How did you learn Photoshop?

[JonathanNYC]

So i see lots of photogs on this site, how did you learn Photoshop? Don't tell me its self taught, b/c i've had it for years ever since it was Photoshop 4.0 so i've used it for some time. what i really want to know is how did you learn to use it properly? I can edit a picture and piece together something, but mastering it? you either read a book, someone showed you (class) or there must be some secret! teach me wise ones! how did you learn CS5?!

 

[brush]

well, I got the basics back in 2000 in design school, learned on Photoshop 3.0 if I remember correctly but that was a lifetime ago. I'm a designer for a living so 8+ hours a day every day gets you pretty familiar with the new features each time a new version comes out. But even doing it for a living, there's always something new to learn from video tutorials on lynda.com and youtube. Any time you want to know how to do something, go to youtube and search for it. There are squeaky voice 12 year old kids who know EVERYTHING and are more than happy to brag about knowing it.

If you want to be entertained while learning some pretty cool features you've probably never used before, search for "you suck at photoshop", they're hilarious tutorials.

 

[The_Traveler]

I can place the key to my getting better at PS to one book - and that was Masking and Compositing by Katrin Eismann. It introduced me to selection in a big way and, without the ability to select, PS is only LR.
As I read that book, I began to look more critically on what I needed/wanted to change within my pictures and that drove me to learn specific techniques in various ways.

Learning techniques is totally useless and meaningless until you can see what can be done to improve your pictures both globally and on specific selections. If you don't have a vision for your pictures, then you end up beating the crap out of your images with techniques in a hope to make them somehow important.

 

[KmH]

I learned what I know about how to use Photoshop by reading many, many books, visiting many, many web sites, and watching/reading many, many tutorials.

I maintain a Photoshop reference library, and have been a member of NAPP - the National Association of Photoshop Professionals for many years, so I always have access to the NAPP member only web site and it's wide range of Photoshop experts and varied resource. Learn Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Digital Photography | NAPP

For CS5 I use these references - Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5

Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

 

[Rgollar]

Im learning from lynda.com. I highly recommend it.

 

[Buckster]

I learned from Lynda.com instructor/guru and best-selling Photoshop Bible author Deke McClelland several years ago by taking all his courses in order from beginner to master, then his side courses on masking, sharpening, Lab Color, and others.

Since then, I just spin through each of his new video series' as they come out to get up to speed on all the latest stuff in the latest version of Photoshop.

I prefer the logical curriculum presented in that fashion that lets me start with the basics, build on them to the intermediate stage, then build again on that to the mastery level, rather than a YouTube shotgun approach.

 

[Dominantly]

Self taught.

The first thing you need is a vision for the image you are editing. After that you work at it through trial and error, take the long way around quite a few times, and even search and follow tutorials on you tube.

I still don't know everything, but I'm fairly handy with it.

 

[DorkSterr]

My work and a lot from Lynda.com.

 

[bhop]

I'm a graphic designer, been using Photoshop since 1995. It's a mix of self taught and learned from coworkers over the years. When you use it every day for all that time, you learn a thing or two.

 

[bunny99123]

Learned from books, self-taught, net and YouTube. Lots of practice. I also, keep a binder with printed out instructions I view on the net.

 

[imagemaker46]

I started using it in 1992, self taught for the most part, picked up tips from other photographers, bought a few books, did a one day workshop(that really didn't teach me anything I didn't already know) I used it everyday, even if it was just playing around, learned from mistakes. I still use it eveyday.

Because of the job I was doing I had to learn it quickly, or get left behind by other photographers. I learned more than I needed to know to do my job, but am not close to mastering it.

I'm not sure why you would rule out being self taught as how to learn photoshop. It's like anything else, perhaps you are just a slow learner.

 

[KenC]

You can't learn it all at once. You might learn how to use a tool or technique as a theoretical matter, but it won't really make sense until you have need for it in an image. I read a book about it every few years and talk to people who are using it, and between the two I get ideas for how to use something in it to do what I want.

 

[bunny99123]

I have been using it for about 3 years. Still enormous amount to learn. I use it almost everyday, also Illustrator to design collages, cards and graphics.

 

[Dominantly]

The topic is very subjective as one may think/claim they know how to use the software, when in fact they know very little.

Check out some of Scott Kelby's stuff. His books are pretty helpful.