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Where to start to learn Photoshop?


Alicia64
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Youtube has a ton of tutorials if you know what you're looking for. Of course, you could just search Photoshop tutorials and see what comes up. I learned PSE (not the same as PS) by way of digital scrapbooking tutorials and then photo editing tutorials.

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If you don't want to buy an expensive program, you can, legally, download, install and use "The GIMP". It is a  free open source program. I believe they are comparable in features. I believe both of them have a long learning curve, if one wants to truly learn how to use their power.

 

Regarding how to learn a complex application: Sunday morning, I downloaded and installed Microsoft Expression Web 4, which is now free.  I want to move from  Microsoft FrontPage 2000, which is very long in the tooth, and Expression Web 4 is not a replacement, it is totally different.  I searched on Amazon for books about Expression Web 4 and read a lot of reviews.  None of them had an abundance of positive reviews.   I downloaded a free .PDF Tutorial and have a number of pages open in my web browser. I will begin with free.  If you can find a book with the vast majority of reviews from Verified Purchasers on Amazon being Positive, go for it.

 

ETA: Be sure the book is for the version of the program that you have

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Adobe has changed its sales model and you can get all their apps for about $11 an month. The app set is super rich and you might find that you will get better results by using one app over another.

 

Eg photographers use photoshop because it was all there was and it is powerful. But Lightroom is designed for photography and is much better as the frontline app. But sometimes you go into photoshop for specific effects. And there are skill ions of options to use in the other apps--things that let you do things like animate the flames of candles in an otherwise still wedding shot.

 

I have gotten started with these programs by doing online learning. But I have to say that I finally shelled out $300 to take a 10 hour class on Lightroom and it rocked my photography. It's not that I hadn't figured out most things--it's that there were MUCH more efficient ways of doing them. Saving countless hours. And there were s lot of options I had never considered. Well worth the money.

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Creative live has ongoing good training for photoshop. They are streamed live for free or you can buy them if they're not on at the moment,they get repeated a fair bit too. I am a creative cloud member and I really like it but not everyone does. I love lightroom too and use that far more now than actual photoshop so it depends what you want to use the programs for. 

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I second Creative Live. The Lightroom class I took was taught locally by John Greengo. I've tajen 4 creative live classes online frm him. Excellent teacher.

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I second Creative Live. The Lightroom class I took was taught locally by John Greengo. I've tajen 4 creative live classes online frm him. Excellent teacher.

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I pay the monthly fee for PhotoShop and Lightroom, $10 a month. I also have a purchased copy of Photoshop Elements. I still have so much to learn about the full Photoshop. Adobe has some great videos on their website i I walked through.

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For anyone with a fairly modern Mac (running OSX 10.9.5 or later) there is a very strong Photoshop alternative called Pixelmator that keeps getting better and better. It costs $14.95 (to buy outright, not rent for a month) and they have been great about free upgrades.

 

Photoshop is a great program, but as someone who has paid for Photoshop 3, 5, 7, CS1, CS3, and CS6, I'm feeling very burned by Abode's "subscription" pricing and lousy customer service. I've used Photoshop more than 20 years. Like it. Hate what Adobe has become. 

 

I keep a computer that will run "legacy" Photoshop going forward, but I must say Pixelmator is pretty darn good. Some things are even faster on this program. Nothing beats the full feature set of Photoshop for power users, but....

 

Pixelmator also has an iPad version.

 

ETA: I tried GIMP for Mac in the aftermath of the Adobe change to CC and found it frustrating beyond words. It was "free," but not worth the investment in time.

 

Bill

 

 

 

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Me, I purchased Lightroom outright. It's enough for me. I like what the Creative Cloud products let you do but I'm finding it much too hard to learn new computer stuff so I decided to get the one product that truly does 99% of what I want to do. I can always hire out the 1%.

 

My younger friends are totally loving the Cloud subscription though. Their plastic brains and creativity come up with amazing stuff.

