Adobe Photoshop

[(RIP) Jamie]

Good innit?

Anybody recommend any books as to how use the bleeding thing properly.

I just thought I'd be pagemaker with a few more buttons!!!!

cheers

Jamie

 

[richie]

Hi Jamie,

I teach people how to use PC programs including Photoshop. And IMHO the best books on the market (and I've read a few) are the peachpit press books. They have a website and have books called the quick start guides.

You can get them in the UK at PCWORLD. They are not the cheapest or the most expensive but in my opinion they are the best.

Cheers

Richie

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

i agree with the above - i've been using it professionally since version 3 - and i still don't know every single function!!

photoshop is potentially a vast package - particularly if get involved in outputting work for print as well as on-screen.

i recommend learning on a 'need to know' basis. ie. if you are outputting mostly for web - touching up digital photo's for your website for instance - then just learn specifically how to perform those functions first. if you try to learn the whole package step-by-step, you'll a) have to learn much you'll never need, and b) never get there!!

good luck!

pr0ne

 

[MasterDabber]

Jamie

I can really recommend the magazine DIGITAL PHOTO (not Digital Photographer). This gives loads of tutorials plus a cover CD with additional tutorials. These show you how to actually edit photos using different techniques. You get to see the Photoshop screen and have a "talkover" explaining how to do it.
The magazine is monthly, and is £4.99.
I was in the same position as you... I had Photoshop 7 but really never knew where to start. I've found DIGITAL PHOTO really good.
btw, I have no connection with them.
Its prime focus is Photoshop... v7 and Elements but there is also the occasional tutorial on Painshop Pro.
Hope this helps... Derek

 

[emjay]

i agree with the above - i've been using it professionally since version 3 - and i still don't know every single function!!

Made me think, so I just had another look at Photoshop 1.07(still got it on my Mac) no layers or paths and it's never heard of JPGs. Simplicity.

Regarding books I have always liked the "Real World Photoshop" books by David Blatner & Bruce Fraser published by Peachpit. What attracted me most was the boast on the cover "No gratuitous special effects included!" & "Pinch, Ripple and Spherize filters not covered!". But as I only use it for pre-press work on photographs suits me.

 

[Andy80F]

What attracted me most was the boast on the cover "No gratuitous special effects included!" & "Pinch, Ripple and Spherize filters not covered!"

An opposite view of what photoshop can do when its facilities are utilised can be seen in Steve Caplins book How to cheat at Photoshop. As a showcase it is excellent and no other book has done more to teach me about masking, layers etc.

Regards
Andy80F

 

[boundless]

99%

...of the published literature on "Photoshop Craft" is constipated twaddle. 30 pages on gee-wiz I'm an author, 300 pages on layers, 3000 more on filters and you still won't understand the simplest part of how the graphics crunching process works with regards to channels let alone where the beauty of the maths lies in curves adjustment.

Rip your preconceptions to bits, it's only a program. The best way to see how it works is to look inside the engine. For that all you need a wee bit of inspiration to explore, not a bloody manual.

Suggest that you'll get more than enough of that here.

Delia it ain't, but it'll sure make you hungry for experience..

After that it's just a decent mileage that you'll need.

Don't even think of spending a penny more on books until you at least are up to the "How quaint? A mouse!" level:-

 

[Sergeant Pluck]

Made me think, so I just had another look at Photoshop 1.07(still got it on my Mac) no layers or paths and it's never heard of JPGs. Simplicity

wow! you got a copy of 1.07?! i wouldn't mind having a look at that.... ;-)

pr0ne