Introduction
Adobe Photoshop CS2 is the industry-standard photo editing software. Many digital camera users may initially feel overwhelmed by the range and complexity of the features available in Photoshop.

However, this checklist should help guide new Photoshop users to enhancing digital photos in 7 easy steps.

Step One - adjust exposure
The basic images produced by digital cameras are often enhanced by being brightened.

Menu: Image > Adjustments > Levels
Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + L

In the center of the levels window you will find a histogram showing the distribution of colours in your photo. There are also 3 small arrows underneath the histogram. Slide the middle of these 3 arrows to the left to brighten up your photo.

Step Two - add a warming filter
In the olden days of traditional SLR cameras, photographers used to travel around with camera bags full of an assortment of coloured filters.

Things have changed and now you can get the same effect as from using a filter simply by asking Photoshop to add a filter of any colour your like.

Menu: Image > Adjustments > Photo Filter

Step Three - remove imperfections with Spot Healing Brush Photoshop CS2 will quite happily remove dust specks and other imperfections from your photos.

Just select the Spot Healing Brush, adjust the size of the brush and click on that nasty blemish to make it vanish.

Keyboard shortcut: Press J

Step Four - sharpen lightly
Photoshop can bring your photo into stronger focus by a tool called "sharpening". You will be able to see fine details more clearly after your photo has been sharpened. Be careful not to apply too much sharpening though, as this will distort the level of details if used too much.

Menu: Filter > Sharpen > Sharpen

Step Five - reduce noise
"Noise" is similar to "interference" on your radio receiver. Fortunately, Photoshop can eliminate unwanted noise in your photo.

Menu: Filter > Noise > Reduce noise

Step Six - resize image
With the ever increasing number of megapixels in the latest digital cameras, photo dimensions are soaring all the time. However, the size of most computer users' monitors is fairly constant. If you do not resize your photos, people will have to use scroll bars to see all of it.

Resizing images down to a more manageable size such as 1024px width is easily achieved in Photoshop.

Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Alt + I

Step Seven - save for web with a new name
Photoshop's Save for Web function allows you to quickly select the right file format for your photos and the optimal level of compression.

It is very important to save your tweaked photo under a different name from the original, as otherwise you will overwrite the original photo and it will be lost forever.

If you save your tweaked photo under a different filename, the original photo will be retained so that you can make further changes in the future.

Keyboard shortcut: Alt + Shift + Ctrl + S

Conclusion
As you can see, this is a very practical and manageable introduction to some of the most commonly used and most useful functions in Adobe Photoshop CS2. The best way to gain mastery of Photoshop is to plunge right in and spend some time experimenting with its powerful suite of functions and tools. With a bit of practice, you could be Photoshopping like a pro in next to no time!

Mandar Marathe is an amateur photographer.

You can see examples of Mandar's photos on Mandar's website.

You can download and print a FREE PDF checklist of the 7 steps mentionned in this article at http://www.mandar-marathe.com/photos/tweaking-photos-photoshop.pdf