Most abused Photoshop Technique?

Layer Effects, Clouds, Lens Flare, Ripping.

Bevel and Emboss, Lens Flares, and gradients with no purpose. Damn I hate to see a gradient that really has no business being where it is.

I would say Lens Flares, bevels, pixel art, grunge.... but most of those are trends and not Techniques..... but pretty much what everyone else said...

The default bevel.... I see alot of these in poster... when you think its so easy to make it look a lot nicer...

Lens flare...I use a lot of them myself...but I alway consider if they really add to the image (I pit them on their own layeras so if i cange my mind)...

Grunge... often tham more there not no real reason to use it...

Also the most abused font.....Helvetica!

I think it's the Render>Lighting FX....! Welz to me!

I agree with all of those. I think it should be noted that some of these techniques-slash-trends are 'overused' but some also stand the test of time. Most of the effects we gripe about (me included) are because we're used to seeing them. That really doesn't make them bad, just old. Although, some are just bad.

Personally, I'm guilty of overusing bevels, also gradients. The problem is: that is what the uninformed joe blow client knows, so that's what they ask for.

There are lots of crazy filters and trends that I really would love to use, but they don't hold up when it comes to legibility or practicality. For example, a grunge look wouldn't work for a vehicle advertisement. This is where a bold bevel or a gradient actually works quite well. Looks clean, reads quickly and still looks quite sharp if done correctly.

what about some of the current trends that look good? Maybe we could all use an alternative to the 'same-old-same old'

-I've been playing lots with motion blur and shear. good stuff!

I'd say bad usage of beveling is the most apparent and overused graphic artist no-no online.

Also, I see lots of people saving images ONLY as JPEG, and highly compressed JPGs at that. And that looks just absolutely awful when a highly compressed JPG has text on it. Especially if its a navigational button.

YES!!!

I agree with that more than any of the others. Good one bogus. Bad optimization is bad news! - but, on the other hand, at least they are optimizing.

am i actually the first to suggest the oh-so-popular drop shadow? :D

chris