Techniques I have used

Photoshop tools

I have used a range of tools so far in photoshop. These include:

Magic wand tool: This can be used to highlight an area of a photo where pixels are all of a similar colour. You can then change colour levels etc. In my opinion its the most important tool because you cant do anything else thats going to do a huge difference to the photo without knowing how to use it effectively.

Magnetic wand: This can be used to cut around an area manually and will stick to a line of pixels with a similar colour and is very efficient at cutting an area out quickly if your in a rush. In my opinion its a better tool to use compared to the lasso tool because people that are not used to photo editing can use it effectively.

Clone Stamp: The clone stamp can be used if you want to cover up an area discretely. I have used this in a few photos and its best to use it when trying to get rid of imperfection in skin on portraits if you want to see its best results.

Auto Levels: If you change the auto levels it automatically makes the photo brighter and this can be used, again if your in a rush and theoretically can achieve the same results as you wanting to do the same thing manually in seconds rather than tens of minutes.