learning Photoshop?

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Permalink Reply by Matt Needham on April 8, 2009 at 8:04am

I've done most of my digital processing learning on the internet, although there have been a few helpful books, and friends/peers who are also doing digital processing have been a big help. I had been working with CS2 and no LR, but recently upgraded to LR2 and CS4.

I think Lightroom is easier to learn. Photoshop is wonderful, but it is created for all sorts of professions requiring graphics manipulation and editing, and many of it's features aren't very useful for photographers. It's just as important (and time consuming) to learn what you should just ignore. Search for Lightroom tutorial videos; there are many on the web where photographers go step by step through their LR workflow. Then you can learn specific applications that you need PS for.

It's not something that is mastered overnight or even ever. I learn a concept, and practice with it until I get it figured out, then I move on to the next concept/technique. Eventually over time the knowledge/skills just build up. Then they introduce new software with all new features, and I have to start over again. ;)

IMO, most books on Photoshop out there kind of suck. I've found much better and current info on the web, but here's one I've found very useful for learning PS portrait processing: "Skin" by Lee Varis

On my photoblog http://www.henrypeach.com I've got a list of links (on the right side of the page) called Learn About Photography. These are the links I've found useful in my own education, and transition from the traditional darkroom to PS. They aren't all about processing, but many are.

I also post new processing links I run across on my Twitter account http://www.twitter.com/HenryPeach

I found this one a few days ago, and it looks to be a fantastic source of processing info http://goodlight.us/writing/luminositymasks/luminositymasks-1.html

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hiler on April 8, 2009 at 12:35pm

Susan,
Everything I've learned about PS I did on my own. Most by trial and error. Recently though, I've been looking at some tutorials on how to do specific functions and have picked up a few tips on how PS works in the process.

Eventually, I plan on taking at least a few formal courses on PS. It's such a powerful and complex program, I'd like to find out what I can really do if I knew how to more effiecently use the software.

Mike :)

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Tisdale on May 19, 2009 at 8:43am

For Adobe Photoshop I took a course through a local Career and Business Center "The Academy of Learning".
The course was 60 hours and the cost was $700.00 Cdn. I went 4 hours a day which was great because it was enough time to learn a module or two each day without overloading my brain.

The course was set up to work on your own at a compurter with an area you log in and it shows you a video clip for each aspect such as use of various tools and editing features including how to slice and compress photo's for use on the web and add a web link to it. You also have a training manual where after watching the demonstration video for each topic you go to the book and go through the training exercises for that topic. The course was great as it showed me all the aspects that photoshop has to offer. This way I was able to learn about all photoshop can do rather than me just buying the software and fumbling around and not seeing all the posibilities of the software.

Regards,
Stephen

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Permalink Reply by Steve Umland on May 19, 2009 at 12:14pm

Susan:

Photoshop is the most powerful and simply the best software available for file manipulation. That being said. Photoshop is not easy.. never has been. It's a hard program to master but well worth the effort.

I started with their tutorials and struggled through. What made a difference for me was going back to basics. Instead of thinking up something I wanted it to do and searching for the solution through the hundreds of possible key strokes I started taking and hour a day and saying this is my photoshop learning time. I brought up a image any image and started with each pull down menu and applying that technique to this arbotrary image. I found stuff I would never have thought of and found the right pull down item to do things I wanted. It takes time but using the pull down menus over and over taught me what would work and where to find it. Two important things to learn early is Histograms and Curves. Teach yourself what these two important powerful photoshop tools do and you will go a long way in learning how to manipulate and evaluate your raw files.

Second I signed up for a two day class on photoshop shortcuts at a Mac Store. You cannot imagine how many shortcut key strokes are available that are not in the tutorials or books. I cut my photoshop time in at least half using the many shortcuts I was taught in this class.

Last but not least don't get discouraged! Take the time learn the program and your photography will accelerate to the next level. Now STOP studying and go out and shoot some photographs!

Steve Umland
Photographer

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Permalink Reply by Elisab on May 19, 2009 at 5:57pm

Try You Tube. THey have a lot of videos on PS. I have a few PS for Dummies books too.

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Permalink Reply by Sean on May 19, 2009 at 8:15pm

Lots of reading, lots of tutorials, and lots of trial and error. Everyone has a different way of learning. I have taught several people how to use photoshop and all of them absorbed it in their own time.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Livingstone on May 20, 2009 at 7:13am

Check out photoanswers.co.uk and go to video tutorials. They have about a hundred tutorials with a little description of what each one is about. Then you just choose the one with the subject closest to what you are looking for and presto, you 're a wizz. They are super easy to follow as the guy actually shows you what he is doing on the screen. Not like those other written tutorials that say do this and do that and when you try it doesent work. You just follow the guy through the process on your own window and if he goes to fast you just pause him till you catch up.
Eventually you will have a whole bag of tricks in your arsenal. The great thing also with this is that during this process you come across other cool stuff by accident. Have fun!

