What is a good way to learn photoshop?

[oli2140]

As photoshop tutorials go, you can get so much online without having to pay a penny/cent - just google for 'Photoshop Tutorials'

 

[puckhead193]

books are boring.. play with the program, try finding images and see if you can recreate it. If your looking for help doing something post here/google... So what if it take your 5 days where an expert an hour... your just learning the tools so that you'll understand what they do. If you browse the design forum ask them how do they do it. I'm sure a lot of people will start you off in the right direction.

 

[iSaygoodbye]

Did you pay for your Mac? Your internet/broadband connection?

.... well, no worries. I'm not going to get all moralistic on you, despite my personal views.

Think of it this way. How much do you value your time? I spent weeks trawling through *free* videos on youtube and the like to learn photoshop, but at the end of the day i wasted a lot of time. That time I could have spent making money.

When i signed up (for free) at www.designprovideo.com I decided I would try out the subscription service for a month (for free - yes, that's right. No fee if i cancel inside the month). The quality of training is so good I am now really confident in PS and able to use the videos I've watched as an online manual. The time I saved by purchasing the subscription (which I carry on because its my choice & I can learn new titles on Flash, Dreamweaver etc being released all the time) means I have time to spend doing other things. That, for me, is good value for money and cheaper than stumbling through PS on my own. There are so many tips I just would not have found out by myself.

My 0.02$

Deej

what mac? my old 60$ powermac? my parents paid for that haha

You will never find a resource to teach you everything. Photoshop is a tool for creative expression, the same as a paintbrush or a pencil is.

If you need to learn how to use Photoshop, you need to start with technique and the app's tools. Find a reference book that will exhaustively teach you the shortcuts, the tools, etc etc (the manual, as mentioned ^^). Then, find tutorials that accomplish a task or create a look or effect you want to use in your own artwork. Keep in mind that nothing can take the place of creativity, so combine tutorials or modify them as you go to create your own artwork.

There's really no point in learning it if you'll only be copying someone else; You really need to spend the time getting familiar with the nuts and bolts of the app. I didn't start getting good with Photoshop until using it became second-nature, the same way I pick up a pen and sketch.

m2c.

Try PSDTuts.com and Abduzeedo.com.



I decided to steal a car too. I didn't want to actually pay for a Bimmer just to find out I wouldn't like it..
You really should buy a license for the software.[/QUOTE


you stole a car? awesome!!!

 

[lostless]

What is a good way to learn photoshop? i keep getting told youtube videos, if you say youtube videos can you provide a specific one? cause there are hundreds of youtube tutorials and i dont know which one to start with. I need something that will teach me EVERYTHING. starting at the very beggining. i dont know how to do anything on photoshop. thanks!

Unfortunately there is no book that will teach you everything. Ive been using PS for 10 years and i still learn something i didn't know every now and then. PS is a slow learning process and books with tutorials are the best. Online tutorials are nice, but i find you should know the basics before you try them since most assume you know the basics. BTW you can take a community collage class in 7th grade. Take a night class. Taking photoshop in school 5 years after i started using really boosted my skill. Its amazing ho much stuff you can learn if you don't have someone showing you its there.

 

[iSaygoodbye]

Unfortunately there is no book that will teach you everything. Ive been using PS for 10 years and i still learn something i didn't know every now and then. PS is a slow learning process and books with tutorials are the best. Online tutorials are nice, but i find you should know the basics before you try them since most assume you know the basics. BTW you can take a community collage class in 7th grade. Take a night class. Taking photoshop in school 5 years after i started using really boosted my skill. Its amazing ho much stuff you can learn if you don't have someone showing you its there.

what kinda of car? and ill talk to my mom about the photosop class

 

[deej999]

I don't have a problem with this but from looking at Deej's recent posts I think it's pretty obvious he is affiliated to Designprovideo.com and macprovideo.com

Hi Oli2140,
Actually I'm not affiliated to them, just a very happy customer
I can't help being enthusiastic about their tutorials. They rock!

deej

 

[JFreak]

Best #1 step in learning anything would be to pay good money for it. If you think that you cannot justify spending that much money without a benefit, then you will not be accepting a failure in learning the stuff. And because failure is not an option, you will work harder. And because you work harder, you learn faster as well.

