Help using PS please.

[niccas9]

Okay, I recently got cs5 and am wondering how to manage the steep learning curve and actually do some editing. I have some senior pictures that I took for a friend that I did for free and I would like do some editing to enhance them. I am hoping I can get some direction on where to begin because being an newb I can tell the difference between something that needs a little bit of pp or has been way over done, but I can't pinpoint what exactly needs to be done or has been overdone. I am sure more than one of you have gone through the same scenario. I just spend about two hours looking through my CS5 tutorial and messing around with a few shots but I really wasn't getting anywhere so I decided to ask here. Thanks.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Kinda tough. How you plan on using PS depends entirely on the image you are working on. You haven't exactly asked a question, so, I guess I should suggest you get any of the many books that explain how to use every aspect of the software. Once you know what tools are available to you, and what they do, you will see for yourself how and when you should use them.

I mean...two inch thick books are written about Photoshop. What do you want to know that can be surmised in a short post?

 

[shmne]

Go take a class at a community college, nothing teaches you photoshop like hands on experience with a professional. I couldn't imagine being as good as I am with the program, without having had everything shown to me by a person.

 

[AUG19]

Practise getting exposure and composition as good as possible in-camera. Learn about the cameras histogram display and how this helps you get the optimum exposure. Then look at the Levels and Curves tools, how to dodge and burn, how to do a decent job of sharpening, how to sharpen for web and for print. I think that's the core skills. Google those fundamentals by searching using queries within speech marks "understanding levels and curves", "best sharpening method for images" etc. There's great info and tutes all over the web.

Okay, I recently got cs5 and am wondering how to manage the steep learning curve and actually do some editing. I have some senior pictures that I took for a friend that I did for free and I would like do some editing to enhance them. I am hoping I can get some direction on where to begin because being an newb I can tell the difference between something that needs a little bit of pp or has been way over done, but I can't pinpoint what exactly needs to be done or has been overdone. I am sure more than one of you have gone through the same scenario. I just spend about two hours looking through my CS5 tutorial and messing around with a few shots but I really wasn't getting anywhere so I decided to ask here. Thanks.

 

[KmH]

To get the most out of CS5 you will have to embark on a journey of learning, and I highly recommend you build a reference library. CS5 is quite complex and takes more than reading a few forum posts to really learn how to use the application.

CS5 is professional grade software after all.


CS5 comes with 2 editing applications:

1. Photoshop
2. Camera Raw (Adobe Camera Raw - ACR 6)

Start with the image in Camera Raw. Camera Raw opens with the Basic panel open. The sliders in the Basic panel are arranged in the order they should be used, if they need to be used. to learn how all the editing tools/features/functions in ACR work, get the book: Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5

For both ACR and Photoshop I highly recommend Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

For a collection of practical CS5 Photoshop tutorials get the book

The Adobe Photoshop CS5 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

For more specific portrait editing tutorials get Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers Using Photoshop (Voices That Matter)

If you want a comprehensive description of every tool/function/feature in Photoshop get Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

 

[niccas9]

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to pick up some reference books as mentioned. I am off from June til early Aug so I will see if I can find a local class or something to help me with the basics. Thanks guys.

Nic

 

[JimCoventry]

CS5 is really no different than any of the other Creative Suites from the past. It just has more "bells and whistles" and does things only a bit different than - say CS4.

Bottom line, whether you have CS5, 4, 3, 2, or CS figure out what you want to do to an image and if you can't figure out how to handle it ask on the forum.

There are many actions for instance that will do for you what you will take a long time to figure out with out them. Learn how to use layer adjustments, so you can make edits to your edits without hurting the original. Go to the Adobe tutorials given by Scott Kelby and learn from there. Really, you first need to know what you want to do to the image as an artist. Learning which tool to use, can be taught but knowing what you want is the art and can not be learned.

 

[KmH]

Thanks for the feedback. I am going to pick up some reference books as mentioned. I am off from June til early Aug so I will see if I can find a local class or something to help me with the basics. Thanks guys.

Nic

Photoshop is mainly used by graphic artists. Community College Photoshop classes are usually geared to the graphic artist rather than to photographers and the classes often use the following as their text book:

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Learning which tool to use, can be taught but knowing what you want is the art and can not be learned.

This! :thumbup:

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Oh, Look! The spammer is back!

Edit: and now it's threatening me via PM. :smileys:

 

[JimCoventry]

Nic[/QUOTE]Photoshop is mainly used by graphic artists. Community College Photoshop classes are usually geared to the graphic artist rather than to photographers and the classes often use the following as their text book:

Adobe Photoshop CS5 Classroom in a Book[/QUOTE]

I've been a professional photographer and a creative director/art director for around 40 years. Photoshop is MAINLY used by photographers. Good photographers will know more than most graphic artists about how to use Photoshop. Illustrator is used more by graphic artists because it is geared for them. AS with Illustrators typography and ability to produce predictable pantone color and VECTOR art. When amateur artists try to use Photoshop for typography they find, for instance, the fonts are not sharp and neither are the lines they create in color. For photographs and painting and backgrounds and even some animation, Photoshop is just fine.

 

[shmne]

Thank you Jim I couldn't have said it better myself. The things a community college will teach you tend to be exactly what you will need to learn regardless if you are working on a photo or a graphic anyway, what you are working on is less important than how you are working on it.

If you manage to find a local class, make sure you talk to that professor because they will know much more than they will probably be teaching in that class.