In the spirit of Project Educate I've been roaming every area and process of the art of Photomanipulation to bring you this unofficial guide. It's not meant as a manual, just a friendly collection of tips. Hopefully some will find it useful. I know I will.

A

Art
Photomanipulation is an artform, and creating art by digitally altering and twisting photos is limitless.

B

Browse for stock
There's an abundance of stock on the site, free to use in your personal work.
Resources > Stock Images
Search by category (Model, Nature, Animals, Classical, Food, Household items, Macro shots, Objects, Places, Plants, Misc, Technical) and/or keyword to narrow your search.

Take your time finding the perfect stock for your artworks. It pays off!
And try going for the more raw stock photos. Premade images will only make your deviation look like everyone else's who have used that same photo, if that's not what you're aiming for.

C

Composition
Composition is the structure and relationship of elements; line, shape, color, space, etc, that creates the unified wholeness within an image. The composition of your work can make or break your image. Learning about how to best structure and combine your images is a basic aid of visual princles.

Color balance
Match the color balance of your different elements to create a complete visual. This is crucial in making any manipulation work.

Cut'n Paste
Pasting a model into a background alone may be good for practice if you're a beginner, but when you have become more experienced with using Photoshop and still are finding yourself doing the ol' cut'n paste without any thought of matching the elements together, you might be stuck; either technically or creatively. To be able to evolve and develop as an artist you have to break out from your usual path and try new things.

Community
Try joining a club or community to get more exposure for your work. Search for one that suits your style and taste.
There are many communities around which submits photomanips alongside various other artforms. I'm in the process of putting up a registry here: [link]
If you have more to add, please do Note me.

See also the various club listings: ~Listing-Centre, *clubdirectory, ~Deviant-Clubs.

Chat
#DigitalMedia and #ManipulatedReality are two of the many chatrooms where you can talk to other Digital artists, get advice, or just hang out.

D

Devious
Dare to try new things. Dare to toss the latest trend.
Dare to be different and think outside the box.

Depth of Perception
Depth of perception (or Depth of Field as applied in photography) is an important tool to bring realism and credibility to your image. Tip: blur tool is key.

Digital Gallery Directors
^{Dated May 10th 2008. See $Moonbeam13's journal for most current listings: [link]}

Digital Art: ^cosmosue & ^JunkbyJen
• 3-Dimensional: ^Bloodredsangre
• Fractal Art: ^Sophquest
• Photomanipulation: ^WilderWein77
• Pixel: ^ShoneGold
• Text: ^ArhcamtIlnaad
• Vector: ^Ikue & ^lemontea
• Vexel: ^Jules1983

We are here for you.

Daily Deviation
Suggestions are warmly welcomed. Suggest a Photomanipulation DD by sending me a Note with a thumblink, or by clicking 'Share This/Blog it' which you can find to the left of the deviation.
FAQ #270: What is the "Share This & Blog It" feature and how do I use it? Can I disable my deviations from this service?
FAQ #61: What is a Daily Deviation?
FAQ #18: Who selects the Daily Deviation and how is it chosen?
FAQ #873: What do I do when I disapprove of a Daily Deviation feature?
DD tips

E

Experience
The more you're familiar with Photoshop and the tools you use, the more artistic freedom you'll have. Take time getting to know your way around the menus and palettes. Skill comes with the time you dedicate.

Experiment
To attain experience one must work at it. Experimenting is how you'll learn most of your own trades and secrets. Experiment with Layer styles, Blending options, textures, filters, etc. Never give up, go crazy have fun!

Even the most experienced Photoshop user has yet to know all the tricks.

Exposure
Get noticed. Be active; browse around, comment on people's art, do forum thumbshare , drop in on dAmn chats, participate in contests, join communities and clubs.
Be seen and you'll increase the exposure to your art.

F

Filters
Filters are both used to enhance photos or to make dramatic changes; so called artistic filters. Differ between minor adjustments and radical alterations; filters can do both, and it can mean the difference between landing your work in Photography or Digital Art > Miscellaneous.

Forum
Need help or advice? Questions? Try the Digital Forums: [link]

G

Galleries
Be sure to read the gallery descriptions before you submit. These can be found in the submission process.
You can also find them in my journal:
Photomanipulation: The parent gallery
Photomanipulation: The sub galleries

H

Help
If you haven't yet, check out the Help section in your Adobe Photoshop. This is a great place to start for anyone.
Another version of Help: [link]

I

Inspiration
The most important tool in creating art. If you lack it, seek it.
There are many sources of inspiration. When I look at an artist's comment and read "I was bored, so I made this", it completely ruins it for me. I don't need to know that. Have some entusiasm to your own work.
Get inspired. Art is all about inspiration; it is the thing that drives us to create.
What inspires you?

J

J-Lo is a no-no
This basically means that random celebrity pics found on the web is not stock, and most likely copyrighted material. A good thumb rule for all Digital artists is "Treat all images as copyrighted and unusable unless specifically stated otherwise."

K

Kick the cliché
Copying other people's art in the long run is not very rewarding, is it. It's when you go your own way that you'll truly unfold creatively.

