Intermediate Photoshop CS6

Gain skills using Photoshop that will allow you to be more productive and creative. Discover more advanced features of Photoshop CS6 including layers, layer masks, Smart Objects, and others in this hands-on course that prepares you to create images that are ready for print or the web.

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Syllabus
Requirements
Instructor
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$119.00 USD

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Instructor-Moderated

6 Weeks Access

Study online with Instructor moderated discussion boards.

April 15, 2026

May 13, 2026

June 17, 2026

July 15, 2026

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$119.00 USD

Instructor-Moderated

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Details

Photoshop is one of the most amazing software programs ever developed. It's a fun and creative way to alter photos and prepare them for print or the Web. In this course, you can take your Photoshop skills to the next level by exploring more advanced features in Photoshop that let you easily re-edit projects long after they were originally created (and long after the Photoshop "undo" command has expired).

These techniques, called non-destructive editing, let you work faster and reuse parts of images over and over again. If you like scrapbooking or want to make page layouts that you can fill with different graphics, you'll learn how to create reusable templates.

You'll learn how to save every single pixel in your original image so you never have to say, "I'm sorry I tossed that information." You'll see how to use Smart Objects, so that even if you crop or resize an image, you'll be able to get it back to its original size months afterwards. (And you'll learn some tricks to warp Smart Objects that will make the tabloid newspapers jealous!)

Whether you're a photographer who wants to use Photoshop to edit photos, a scrapbooker, or an artist, this course will teach you the building blocks you need to unleash your creativity. It's also a lot of fun!

Syllabus

Lesson 1 - Introducing Layers

In this lesson, you'll create, view, and hide layers. Why do layers matter? Well, they open a world of opportunities for fine-tuning your images. You can edit a layered image nondestructively, so you don't have to start over if you make a mistake or need to change something.

Lesson 2 - Manipulating Layers

Today we'll focus on the clues Photoshop gives to explain exactly what you're doing to a layer as you're working. You'll create, move, duplicate, lock, unlock, cut, and paste layers. Knowing this information will let you alter images quickly and nondestructively . . . and the lock commands will help you prevent others (and you!) from accidentally altering your work.

Lesson 3 - Introducing Smart Objects

Take advantage of Smart Objects—the most awesome and significant innovation in Photoshop since the layers feature was introduced. You can place a RAW-format photo (or JPG or TIF) file inside the Smart Object and re-edit it in Camera RAW anytime you want. You'll discover how to crop and resize photos nondestructively using Smart Objects, and you'll love the way they let you make a protected package out of an image.

Lesson 4 - More Smart Effects With Smart Objects

Today you'll see how you can make an individual layer in an image larger or smaller, rotate it, and use the amazing Warp command. And you can reverse all these changes anytime you want—if you make them on a Smart Object layer. You can even use filters nondestructively, so long as you apply them to a Smart Object (gee, those come in handy!). You'll also create a pear that, when cut open, has an orange inside it.

Lesson 5 - Using Adjustment Layers

Each time you edit the exposure in an image, you lose image quality. But what if there were a way to edit the exposure as much as you wanted and not hurt the quality? There is! An Adjustment layer makes no permanent change to the image, and you can stack up these layers as you wish. You won't ever want to apply a regular Levels command or Adjustment command directly to an image again.

Lesson 6 - Introducing Layer Masks

In this lesson, you'll find out about layer masks—another way that Photoshop lets you have your cake and eat it too. If you bring a picture of little Johnny onto a new background image, and you erase all the stuff that was in the background, what happens if you change your mind? You'd better hope you have the original image somewhere, and then you're in for a lot more work. However, if you use a layer mask, you'll keep every pixel that's in the original image and hide the parts of the original that you no longer wish to see.

Lesson 7 - Image Restoration and Retouching

Did the dog eat Grandmother's portrait? Or did time and water do that damage? No matter. Using layers makes it easier than ever before to restore some of your treasured family heritage. You'll get ample practice with that today, plus links to websites that specialize in image restoration. Again, the theme of this lesson is nondestructive editing—working in layers so that you can always change your mind about a correction without having to begin again.

