From the title, some may think Photoshop tennis involves tennis rackets and copies of Photoshop, but the rackets are not need in this game. Photoshop tennis is, as the Flickr group stipulates, a game whereby someone chooses a starting image, and then people edit the image following the guidelines that the person who posted the original image lays down.

The game ends when people stop posting, or a deadline can be set. I’ve seen this in another form, called Photoshop Relay, in a Photoshop magazine and it produced some very good designs. The best thing about Photoshop Tennis is that it helps designers use what they are given and add to it and, in the long run, it also helps improve their skills. The ability to alter an existing design is challenging enough, but to continue the alterations continuously takes a certain amount of skill that can only be enhanced through playing.

Due to many of the “games” involving multiple people, with varying levels of design expertise, the final images can seem quite amateurish, but there are a few that can look stunning.

For those who are interested in joining with Photoshop Tennis, there are a few sites offering games. As mentioned above, there is the Photoshop Tennis Flickr Group, Urban Collective offer competitions and possibly the biggest site devoted to this e-sport, Layer Tennis, which also includes use of other programs, such as Flash.

About the Author

My name is Luke Davis aka Starchild, and I’m an 18 year old student from England. I’ve only just finished college, where I studied Further Mathematics, Mathematics and Graphic Design and will be going to Nottingham Trent University to study a degree in Computer Science. I’ve been using Photoshop since the summer of 2005, and relish the chance to use the program whenever I can.

My sites

• http://munchester2cool.deviantart.com
• http://cmwiki.co.nr/starchild