Photoshop for Dummies

[rsvmilly]

What is the best way to learn how to use Photoshop (I have 7)?

I was playing about trying to change the colour of my car in pictures but it was hard work - for rubbish results.

Any recommended reading? (The book in the title is supposed to be crud BTW)

[GetCarter]

There are some good books on www.amazon.com - If you get one with a CD of examples it makes life a lot easier. I tend to busk it until I get stuck then pull down the help menu.

Steve

[beano500]

Dummies book, is OK to get some first ideas....


...maybe "OK" is a bit strong, but it's not bad and has the usual "Dummies" take so it's easy going.

Martin Evening's books are good, although I don't feel there's enough detail and "plain english" explanations if you really haven't got a clue!

I've heard that Scott Kelby's books are good - so I recently ordered and just received a s/h copy of "Down and Dirty Tricks". It looks (to me) a bit too "gimmicky" - but we'll give it a chance.

Some magazine articles (Photography Monthly et al) are good, because they're written for lowest common denominator. If they're above everybodies' heads it won't sell the mag!

Also, on line (and someone will come along with a load of links - OR - you could search....) Luminous Landscape, Adobe, Good-Tutorials etc all offer something for free.


Oh and a few things have been explained quite well in the hallowed PH P&V.........


.....but that'll cost you!

[V6GTO]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=109&t=180177

[te51cle]

I originally learnt by working my way through magazine articles but it required quite a bit of dedication. I suspect that going to a 10-week evening class would have been better - and a lot more social !

[Ex-biker]

te51cle said:

I originally learnt by working my way through magazine articles but it required quite a bit of dedication. I suspect that going to a 10-week evening class would have been better - and a lot more social !

I did a 10 week course.

Only a beginners course, but it gives good insight and if you are trying to do something specific, there is always an instructor to ask.

I suppose it's like the difference between reading the manual for your camera and actually finding out why you use the different functions.

A book however provides reference at a later date.

[Bacardi]

For beginners, I would recommend Adobe's own 'Classroom in a Book'. I can't comment directly on the PS version but I did do the After Effects one and found it excellent. Each lesson building on techniques learned in previous lessons from basic stuff up to intermediate.

For anyone who's serious about gaining more advanced knowledge of PS I'd recommend these books:

As mentioned on the other thread, Martin Evening's 'Adobe Photoshop for Photographers' is excellent for intermediate and advanced users.

The Wow! series of books (Painter & Illustrator are good too). Some good tips for beginners right up to more complicated techniques.

HTH. Cheers

[Bee_Jay]

Don't forget the excellent stuff by the guru - Scott Kelby.

[beano500]

Bacardi said:

The Wow! series ...

Are these aimed at the photographer? Or more generally for graphic design?


(I've dipped into the Scott Kelby book that arrived on my doormat earlier in the week. It's obvious that I'm going to learn a lot from it, and it's not photo-biased, but in another reference I might look to get something more along Evening's lines......)

[V6GTO]

..............SCOTT KELBY




..................US

[Bacardi]

beano500 said:

Bacardi said: The Wow! series ... Are these aimed at the photographer? Or more generally for graphic design?

I think they're aimed at Photoshop users . To be fair, i would say that they are aimed at graphic designers as well as photographers. They do contain techniques for creating things like special type effects as well as image manipulation affects. The line between graphic designers and photographers using PS is a blurry one (Gaussian, radius 20, most probably, sorry) A purist photographer wouldn't use PS at all, except to process his file and print it. Most people are happy to clean up and 'improve' their pictures without distorting the 'truth' However, if you do want to get into telling big porky's with heavy duty compositing, creating 'art' etc. Wow! is a useful resource.

Scott Kelby is not a name I'm familiar with but I'm sure he's fine as are many other books about the subject.

For a reference which describes the function of every slider in every filter and every tool option (ad nauseam) you could try Deke McClelland's Photoshop Bible

For restoration; Katrin Eismann's Photoshop Restoration and Retouching

For high end professinal production techniques David Blatner's Real World Adobe PhotoShop

[andybuk99]

photoshop for photographers by martin evening

[V6GTO]

andybuk99 said:

photoshop for photographers by martin evening

...assuming you allready know your way around PS.

Martin.