Anybody here teach themselves photoshop?

[sharifeh]

Is photoshop hard to use? Has anyone here taught themselves?

[anala]

I am still teaching myself after 5 years. It requires technical skills, but even more, the really cool stuff requires artistic skills. I have just scratched the surface of the program. Enough to remove a wrinkle now and then.

[*Shira*]

I taught myself. It wasn't easy, because Photoshop is a very powerful program, and it can be very intimidating when you're new to using it.

The most helpful thing I found was the built-in tutorials that come with the product. They come bundled with sample graphic files and step-by-step instructions on modifications to make to those samples to achieve various effects. The step-by-step instructions are reasonably clear and easy to follow, and using them really helps you grasp how to achieve certain effects.

There are also books such as Photoshop for Dummies that are better tutorials than the manuals that come with the product.

And of course, there are lots of web sites with Photoshop tips.

[BELLA_BELLA]

Same here, although I only use it for photography. Definitely a big learning curve, although Photoshop Elements was a good start. For me, the most useful things have been an accumulation of tips online and books with good step x step instructions and screen shots that go along with what I'm trying to do.

[ouroboros]

I've been using it pretty much since it first came out. All self-taught, although it was my job (still is in part). As Shira says it's a powerful program and takes a while to get to know your way around it, but it is more than worth the time to learn!

[Safiyah]

I've been learning for about 5-6 years now...just a little here, a little there. I rely heavily on trial & error and online tutorials :) I love Photoshop

[Ariadne_Eleni]

There are also forums for people trying to learn how to use it complete with tutorials and advice sections.

[AngelicaDances]

Im an Interior Designer and I have to use PS for floor plans, elevations and perspectives. I had a friend explain what the most important commands were and experimented with the program like crazy.

[andalee-oriental]

I taught myself, mostly, along with some help from people here and there. It takes a lot of time to learn. Online tutorials have been my best learning tool.

[Lauren_]

I taught myself. Started with the tutorials that came with the program, used online tutorials and books and had some sit-down time with pros at various printers I worked with.

It took several hours a day for a couple of years to become really proficient (enough that I worked as a graphic artist, though photoshop was only one of my major tools) Even with that, 10 years later I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

Getting good enough to do simple photo color corrections won't take that long -- but there are much less expensive and less daunting programs available if that's all a person wants to do, IMO.

[Devora]

There's a magazine called "Photoshop Creative" that's beautifully and colorfully laid-out, always features samples of cool Photoshop effects and comes with a cd of tutorials to teach you the effects featured in the hard copy. It's beyond basic, but it gives you step-by-step instructions and helps you become familiar with the "tools." It's a UK publication but my local Barnes and Noble in California USA often has it on the shelf for about $16 USD.

Photoshop Creative . Dedicated to Adobe® Photoshop®

-Devora

[auraevans]

Adobe Classroom in a Book is excellent to learn Photoshop if you are a beginner.

[sharifeh]

thanks ladies! I just got my hands on the app photoshop cs3 it is very hard to use!!!!!
I may order photoshop for dummies or something sheessh!!

It's encouraging that it is possible to teach yourself, I was thinking of paying for a class...

[mekyria]

hi Sharif, don't be intimidated by the many options of photoshop! Take a picture and start playing around with it. I started using photoshop 6-7 years ago and I'm now using CS 3.0. What worked for me is having a clear idea what I wanted to learn then go out and read magazines/online tutorials/ask pro users about how to get to the end result. There's so much to learn, if you start without knowing what you want to achieve it might be disheartening.

[Desideria]

I just started a year ago. I am learning things little by little.

[sacrosanct]

Photoshop is quite difficult to learn. But there are many online tutorials.

[Khalida]

I've been learning for about 5-6 years now...just a little here, a little there. I rely heavily on trial & error and online tutorials :) I love Photoshop

Same here!

[mmouse1534]

Yep I taught myself as well. Adobe has gerat online shareware and added features you can use. I also bought a couple of books in addition to the tutorials it comes with!

[khadiya]

Yes. I taught myself. I love it! I have had some structured tuition later but mostly was thrown in at the deep end. I originally learned to use if for forensics and then for publishing, which gives you the clue to just how diverse a program it is.

The best thing is to just mess lots of stuff up and learn that way. Two important 'Don't Panic' photoshop tips are that:

1) Its pretty easy to undo or rectify mistakes

2) There are almost infinite ways to acheive the same result with photoshop. None of these is 'official' or 'right'. Everyone tends to do stuff differently.

One observation - the major weakness of the program is its text editing. This is better in other Adobe programs like Indesign, though that still wont allow simple vertical text!

[NazirahDances]

I am self taught as well. I have access to it because I work for an ad agency, and learning how to do minor things myself has saved me loads of time and frustration. LOL I bought a couple of the more popular "how too" books about it off amazon, and the rest of the time use online tutorials or even just type "How do I _____ in photoshop" in google and the answer usually comes right up.

[ANA_bellydancer]

I use Corel. I also taught myself and I loved to do it. I'm still learning every time I use it...

[BELLA_BELLA]

If you're using it to edit photographs, you might find Takegreatpictures.com helpful. They have a lot of 'photoshop tips/how tos' that are v. useful.

[sacrosanct]

Yep I taught myself as well. Adobe has gerat online shareware and added features you can use. I also bought a couple of books in addition to the tutorials it comes with!

which books?

[roguepen]

The Missing Manual books are great. The Lynda books aren't bad, either. They are learning manuals so they focus a lot on step-by-step lessons. I would recommend them for the basics if you have never used PS before.

For more complicated tasks, there are tons of tutorials online. Photoshop Tutorials - Adobe Photoshop Tutorials is a good site. (I found out how to make sparkly star trails there.)

There are also some good podcasts with lessons. I learned some retouching tips from various photography podcasts.

I have been working with Photoshop for nearly 15 years and I don't know all of it. I absolutely adore the program and all the evil things I can do with it.