If content is king, great visuals are the crown. And as a marketer, sometimes the task of creating visual content falls to you. Even if you aren’t a trained designer, you’re still expected to slap together display ads, social media graphics, and hero images at a moment’s notice.

And let’s be honest, learning Photoshop is hard.

Ain’t nobody got time for that.

You don’t have enough hours in your day to watch lengthy tutorials, so here are some quick tricks that will get you on your way. These 5 one-click Photoshop tools will have you creating awesome content for your brand in seconds.

Let’s show people the multi-talented marketing star you are! 🌟

1. Removing backgrounds from images

I’m sure you’ve seen this trick everywhere: take a photo of the person, remove the background, and voilà! You can put that person anywhere you need (just like the cardboard cutout of Justin Timberlake I totally didn’t have in my room when I was 13…)

But it’s a pain in the ass, right? Raise your hand if you’ve spent hours painstakingly cutting out backgrounds with the lasso and magic wand tools. 🙋(That’s me. I’m talking about me...)

But it’s 2018, people, and Photoshop has come a long way. Thanks to AI and other techno mumbo jumbo things, you can now do this in seconds. Yes, that’s right, seconds.

Once you’ve cut out an image, the uses are endless. Allow me to demonstrate with this little flamingo:


Removed from his background, the possibilities are endless.


That’s one happy flamingo! But vacations can’t last forever…


At least he has an incredible view from his office

The one click magic:

  1. Open your image in Photoshop
  2. On the top menu, click “Select” → “Select and Mask”
  3. Click and hold while you run your mouse over the area you want captured as a cut out
  4. Click “OK” in the bottom right corner
  5. That’s it. That’s literally it. This one is going to blow your mind, folks.

2. Content Aware Fill

Finding the perfect photo is hard. Like, really hard.

Let me give you a little piece of advice: you don’t need a perfect photo. You can make one instead!

Don’t let a photobomber or an unwanted element stop you from using a picture: Photoshop has got your back. Content aware fill is a gift sent down from the angels to help you with your damn-this-is-so-close stock image woes.


This photo fits perfectly on my website, but I’m not sure if I’m allowed to…hm.


Aha! Much better. Tastes like an infringement-free cup of coffee to me. Yummy.

The one click magic:

  1. Open your image in Photoshop
  2. Select what you want to remove from the photo
  3. Press delete on your keyboard
  4. In the pop-up dialog box, check that “content aware” is selected (it should be the default)
  5. Click “OK” and watch miracles happen

3. Multiple Artboards

Creating display ads in many different sizes isn’t as easy as waving a magic wand, but it seems like people expect it to be.

But good news! There are ways to ease the frustration of creating display ads on display ads on display ads... With Photoshop artboards, you can have all the ad templates you need all in the same window. You can easily repurpose elements from one size to another, without having to click through a jumble of photoshop tabs.

Ahhhhhh. Ain’t it beautiful?

The one click magic:

  1. Download this template we created for you
  2. Open in Photoshop
  3. Design! Design! Design!

4. Blending Layers

This is a one-stop-shop type of trick. If you haven’t used blending layers before, you’re missing out on billions of ways to spice up boring old photos (okay, maybe I’m being a wee bit dramatic, but you get the point). With just a click, you can use blending layers to edit photos, intensify elements, or add colored backgrounds. You can kiss boring case studies and presentation slides goodbye. With blending layers, you can edit in seconds. Leaving you more time to, well, do everything else on your to-do list.

The one click magic:

  1. Open your image in Photoshop
  2. Place a shape filled with the color of your choice
  3. In the layers panel, click on the drop down that says “normal”
  4. Click through the blending options to find the effect you like best
  5. Bonus: You can also use this trick to edit photos by creating a copy of the image, and using blending options on the duplicate layer

5. Background Blur

Let’s FOCUS here people. Or actually, maybe let’s take things out of focus. Blurring an image creates a versatile background for you to use over and over again. Type text over a blurred background for an easy display ad, or add it to a slide deck for visual content that doesn’t overpower. You can also take an image and blur only the background, making the feature in the foreground pop

The one click magic:

  1. Open your image in photoshop
  2. On the top menu click “Filter” → “Blur Gallery” → “Field Blur”
  3. Place pins and change the levels of blur for each pin
  4. Click “OK” and get dizzy as you watch your photo blur

Let's see everything come together


Original stock photo


Let's crop him a little


Apply a field blur


Cut out his silhouette, and apply a blending layer to edit him a little. Make him a bit crisper, more ruggedly handsome.


Add some text or your logo


And finally, add a gradient then use a blending layer

LOOK AT HOW COOL THAT IS! And now you can make it too!

And there you have it folks. Life just got a little bit easier. You’re welcome.