L

Light and shadow
These two elements are crucial to every photomanip. The trick is to make Light and Shadow look as natural as possible. Imitate life, so to speak. Study how shadows fall from different sources of light, different objects and textures.

Browse dA tutorials: Resources > Tutorials > Digital Art > Photomanipulation > Photoshop with keywords. (f.ex light or shadow)

Or browse tutorials around the web.
Cast Shadows and Form Shadows
Add Reality To Your Objects
Working With Shadows In Photoshop

M

Mixed Media
Digital Mixed Media is the gallery for works that have been created using at least two of the following DIGITAL art forms: Paintings/Drawings/Airbrushing, Photomanipulation, 3-Dimensional, Fractals and Vectors/Vexels.

N

News
Drop by the News section to view the latest news on Digital Art.

O

OMG, credits!
While it's at the time being not a copyright violation itself to credit the site only (the ol' example "sxc.hu" ), instead of crediting the artists or the image itself, it is advised to do so to avoid anything that might arise later.
We do credit well and link directly to stock found here on deviantArt, so why not on outside stock as well. That's the least we could do.
Most dA stock providers has crediting/linking back as a simple rule in their Terms of Use so it's a part of policy.

P

Policy
Using stock comes with a responsibility and a respect for other people's work and copyright. Be sure to check if the material you use in your work is valid and legal to use. Treat all images as copyrighted and unusable unless specifically stated otherwise.
FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?
Look at it this way: By following simple policy, you're also securing that your work stays in your gallery.

Prints
The bigger, the better. Be sure to use quality stock.
FAQ #132: What are the minimum image sizes for each product? Lists resolutions/sizes.

Q

Quality
Quality over quantity. Perhaps a cliché expression, but it's the simple truth!

Questions
Don't be afraid to ask fellow artists how they achieved certain things in their manipulation; it doesn't hurt and most people do not mind sharing tips and tricks.

R

Resources
There's a variety of resources available; textures, stock, fonts, clipart, literature templates, tutorials, Vector and Fractal resources, and various Application Resources for Photoshop, Gimp, Corel Painter and Illustrator.
Applications is where you can find for example Photoshop Brushes, Custom Shapes and Actions.

S

Stock
Most manipulators use stock found on dA or on other websites. These are image resources used mainly for digital art.
FAQ #217: What are "Stock Photos" and can I use "Stock Photos" in my submissions?

Stock images on deviantArt are found in Resources > Stock Images
Browse by category and/or keywords.

Examples of royalty free stock sites outside dA are imageafter, freestockimages.net, istockphoto and most commonly known Stock.XCHNG.

Be sure to follow the rules of the stock provider to avoid violating any policy.
FAQ #157: Can I use things created by other people in my submissions?

Shortcuts
Very handy and practical for effectively working in Photoshop.
List of all shortcuts is found here: [link] (For Mac, replace Ctrl with Cmd, and Alt with Option)
You can also customize your own shortcuts by going to Edit > Keyboard shortcuts. (Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K)

T

Tutorials
Photoshop has countless possibilities: Study tutorials to learn new techniques and how to best take advantage of the Photoshop tools. You will expand your abilites to what you can create in Photoshop.

Browse tutorials on deviantArt, for instance ~nobstutorials and *photoshop-tutorials.

Or on other websites such as:
tutorials.watchandlearnphotoshop.com (great and easy to grasp video tutorials)
tutorialized.com
photoshopcstutorial.com
good-tutorials.com
tutorialized.com
It's a fun way of learning new tricks and techniques, I just spent two hours just watching video tutorials.

Texture
Textures comes in all types, from abstract to nature based.
Browse Textures on deviantArt in Resources > Textures.
Do not texture a piece to death, rather let it enhance your image than kill it. Either to use as an overall finish, or on a specific part within the image to change its appearance.

U

Use valid stock!
I can't nag about that enough. (See S for Stock and P for Policy)

V

Valid stock!
(Hehe, just being a smartass)

- Respect your stock providers.

W

What is..?
• What is a Photomanipulation?
• What is Mixed Media?
• What is the difference between Digital Art > Photomanipulation, and Digital Art > Miscellaneous?
• What is stock?
• What is not stock?
• What is Photography > Darkroom?

WilderWein77: Your devoted Photomanipulation Gallery Director.
'Wilder Wein' is german for 'Wild Wine' and 77 is the year of birth. Yes, I am so very, very old.

X

X-rated
Does your deviation contain nudity, excessive violence/gore, or other controversial or potentially upsetting or offensive material? (Mature Content)
FAQ #554: Is my deviation Mature Content?
Pornographic material is not allowed on deviantArt.
FAQ #565: You prohibit the submission of 'pornographic material'; what do you consider this to be?

Y

Your input
Anything you would like to change about the community or Photomanip galleries? Suggestions to make something better? Note me; I'd love to hear your viewpoints!

Z

Zest!
It's not all about technique. Feel your art! Art is not art without soul.



"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
Scott Adams


Thank you for your time.