Soviets had also great way of teaching stuff. They thought that if you don't know it in the first place, then practice 10 times and check progress. If you still don't know how to do it, then practice 100 times more and check progress. Then 1000 times, and so on. Once you have practiced anything a million times, you might suck less in doing it. Long story short: "repeat until lesson learnt".

I prefer the former method, however. Learning is a mental challenge, mostly.

 

[Signal-11]

Best #1 step in learning anything would be to pay good money for it. If you think that you cannot justify spending that much money without a benefit, then you will not be accepting a failure in learning the stuff. And because failure is not an option, you will work harder. And because you work harder, you learn faster as well.

I disagree. Maybe for you. I find that paying money to learn something generally gives me a sense of entitlement and doesn't get me very far.

I gotta say, and this isn't directed at you, JFreak, I find it a little depressing that the response of some people to a 12 year old kid who's obviously interested in learning something is to quit pirating and wait until he's old enough to afford it. At least the guys who were telling him to pick up a cheap copy on eBay as an alternative to pirating were constructive and encouraging.

You other guys who just discouraged him, you're The Man. What's it feel like being a killer of youthful intellectual curiousity?

 

[iSaygoodbye]

I disagree. Maybe for you. I find that paying money to learn something generally gives me a sense of entitlement and doesn't get me very far.

I gotta say, and this isn't directed at you, JFreak, I find it a little depressing that the response of some people to a 12 year old kid who's obviously interested in learning something is to quit pirating and wait until he's old enough to afford it. At least the guys who were telling him to pick up a cheap copy on eBay as an alternative to pirating were constructive and encouraging.

You other guys who just discouraged him, you're The Man. What's it feel like being a killer of youthful intellectual curiousity?

thank you

 

[robo456]

torrent the tutorials, too??

 

[Melrose]

I disagree. Maybe for you. I find that paying money to learn something generally gives me a sense of entitlement and doesn't get me very far.

I gotta say, and this isn't directed at you, JFreak, I find it a little depressing that the response of some people to a 12 year old kid who's obviously interested in learning something is to quit pirating and wait until he's old enough to afford it. At least the guys who were telling him to pick up a cheap copy on eBay as an alternative to pirating were constructive and encouraging.

You do realize that the amount of piracy on a certain product does affect the price the rest of legitimately pay for it?

I appreciate wanting to learn something and be creative - that's a given. But my encouragement is to get a licensed copy as soon as possible. How old you are doesn't make it any more or less legal, but we're not debating legal issues here anyway..

 

[allan.nyholm]

A somewhat good and often fun tutorial page is this:
http://www.mydamnchannel.com/Big_Fa...toshop__Season_1/YouSuckatPhotoshop1_398.aspx

 

[deej999]

allan.nyholm that was very funny! Thanks for sharing

deej

 

[bartelby]

I find it a little depressing that the response of some people to a 12 year old kid who's obviously interested in learning

A 12 year old should not be a member of MR. The age limit is 13 IIRC...


I know it has no real bearing on what you said, but I just thought I'd point it out.

 

[ZaoPetra]

Revision3

There are a load of excellent Photoshop tutorials available.
Bert Munroy of Revision3 is my favorite followed by Layers and then all the rest.

Go to a University/Community College buy and education version of whatever you want and save a fortune while enjoying not being a thief.

Best

 

[Doctor Q]

It is MacRumors policy to close threads where help obtaining unlicensed commercial software is being requested or provided. Although this thread is about training materials for use in learning bootlegged commercial software and not about obtaining the software itself, we've decided to close the thread.