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The Best Free Tutorials To Get Started in Photo Manipulation With Adobe Photoshop

September 18, 2024

Whether you’re completely new to Adobe Photoshop, or a skilled photo editor looking for find new ways to experiment, this list of tutorials will serve you well. Photo manipulation is a great skill that can be used for branding, marketing, and even as a fun hobby. We’ve compiled this list of free tutorials on YouTube to help you get started in your photo manipulation journey — perfect for beginners who want to know how to do photo manipulation in Adobe Photoshop.

You don’t need a Wacom drawing tablet or pen display, like the Wacom One, to do photo manipulation, but it definitely helps!


1. Tips and Tricks

This tutorial by Danksy shows 13 must-know beginner’s tips and tricks for photo manipulation using Photoshop. Each tip is explained thoroughly with the visuals to follow. This a great place to start!

2. Typography

This brief tutorial from Logo Design School walks through how to do a quick, by dynamic, photo manipulation technique using typography.

3. Creating a Fantasy Photo

This easy-to-follow tutorial from MDMZ walks through each step in creating a fantasy photo manipulation using stock images. Each step in this fun tutorial is explained thoroughly, and the final product is very impressive!

4. Creating a Cinematic Image

This tutorial from Nour Art demonstrates how to use photo manipulation to create a cinematic image. While this tutorial is fantastic, we recommended testing this out after getting the hang of more basic photo manipulation skills — it’s a bit more advanced than some of the others, more suitable for folks with a little more experience in Photoshop.

5. Turning an Image Into a 3D Letter

This tutorial from SKY Tech IT Institute demonstrates how to turn an image into a 3D letter. This tutorial is easy to follow and can be useful for learning skills that will be very helpful for branding and marketing.

6. Product Manipulation

Another tutorial from Nour Art, this one shows how to do product manipulation in Photoshop, using Nescafé as an example. This is a great way to make product images more visually appealing and dynamic, perfect if you’re doing some of your own marketing for a small business.


We hope that these tutorials get you on the right track for learning photo manipulation in Photoshop. Remember to have fun and use these techniques to experiment and play! Photo manipulation is a fantastic skill to up your creative branding or to harness a new hobby.

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