Photoshop. Where did you start?

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Scott
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Hi Guys,

I'm on a full time photography course at the moment and it includes a two hour class per week on image editing/digital imaging but i'm struggling with editing as it's just not enough for me. I know there are loads of resources online like Youtube etc showing photoshop videos and tutorials but i'm often wondering where to start. I don't want to dive into the deep end would like to climb the ladder in a way that makes sense.

I asked my lecturers if they had weekend or evening classes but they don't for this subject so i need to get on with it myself. I am off every Monday and Tuesday and usually find myself trying to focus on photoshop on the Monday but as soon as i get frustrated i move onto another assessment as i feel like i have so much to do i've not got the time to mess about with something i can't do when i can complete another task that's pending.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Scott
 
Glyn Dewis is pretty good also, Phlearn is very good as said previously.
 
I sacked it off and went with Lightroom - waaaay more intuitive and does everything I need EASILY .....
 
I didn't / don't go anywhere in particular. Just fire up the Googlemachine whenever I have a particular problem, and see what people do about.

Hertsman said:
I sacked it off and went with Lightroom - waaaay more intuitive and does everything I need EASILY .....
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's pretty crap at being Photoshop though.
 
Unfortunately I need to master photoshop or learn the basics at least to pass my course. Thanks though I might well have a look though.
 
If you are trying to learn set a a goal for yourself take one of your shots and set a target for it then look at the procedures on youtube and adobes help pages. It may only be cropping or removing something but every little helps and builds up your knowledge
 
All good resources already mentioned.
Personally I prefer Lynda.com - (and would suggest PS CC 2017 for photographers) - I find the courses are much easier to follow and have proper structure, which can be an issue when googling this and that as you go. Worth the £15 ish a month as you tend to learn better methods from start to finish.
 
wave01 said:
If you are trying to learn set a a goal for yourself take one of your shots and set a target for it then look at the procedures on youtube and adobes help pages. It may only be cropping or removing something but every little helps and builds up your knowledge
Click to expand...

I agree. Whether learning Photoshop or playing the guitar, I find the best way to learn is to have to do 'something' - in Photoshop it would be achieving a type of look or correction/modification. Then look around for help on how to achieve it.
Some ideas just in case you need them - monochrome, re-framing, changing the overall colour balance, HDR, cloning out something in the picture or cloning in something in the picture, monochrome other than some item in the picture etc.
 
I found Digital Photo magazine to be quite useful in the beginning. They usually have headline grabbing photoshop tutorials on the front cover and whilst they might not be to everyone's cup of tea, they take you through the process step by step and cover most of the basic tools with a view to applying them to a photograph. I found having the mag open next to me while I worked through it was easier than alt-tabbing to YouTube & continually pausing. I've still got a folder full of cut out bits of the mag that I occasionally go back to to remember how to do something.
 
Apart from the catalogging benefits of LR and the advanced editing of PS eg layers,is the raw conversion plus minor tweaks etc basically the same in both except you have sliders in LR.who prefers which if at all?
 
I've set myself a target of getting to grips with dodge and burn first as I love black and white portraits and when I'm reading about certain photographers this keeps coming up. I'll let you know how I get on. Today it was all about the clone stamp and spot healing tools. I enjoyed them too. Brick by brick.
 
ashtennisguru said:
^^^ Have a look at KelbyOne and Matt Kloskowski on youtube, they have lots of tutorial vids on Photoshop
Click to expand...

I've recommended these two elsewhere. Look for The Photoshop Elements 15 Book for Digital Photographers (for '15' you can write any number, depending on the version you currently use) which they co-author. It's possibly easier than following a video on YouTube, as you don't have to toggle between screens all the time. The 400-page book is beautifully illustrated and the narrative is succinct, relaxed and friendly, not technical at all. You can go to anywhere in the book where the help you require is written, and take it from there .. just do as they say and the magic happens!

Photoshop is only as difficult as you care to make it .. I just use the parts I need, to produce the results I want and it works just fine for me. Good luck!
 
I just learnt is slowly by slowly ever since the first version came out.
when I needed to achieve something I just learnt how to do that specific thing from the official manual. (remember those)
In time things started to hang together.
Even now, and like a majority of Photographers, I only use a tiny fraction of Photoshops capabilities.
I still learn One thing at a time as needs arise.
I have no intention to be a "Photoshop" expert. My interest is photography. Photoshop is just a small part of that. as darkroom work once was.
 
Pinning down your black and white points is a good start?
 
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