While Photoshop is far and away the industry standard, it is also very expensive. Adobe has introduced the cheaper Photoshop Elements for people who don’t want to shell out for the full package, but its functionality is limited. While they’re not generally suitable for very high-end work, there are a few Photoshop alternatives that you might be interested in.

The most popular free (open source) program for replacing Photoshop is known as the GIMP - not the most politically-correct of names, but then it was never really intended for the mass market. Originally a Linux application, it has been ported to Windows. While it performs most of Photoshop’s functions effectively, the interface is, yet improving with every version, still awkward.

To solve this problem, some people set about taking the GIMP and adjusting its interface to make it into a virtual Photoshop clone. The result is called Gimpshop, and works quite well - if you’re looking for a free Photoshop, this is pretty much your best option.
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If you are using Adobe Photoshop to perform repetitive tasks, why not take a look at the ‘Actions’ palette?

Actions are macro routines condensed into buttons and quick-key combinations. With Actions you can ‘record’ routines at any level of complexity to use later on other images.

So many people are unaware of the existence or Actions or are too scared to use them, but they really are quite straight forward to implement.

Where to start?

We will need to open an image within Adobe Photoshop and ensure that the Action floating palette is open. If you can’t find the Action palette, simply go to (menu bar) Window>Actions or press Alt and F9.
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Designing an unique identity for your small business can be a taxing task when your budget doesn’t stretch to hiring a professional to help you do the job. Digital art files need to be created to a correct size, resolution and color mode. Providing poor artwork files to printers will result in a unprofessional looking final product which will fail to make a positive impression on your customers.

This tutorial goes over the basics of creating digital artwork files for business cards and marketing postcards. The following tutorial can also be used to create business stationery including letterheads, compliments slips and label artwork files by adjusting the sizes.
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Quite often it is necessary to find the exact central point of an image.
There are a couple of ways of achieving this in Photoshop.

Approach #1
Open any image.
We are going to use guides and they only work when the Rulers are on an image.
Put the Rulers on the image with Ctrl + R / Cmd + R. Guides will snap to the centre of an image but it is a bit subtle.

To make the job easier, we’ll convert the Ruler measurements to percentage figures.
Right + click / Control + click one of the Ruler bars.
From the pop-up menu, choose percent.
Drag the cursor down from the top Ruler bar to create a new guide.
Drag it down to the 50% mark. It will snap into place.
Drag the cursor right from the vertical Ruler and move it to the 50% mark. It will snap into place.
Where they cross is the exact centre of the image.
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Photo shop restoration and retouching has become a lifesaver for many people who have old photos that are faded, torn, or damaged. Photos that are restored by photo shop restoration and retouching are often many times better than the original pictures that they were taken from. Photo shop restoration and retouching can make any old and damaged picture look like it was just taken.

Photo shop restoration and retouching plays a very important part in saving photos from accidents and the natural wear and tear of time. Photo restoration and retouching provides a workable foundation for restorers to work on photos that need work, without having to alter the original photo in any way. When an original photograph is tinkered with, there is great risk for irreparable damage to occur to the photograph. When people handle their pictures and negatives, they do many things, unintentionally, that are very harmful to them, and most do not even know they are damaging their photos. Photo shop restoration and retouching can produce corrected copies of old photos and photos that have been damaged.
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