Adobe Photoshop for Beginners

Adobe Photoshop is the gold-standard image-editing software used by Sri Lankan photographers, designers, advertising agencies and content creators. Our 8-week Adobe Photoshop for Beginners course gives Grade 7–12 students a confident, ethical foundation in raster image editing — from basic photo touch-ups to creative composites — without overwhelming them.

Students learn Photoshop's interface and key tools (selection tools, brushes, layers, masks, adjustment layers), colour correction and exposure fixing, retouching done tastefully (skin smoothing, removing distractions, healing), photo compositing (combining multiple photos into one image), basic typography for posters and social posts, and how to use Photoshop's smart-object workflow for non-destructive editing.

Real student projects: a properly retouched school portrait, a magazine cover featuring the student, a fantasy composite (yourself standing at Sigiriya at sunset, even if you've never been), a Sri Lankan event poster, and a final social-media campaign series of three connected images. Tharindu reviews and provides written feedback on every submitted piece.

We discuss when image editing is honest creative work and when it crosses into deceptive territory — an important conversation for the social-media generation. Students can use Photoshop free with a 7-day Adobe trial; after that the Creative Cloud subscription is recommended (Adobe's student plan is much cheaper). We also teach free alternatives (Photopea, GIMP) for students who can't subscribe.

Course Outline

• Week 1: Photoshop interface + image basics
• Week 2: Selections + layers
• Week 3: Retouching + healing
• Week 4: Colour correction + exposure
• Week 5: Photo compositing
• Week 6: Text + posters
• Week 7: Social media campaign
• Week 8: Portfolio review + showcase