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Design and social media - Intermediate

Adobe Photoshop: Photo Editing and Digital Design

Edit and retouch photos, build layered designs, make posters, social posts and thumbnails, and export clean files for…

About this course

Photoshop is the best-known tool for editing photos and building digital designs. Printers, newspapers, churches, schools, small businesses and NGOs all rely on images that have been cropped, colour-corrected, cleaned up and laid out well. This course teaches you to do that work properly, the way professionals do, so you can fix your own photos, design posters and social media posts, and take on paid jobs.

You will learn the workspace, layers, selections and masks, adjustment layers, retouching, removing backgrounds, type and shapes, smart objects, compositing, and AI-assisted features and their limits. Then you will learn to prepare files correctly for the web, for social media and for the printer, to organise your work, and to finish with a capstone poster campaign or photo composite for your portfolio.

Photoshop is a paid subscription application with a free trial. Every idea in this course also works in free tools such as Photopea (in the browser), GIMP and Krita, and we point out where their menus differ, so you can practise without paying.

What you will learn

  • Set up a Photoshop document with the right size, resolution and colour mode for its purpose
  • Work non-destructively with layers, masks, adjustment layers, smart objects and smart filters
  • Make clean selections and masks and cut a subject out of its background
  • Crop, straighten, resize and correct the colour and tone of a photo
  • Retouch photos honestly with healing, clone and dodge and burn tools
  • Design posters, flyers, social media posts, banners and YouTube thumbnails with good type and layout
  • Automate repeat work with actions, batch processing and Export As
  • Prepare and export files for web, social media and print, including CMYK, bleed and resolution
  • Use AI-assisted features responsibly and follow copyright and ethical rules for retouching

Course content

6 modules · 25 lessons · 9 h · 7 quizzes

Module 1: Getting started with Photoshop4 lessons

Install or choose your tool, learn the workspace, set up documents correctly and understand undo and file formats.

  1. What Photoshop is, trial, system needs and free alternatives 15 min
  2. The workspace: tools, options bar, panels and preferences 20 min
  3. New documents: size, resolution, units and colour mode 20 min
  4. Undo, History and saving: PSD, JPG, PNG, TIFF, WebP and PDF 20 min
  5. Quiz: 8 questions
Module 2: Layers, selections and masks4 lessons

Build and organise layers, make accurate selections and use masks to hide and reveal without destroying anything.

  1. The Layers panel in depth: types, blend modes, opacity, groups and styles 25 min
  2. Making selections: marquee, lasso, Quick Selection and Select Subject 20 min
  3. Select and Mask, Color Range and refining edges 20 min
  4. Layer masks and clipping masks: hide without deleting 20 min
  5. Quiz: 8 questions
Module 3: Correcting and retouching photos4 lessons

Crop and resize properly, fix colour and tone with adjustment layers, and retouch honestly with healing, clone and dodge and burn.

  1. Cropping, straightening, resizing and resampling correctly 20 min
  2. Adjustment layers: levels, curves, hue and saturation, balance and black and white 25 min
  3. Retouching tools: Spot Healing, Healing, Clone Stamp, Content-Aware and Patch 25 min
  4. Dodge and burn, frequency separation and honest portrait retouching 20 min
  5. Quiz: 8 questions
Module 4: Backgrounds, type, shapes and compositing4 lessons

Remove and replace backgrounds, add text and shapes, use smart objects and filters, and combine photos convincingly.

  1. Removing and replacing backgrounds 20 min
  2. Type and shapes: text effects, vector shapes and paths 25 min
  3. Smart objects, smart filters and creative filters 20 min
  4. Compositing and photo manipulation 25 min
  5. Quiz: 8 questions
Module 5: Designing real projects and automating work4 lessons

Design posters, flyers, social posts, banners, thumbnails and mockups, then speed up repeat work with actions and batch processing.

  1. Designing posters and flyers 25 min
  2. Social media posts, banners and YouTube thumbnails 25 min
  3. Mockups with smart objects and Warp 20 min
  4. Automation: actions, batch processing, Export As and generating assets 20 min
  5. Quiz: 8 questions
Module 6: AI features, delivery, workflow and your capstone5 lessons

Use AI features wisely, export correctly for web and print, organise your files, respect copyright and finish a portfolio project.

  1. AI-assisted features: Generative Fill, Remove and their limits 20 min
  2. Exporting for web and social media 20 min
  3. Preparing files for print: CMYK, bleed, resolution and proofs 25 min
  4. Workflow, file organisation, copyright and working with clients 20 min
  5. Capstone project: a poster campaign or photo composite 25 min
  6. Quiz: 8 questions
Final exam

29 questions. Pass with 70% or more to earn your certificate.

What you need

  • Comfortable with a computer and with saving and finding files
  • Graphic Design Fundamentals (or equivalent knowledge of layout, colour and type) is helpful
  • A computer; Photoshop (free trial or subscription) or a free alternative such as Photopea, GIMP or Krita. No Photoshop experience needed

Further reading

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