Amongst the plethora of screens and functions and the thousands and
thousands of options that you have in Photoshop and Elements for
correcting, changing and composing your images, there are some options,
features and functions you should never use. It might seem inconceivable
that Adobe would put options you shouldn’t use in the program,
but they are there, and some of them are named to sound downright
savory. These features lurk in the user interface, and users make the
same mistakes over and over by using them. The features and functions
that you shouldn’t use span every nook and cranny of the program,
from opening your images, to correcting, through saving/printing. Users
apply them again and again until they learn what these features and
functions are and to avoid them because of the damage they do to their
images.

The list of features is tremendously long spanning all versions of
Photoshop and Elements. Instead of listing all the features, let me
simplify the list by making a few generalizations:

* Don’t ever apply features just because they appear on a
dialog and you feel obligated to move a slider or click a button.
* Don’t ever apply features that don’t improve your
image or your vision for it.
* Don’t ever apply the features you have not experimented with
enough to know how to apply with predictable results.

The crust of this biscuit is simply: don’t feel obligated to use
features just because they appear on screen and in the program or
‘sound good’. What you should use are the features and
functions (and buttons) that make sense, fit your workflow, and improve
your images. Features that ‘make sense’ means that you
know what the features do before you apply them to finish images, and
not that you ‘click-and-pray’.

For example say you open the Levels dialog �" which is an
imperative tool for image correction. Once the dialog opens, you could
click the Auto button. You could also click the White Point, Black Point
and Gray balance eyedroppers and apply those �" some tutorials may
even suggest it. But, even if your image seems to improve on your
screen, you may not be doing the image integrity any favors. The fact is
that even brilliant features used incorrectly can run counter to what
you really want to do for an image or even ruin it. It may be easy to go
the fast way and click an Auto button, and it may produce pleasing
results at a glance, but it can also compromise your images. And what is
the biggest objection to applying things the right way? People want it
quicker, and they will ultimately accept speed while sacrificing
quality…For my images, it is unacceptable to sacrifice quality to
save a few moments. It doesn’t make sense to spend lots of time
to learn how to take the best pictures, lots of money to get good
equipment, and toss away the quality of the images you captured because
you can’t be bothered to spend time getting the corrections
right.

Tools you shouldn’t use include those that might damage your
images, as well as those you simply don’t know well enough to
apply. That is, the list of tools you shouldn’t use is virtually
different for every Photoshop user based on their level of experience
and what they know. The list will change as you learn and gain
experience with the program.

Regretfully learning the tools takes time. However, you can use your
time learning more efficiently and cut time from experimentation and
exploration. The first thing to do: make a short list of tools you know
you should explore. Just start listing those you think you should know
better. Don’t list more than 30. Make them tools that you think
are important (you may find out otherwise). Next set aside a time
�" 15 or 20 minutes a day �" to explore those
features/functions. Plan to explore just one tool a day for as many days
as there are tools on the list. To begin your exploration, learn the
basics of any feature using the Help materials provided by Adobe. The
information there will tell you the way the function was designed to
perform and how to apply it. This is a useful starting point:
you’ll find out how a feature is applied. Help will tell you
little or nothing about the best way to use a feature. Reading up
shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes.

Next try applying the feature/function on an image according to the
instructions to see how it behaves in practice. Try to give it a workout
using all the possibilities you can think of. Apply it to several
different images. Spend between 10 and 15 minutes
‘playing’ with the tool. That should serve as your
introduction, and you will probably learn a few things you didn’t
know before. However, you’ve probably learned just enough to be
dangerous…you may be able to apply the tool, but that may not tell
you what it really does and why it works, and that can affect how you
use it productively.

To learn proven techniques for the best way to apply features, may take
a lot more effort, and sometimes weeks, months or even years of study,
depending on the complexity of what you are trying to accomplish. It is
the kind of time that not everyone can dedicate to learning. Sampling
tutorials found on the web may be helpful, but choosing the right
tutorials can be tricky and may not be cohesive with a holistic approach
to image editing. Some tutorials may actually contradict one another,
and it will be hard to sort the good tutorials from the bad, and the
harmful. Beware of tricks and tips that you can’t get to work on
images other than those used in the tutorial. Even some books that
promise quick results or that are a series of effects may never do much
to improve your process with image editing. A scattered approach that
does not rely on solid process may prove more confusing than helpful.
Many tutorials may be well-meaning, written by people who are excited
about sharing their new-found successes. However, good intent
doesn’t make for a good tutorial �" and it may be that what
you apply can harm your images…and it may be difficult to tell the
difference.

Consulting books and courses by experts in the field, designed to get
you up to speed, can save you time and effort. An expert’s years
of experience can go to work for you by helping you steer toward the
best features and how to use them �" saving time in exploring the
program. Just as you would invest in your camera or additional equipment
like lenses, invest in yourself to gain the skills you need to make the
best images…don’t expect the equipment or the program to
do-it-for-you (you may want to read my blog about “magic
tools”
<http://www.hiddenelements.com/blog/2007/11/magic-tools-in-photoshop-and\
-elements.html> ).

So, do yourself a favor and start a list of tools you shouldn’t
use today, before you damage another image. Stop oogling at tools that
sound like the solution to all your problems, and learn about yourself
and what you really need to know. Focus on those that you know and that
you can use productively to make your images better. I’d be glad
to hear which tools are on your lists, and happy to help you answer your
questions about them!
PS �" There have been some changes and updates on the
hiddenelements.com and photoshopcs.com layers websites that you may want
to check out…with more to come. I added some elements 6 materials
to hiddenelements.com <http://www.hiddenelements.com> and a switch to
php page building so the site will be easier for me to maintain. I also
added some materials to fill out the ‘under construction’
pages on the photoshopcs.com <http://www.photoshopcs.com> site. I look
forward to hearing from visitors about the changes.



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