Want to get into Photoshop.

Rednut05 · 3 Mar 2006 at 02:24

Okay, basicly I have seen what people can do in photoshop and other graphics program's and I am impressed. I think it would be a useful skill to learn even if its just the basics and therefore I would be interested to learning Photoshop.

Basicly where's a good place to start!?
I get the very basics of the program and currently use it for resizing, simple editing and basicly simple things that paint lacks!

So yeah good places to start. I have looked through the 'Tutorials and Useful Freeware Programs Sticky' but there is too much there for someone who doesn't no what they are looking for.

So should one start from buying a book and learning. I learnt AutoCAD from a step by step book. Learnt techniques and exercises and then you got shown something you had to recreate without help.

I was wondering if its possible if you could somehow learn photoshop like this. Like you would if you were doing an A level in it.

Looking to teach myself with aids and ideas of easy ways to put techniques into use so I learn it well.

So how did you lot learn/ start. Many people must teach themselves.

And also, does the use of a drawing tablet make photoshop editing much easier?

Tips and Tricks...

David

D4VE · 3 Mar 2006 at 09:17

I taught myself, I dont have any books.

I just play around with it really.

NumptyUK · 3 Mar 2006 at 09:18

Well i went on an Evening course for it, theres just so much you can do with the program i think i would have missed half of it had i just sat at home fiddling and pressing buttons.

I also got a copy of this book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos...8-9/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i9_xgl/203-7468439-2962319

Its not cheap but its very very useful and covers just about everything you might want to do to a photograph.

sunlitsix · 3 Mar 2006 at 17:36

i just messed around with it and picked up different tricks and that off the forum

Gaverick · 4 Mar 2006 at 13:32

http://www.good-tutorials.com/

|Show| · 4 Mar 2006 at 14:27

dont bother with tutorials straight away....and don't use filters.

i started about 4/5 years ago...just playing around with images and the tools.

just remember to use a new layer for every new thing you do and you can't go wrong

also, you might want to check out www.photoshoptv.com and watch their weekly pod cast (get a subscription to it through itunes) which is full of tips and tutorials and stuff for PS CS2

Mr_L · 4 Mar 2006 at 14:47

Photoshop Resource Centre

Some free Photoshop Mov files

Big list of Photoshop tutorials Not working for me at the minute.

Boz · 4 Mar 2006 at 17:59

i taught myself as well, mainly from looking at other peoples' work and grabbing useful tricks from the odd tutorial. most of it comes from just being creative and having a good eye for design. you might know a program inside out but if your imagination is lacking, then you're very unlikely to produce anything decent.

and as show said, dont resort to using filters all the time. by all means try and work them into your images - for example, i often use the odd bit of blur, clouds etc but they are never the focal point, they are merely a small part of the overall image. there are far too many self confessed 'photoshop experts' who use filters and nothing else.

as for the tablet - dont waste your money. small tablets are more hassle than they are worth for everyday photo editing/making graphics for websites. they only come into their own when you want to 'paint' something. a mouse is much better for 95% of the tasks that you are going to use photoshop for. this is from personal experience as i went ahead a bought an a6 wacom intuos tablet off ebay a few years ago and found that it wasnt that useful to me. i wouldnt mind give a bigger tablet a go but i dont really have the finances for it

Buzza · 4 Mar 2006 at 18:34

If your into painting, heres what i use http://www.uniquephoto.com/index.ph...true&up14sid=d517041e760460967778786f424fd579. Its a superb piece of kit, if a tad over priced, if your not painting though, a mouse is all you need.

Heres a few samples of what ive done with the Cintiq so far http://web.ukonline.co.uk/andrewbee2005/otherimages.html like the other chaps in this thread i learned from playing around rather than doing tutorials, using a mouse and an A6 Wacom tablet.

Heres work done by a lot of other people of varying abilities and using different packages.

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=133
http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.php?f=31

People often post tutorials there too.

Rednut05 · 4 Mar 2006 at 19:09

I've only ever really seen PS as a image editing software package but I guess i've never really given it much thought. I never knew people painted from scratch on it. But I can see how it would be easy.

EagleOC · 5 Mar 2006 at 02:54

Gaverick said:
http://www.good-tutorials.com/

Heh, I could tell you an ironic story about that site...

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