is more sophisticated than Procreate or Illustrator for realistic painting. Concept artists create character designs, environment paintings, and storyboards. UI designers paint custom icons or illustrations that feel hand-crafted rather than vector-based.

For Mockup Creation

Place UI designs into device mockups, add realistic shadows and reflections, and apply smart object transformations to show your work in context. Download mockup templates (laptops, phones, billboards) and replace the screen content with your designs. Use perspective warp to make flat designs look like they’re printed on packaging or signage.

Photoshop vs. Alternatives

How does Photoshop stack up against other image editors and design tools?

Choose Photoshop if: You need the full Adobe ecosystem, use advanced AI retouching features daily, or work in an industry where PSD files are the standard handoff format.

Choose Affinity Photo if: You want a one-time purchase, mainly edit photos without needing Adobe’s AI tools, or need better export options for web work.

Choose Figma if: You’re designing interfaces, not editing photos. Figma replaced Photoshop for UI design but can’t do image manipulation.

Getting Started with Photoshop

A practical introduction to the core tools you’ll use most:

Step 1: Understand layers and masking

Open an image (File > Open). The Layers panel (Window > Layers) shows your image on the Background layer. Click the lock icon to unlock it. Add a new layer (Layer > New > Layer) and paint on it with the Brush tool. Layers stack on top of each other. Click the eye icon to hide/show layers. Add a layer mask (Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All) and paint black on the mask to hide parts of the layer without deleting pixels.

Step 2: Master selection tools

Press W for the Magic Wand to select areas by color. Press L for the Lasso to draw freehand selections. Use Select > Subject to let AI select the main subject automatically. Once selected, press Cmd/Ctrl + J to copy the selection to a new layer, or add a layer mask to isolate it. Refine edges with Select > Select and Mask for hair or fur.

Step 3: Use adjustment layers for color

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation (or Curves, Levels, etc.). Adjustment layers affect all layers below them without permanently changing the original. This is non-destructive editing. Adjust the slider, then click the layer mask to limit the adjustment to specific areas. Stack multiple adjustment layers to build complex color grades.

Photoshop in Your Design Workflow

Photoshop rarely works alone. Here’s how it connects to other design tools.

• Before Photoshop: Capture photos in Lightroom for RAW processing, or sketch concepts on paper/iPad
• During editing: Photoshop for image manipulation, then export assets to Figma, InDesign, or web builders
• After Photoshop: Save for web (File > Export > Export As), optimize images in TinyPNG, or import into final designs

Common tool pairings:

• Photoshop + Lightroom for photography workflow (Lightroom for organization and RAW edits, Photoshop for advanced retouching)
• Photoshop + Figma for UI design (Photoshop creates and edits image assets, Figma assembles the interface)
• Photoshop + Illustrator for print design (Illustrator for vector logos and type, Photoshop for photo manipulation and textures)
• Photoshop + After Effects for motion design (Photoshop creates frame assets, After Effects animates them)

Common Problems (and How to Fix Them)

These issues frustrate Photoshop users regularly.

“Photoshop is running slow and freezing”

Large files with hundreds of layers, smart objects, and AI filters consume massive RAM. Flatten layers you’re done editing (Layer > Flatten Image on a copy), reduce document size (Image > Image Size), and close other apps. Enable Edit > Preferences > Performance > Use Graphics Processor. If you’re on an older machine (8GB RAM or less), Photoshop will struggle with files over 1GB.

“I can’t find the tool I just used”

Photoshop hides tools in nested flyout menus. Click and hold any tool icon in the toolbar to see related tools. Press the tool’s keyboard shortcut repeatedly to cycle through variations (e.g., press L multiple times to switch between Lasso, Polygonal Lasso, and Magnetic Lasso). Customize the toolbar via Edit > Toolbar to surface your most-used tools.

“My edits are permanent and I can’t undo them”

Use adjustment layers and layer masks instead of editing pixels directly. Never use Image > Adjustments menu items, they’re destructive. Always use Layer > New Adjustment Layer instead. Similarly, avoid filters applied directly; convert to Smart Object first (right-click layer > Convert to Smart Object), then apply filters. Smart Filters remain editable.

“Exported images look wrong on the web”

Go to Edit > Color Settings and set Working Space RGB to sRGB. When exporting, use File > Export > Export As (not Save for Web, which is outdated). Choose PNG for transparency or JPG for photos. Check “Convert to sRGB” and preview the file. Photoshop defaults to Adobe RGB color space, which browsers don’t support, causing color shifts.

“Generative Fill uses all my credits instantly”

Adobe gives 500 monthly generative credits with the single app plan. Each Generative Fill use consumes credits. If you hit the limit, upgrade to more credits or use traditional tools (Clone Stamp, Content-Aware Fill). Don’t rely on AI for every task. Save generative features for complex removals where manual work would take hours.