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I'd like to learn Photoshop -- and my 11 year old boys would LOVE to learn it. But I don't even know where to point them.

 

Is there a good book or an even better online tutorial?

 

Any suggestions would be great!

 

Alley

 

I haven't viewed the Photoshop tutorials on this site http://www.gcflearnfree.org/photosandgraphics/photoshopbasicsbut I have found lots of other useful information there.

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Clueless here.

 

I own an unopened copy of PSE that I got two years ago (it is on my list of things to do--hush!!). Can I still install it?

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I read the following ebook yesterday and found it very good: 'Fast Track to Photoshop.' http://www.brucepercy.co.uk/store/fast-track-to-photoshop

 

I've been using photoshop for years, but I also relate to what Patty Joanna said, in that there are much more efficient ways to do things. This book was very simply laid out and provides a simple step by step tutorial to follow, explaining the features as it goes. Bruce provides one of his photographs for you to use and he takes you through the whole editing process. It took me a while to purchase it though as it costs £10.

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If your library offers free access to Ed2Go classes, they have a decent introductory Photoshop class (CS6 I believe). I wouldn't may for it as opposed to the free resources out there though. 

 

As someone who began using Photoshop over 25 years ago and has purchased more versions than I want to think about, I totally agree with all that Bill said, although I haven't tried Pixelmator.

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If your library offers free access to Ed2Go classes, they have a decent introductory Photoshop class (CS6 I believe). I wouldn't may for it as opposed to the free resources out there though. 

 

As someone who began using Photoshop over 25 years ago and has purchased more versions than I want to think about, I totally agree with all that Bill said, although I haven't tried Pixelmator.

 

By coincidence, I started playing with a new photo editing program today called Affinity Photo. It is made by Serif in the UK, the developers of the well regarded vector-based editor (Illustrator competitor) called Affinity Designer.

 

Affinity Photo is really impressive so far. It is currently in "beta" and available to download for trial free, with an expected release price of around $50. Affinity Photo is aimed at "professionals." It might seem daunting to folks who just want a simple image editor (Pixelmator is friendlier), but for those who are used to high-end image editing software, Affinity Photo may just be the thing.

 

One plus is the code is fully modern (unlike the underlying code in Photoshop). Fast!

 

Mac only. Very (very) promising!

 

Bill 

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Lost a little sleep playing with the Affinity Photo (Beta) last night, but what an impressive first release.

 

Extremely high-end features. CMYK, 16 bit, and RAW support. Tools are very Photoshop-like. Some getting used to interface differences, but much less than expected if one is used to PS (especially given the complexity).

 

Super stoked about this product as a professional level competitor to Photoshop. 

 

Bill

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I'd like to learn Photoshop -- and my 11 year old boys would LOVE to learn it. But I don't even know where to point them.

 

Is there a good book or an even better online tutorial?

 

Any suggestions would be great!

 

Alley

 

I didn't read the other replies, but I really love Lynda.com for Photoshop tutorials and training. You watch videos and can work right along with them. It does cost $, but it's been really worth it for me. I also used it with my teens.

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CreativeLive (I think mostly Ben Willmore's classes, but I didn't google to verify) and Phlearn (on Youtube) have been the best resources for me to learn CS 6.  You can sign up for a course at a community college and get the student version of the software, but it's still a couple hundred dollars.

 

If you just want to make your pictures look more professional and don't need Photoshop for graphic design Lightroom is easier.

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  • 6 months later...

Just revisiting an old thread to say how great Affinity Photo has been for me. If one has a Mac and wants professional level image editing software that rivals Photoshop (and understands professional tool have a complexity and learn curve to them) then for about $50 this is a powerful tool.

 

I love Affinity Photo!

 

Poor Pixelmator (which is a nice "amateur level" program) has not been opened in mpnths. Nor has my legacy version of Photoshop CS6.

 

Nice when something is cheap and excellent.

 

Bill

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