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Permalink Reply by Alice M Waraxa on May 20, 2009 at 10:28am

if you by any photoshope books Scott Kelby is probably the best. we use his books in school.
also its mostly trail and error. you can read all you want about a technique but unless you take a photo and play around with it you wont know where to start

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Permalink Reply by Vicki DeVico on May 21, 2009 at 7:02am

Hi, Susan...I started learning photoshop at my local community college. The course I took was geared to graphic artists, but it taught me the tools, how to use layers, layer masks, vector masks and was a great start. Shortly after that, I joined NAPP and started reading their tutorials online and attending their one-day seminars. It was a real eye-opener and started me on a road I'm still traveling. I consider myself a photoshop junkie...and have helped many others with their own challenges. I know I'll never learn it all, but have now attended 6 PhotoshopWorld conferences and every time I attend, I'm inspired. There are a ton of different turorials out on the web, just do a google search for Photoshop Tutorials; you can also do that search within YouTube for a lot of video tutorials. There are also a lot you have to pay for, including Software Cinema and Lynda.com. One thing I would suggest is to go to www.lynda.com and search within the site for photoshop tutorials. Most of them have some free lessons available and you can get some great information that way (llike how to set your preferences, etc.). All that said, learning Photoshop is a lifelong endeavor. I'm always amazed at the new things I learn...and it IS fun. :)

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Permalink Reply by Joe Tompkins on May 22, 2009 at 8:24pm

Susan,

I had used PSE 3, then 6 before stepping up to CS3. Learned a lot through forums and tutorials on the
web. When I first got CS3, they offered a free 1 month access to Lynda.com which was very good. Also always
check out other users work and collages to pick up ideas....

Joemt.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Albertson on May 30, 2009 at 8:05pm

There are all kinds of resources available on the internet like stated. I like the podcasts and am also a member of NAPP which I find very helpful but I think its $100 a year. You get the Photoshop user magazine with it though which I've found very useful. If you're a member you also get 35% (I think) off the Scott Kelby (as well as others) books that are very useful.

I would highly recommend Scott Kelby's 7 point system, it's a good one. There are also many videos and tips/tricks on the NAPP site. I would venture to say that a lot of the stuff you could find elsewhere but it's nice to know I can go to one place and almost anything related to Photoshop is posted.

Good luck and happy editing

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Permalink Reply by Carlton Ward on May 30, 2009 at 11:33pm

Hi Susan,
I started with PS05 back in 2001 and a friend showed me a couple of basic things like levels, using the clone tool and saturation, brightness as well as cropping & resizing. I then read a couple of books (one by Scott Kelby). I then got into making individual laminates for 300 of my friends with their own photo & name and another friend showed me more about using layers which made creating the individual laminates much easier. I found a site called Better Photo - www.betterphoto.com by reading another book by Bryan Peterson and Better Photo has many 4 & 8 week online courses more specifically designed for different levels of expertise. I took a "Creative Techniques in Photoshop" course by Jim Zuckerman and also a "Photographers Toolbox for Exposure & Color Correction" by Lewis Kemper (which is very intense & thorough) through Better Photo. I also have a couple of DVDs from Total Training and an HDR DVD from Ben Willmore (who teaches the folks at Adobe how to use Photoshop) and then another DVD from Jim Zuckerman called "Be a Photoshop Guru".
So I have quite a varied list of sources and they have all contributed to what I know & use today.
The Better Photo online courses are very good because they teach what we as photographers deal with every day so they are specifically designed for our purposes. I cannot recommend the Lewis Kemper Toolbox classes highly enough (he has 3 of the Toolbox classes to choose from) but they are very demanding. You will work hard but you WILL get your moneys worth and then have them to use as reference for the years to come.
After all my classes, books, DVDs - I still feel like there are so many things about Photoshop I do not know but I do know how to do anything I need to do or if I need a quick reference back to some material to refresh myself with again, I already have it available.
Another thing about the Better Photo online classes is that they are taught by Photographers (who are often on the road themselves) and there is a lot of leeway getting the lessons done. They are designed for the busy person who is trying to squeeze in some learning and they also have a campus square where students/instructors can post questions & discuss things. The instructors are also very accessable for any & everything. I have taken about 4 classes from Jim Zuckerman and last summer I took a trip to Europe with Jim & 10 other photographers and he was constantly sharing his thoughts & teachings (proper exposure, photoshop & other tips) with all of us throughout the trip. We e-mail each other often and I consider him a dear friend today.
I am currently using CS3 and have just started to play with Lightroom.
I learn better by doing exercises than reading books which is why the online courses are better for me.
Good Luck,
Carlton

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