What is Hand tool in Photoshop?

You may use a bunch of effects or filters on your image. For example, the basic fade and flip effects with the filters are just fine. I wouldn't use the color effects too much since they tend to lose detail in the darker areas of the image and probably don't really help much. I'd probably stick to some warm or cool tones.

for the best results, stick with simple options. i like to put a gradient filter on and layer it with a black gradient on the layer above. The black gradient is just a quick black and white filter with a slight tint. Using simple colors works best.

for other effects, like if you do want to make the water more deep and murky, you can either choose a really dark area of the image and use a strong contrast filter to make it look like it is underwater, or you can put a lighter filter on top and make the water look lighter.

How to deal with bright spots in the background?

Photoshop CC has a built in option for this, i'd go with Photo Warp and Auto Warp. This one will work with any photo.

What is your favorite book about shadows?

Orion's belt: The war in Saturn's skies, by Nigel Slater. photo_hunt.com: Is there a way to make the darks and lights in shadows look like one shadow? You might be able to do it on any photo with a single shadow, but it's not very easily done.

What are some tutorials you recommend for beginners?

Here are a couple: how to blend colors in shadows, i'm assuming you mean a simple shadow? This tutorial here will help you with this. i also recommend learning your way around layers.

photoworld.net: How would you explain layer masks to someone who has no idea what they are?

Layers mask works similar to using filters, you can apply a layer mask to a layer and essentially remove a small part of a layer to make the layer smaller. You can also reduce opacity or increase brush size in a layer mask.

What are the basic operations to create a movie poster?

make a selection, in this case on the image, go to the edit menu, then deselects the selection. now go to the layers menu and find the first layer. go to Edit -> layers and set the opacity to 8%, no name is needed. the layer will now be visible. now go to the effects menu and find movie poster. apply a poster filter.

Do you suggest adding color to create a poster with the color reversed?

In most cases, it looks better without the color and makes it easier to line up the print.

photoworld.net: what is the effect that creates the star spangled banner?

Sometimes you can actually do this in Photoshop. All you do is select the layer in the middle of your image and apply a large gradient. There is a lot of talk on how to go about it, but the basic way is to apply a linear gradient to the middle of the image (notice the root is on the left) and then go back to the layer menu and select the "antialiasing" effect.

What kind of "mouse movement" do you recommend for making certain shapes look better in the photographs?

Hmm, I've tried them all, but a little mouse movement looks best for me, so i think you'll be fine with what i do. It looks best when you take it off/off like you do your strobe.

Can you provide some key tips on creating composite images?

When you have multiple images that you want to be able to blend together, the best method is to do some basic compositing, such as adding a light mask to the layers and doing a seamless layer mask of a lighter image.

How to make the sky look like it's really in the clouds?

I use a mix of techniques, for example, a color warping effect over the image. I also sometimes apply other effects like a radial gradient, addingheight/shadows and a blurry look with a built-in sharpening filter.