Lesson 8 - Grayscale and Gradient Masking

What happens if you want to place a person into a swimming pool or the ocean using Photoshop? To make the composite realistic, you need to transition from total opacity above the water line to total transparency below it. You'll learn that skill today as you work with grayscale and gradient masks. You'll also experiment with vignette edges and other edge effects, plus you'll create a Web page header.

Lesson 9 - More Mask Techniques

One of the most common ways to lose sleep while using Photoshop is to try to add a new background behind a model with wispy, flowing hair. Hair and fur have always been the bane of Photoshop users. Photoshop can help, however. You'll learn some new tricks today as we explore some commands on the Masks section of the Properties panel.

Lesson 10 - Clipping Masks and Layer Groups

Have you ever wondered how to put images inside type, like those old postcards for various cities? You'll find out today. It's called a clipping mask, and it's a digital version of spreading glitter onto a paper that has a design drawn in glue—the glitter only sticks to the glue. In this case, the new layers only stick to the base layer in the clipping mask. Making a clipping mask is easy, but it provides one of Photoshop's "wow" moments.

Lesson 11 - Luminosity Masking

Photoshop can use the values in an image to correct the image. That sounds scary and mysterious, but it's actually easy to do. Today you'll create luminosity masks and use them to correct images and to develop false duotone images and wonderfully creative image composites. This lesson should nurture your creativity and yet give you some solid ways to add punch to an image or to create stunning sepia tones.

Lesson 12 - Creating Complex Composites

In this course, you've created composites in so many ways. But there's still more to learn! Today you'll create an image that has a different photo in each color channel. You'll use Content-Aware Scale to make unusual adjustments to your image size. You'll try a wonderful stained-glass framing technique. And you'll finish the course with a fun assignment that lets you put together everything you've learned.

Requirements

This course requires Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Windowsor Adobe Photoshop CS6 for Mactintosh. It can be part of the Creative Suite 6 in Standard or Extended or Cloud editions or it can be a standalone version of either Standard or Extended. No features from the Extended version will be taught, however.

You may also use the 30-day free trial software provided by Adobe, but if you do, you must wait until week 3 of the course to install it and actually begin to work through the course. Otherwise your trial will end before the last four lessons are released.

This course can be taken on a PC or a Mac. On the PC platform, any of the following are acceptable: Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 3; Windows 7 with Service Pack 1. On the Mac platform, you will need Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.7.

You need to have completed Introduction to Photoshop CS3, CS4, CS5, or CS6. If you have not taken one of these courses, you need to have a good working knowledge of the basic tools in Photoshop and be able to make selections, use the Clone Stamp tool and Healing brushes, and do elementary color correction.

In addition, you will need to have a program that extracts the example files from the Zip file provided with each lesson. You need to know how to create a new file folder and locate files on your hard drive.

If you wish to share your work with the instructor, you will need an online album in which to display your work. I'll provide instructions for this in the first lesson.

Instructor

Sherry London is a noted Photoshop and Illustrator expert, an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Her fiber art has been featured in magazines and exhibitions. Her published works include Photoshop CS2 Gone Wild, Photoshop Magic, Photoshop Effects Magic, Photoshop In Depth, Photoshop Textures Magic, and Illustrator f/x and Design. She wrote the Tips and Tricks column for Photoshop User magazine for many years and is a two-time nominee to the Photoshop Hall of Fame. She has taught for the prestigious Thunder Lizard Photoshop Conference and the Professional Photographers of America seminars, as well as for Drexel University, Moore College of Art, and Gloucester County College. Sherry holds a Master's Degree in Information Systems and has taken doctoral-level courses in curriculum design.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Reviews

The two courses that I have taken in Photoshop 6, like a great show, have only left me begging for more. Thank you for all of the exciting and fulfilling lessons and your ongoing support. I wish you all the best and hope that someday, you will have time to create more advanced classes for Photoshop.

I loved this course. Sherry is a great instructor and Beth is a great teaching assistant. They both gave me plenty of encouragement and great feedback whenever I posted anything in the Discussion Area. I have told my friends about this course and how great and useful it is.

Adjustment layers have really opened my eyes to nondestructive editing. I used to always do my changes on the image itself, now this makes it way easier to undo and add more!

Everything about this course was outstanding - the instructor, the teaching assistant, the material and the instructions.