Question for photographers- how do I learn Photoshop?

Jtds2713 · 01-26-2008, 09:57 AM

I would love to learn Photoshop. Which book or video (or any teaching medium) can you recommend?

We have a lot of pictures taken by friends and family during our wedding at Sunset da Mona LIsa. But our wedding was delayed so it was almost sunset. Many pictures would have been great if not for the poor lighting, etc. I would love to be able to enhance them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Jessica

jayreilly · 01-26-2008, 10:07 AM

Hi Jessica

I am sure you can take a class at a local college. You might also find some online classes as well... or maybe a book, there are some great reference books that will allow you to just look up by need of the type of work you think the photo needs.

Digital Files(jpgs) have very little latitude in editing and it is always good to not work on the only copy you have!! So save a backup copy then work on them.

Good luck! (posted from Akumal, Mexico, some pics here: blog)

Jay

Morgan · 01-26-2008, 10:10 AM

I've posted some photoshop tutorials on this forum. Search -photoshop. None cover what you are trying to do though. There are however great tutorials all over the internet. That's how I learn most stuff. Once you get the basics down, it's much easier to figure things out. At first photoshop feels confusing. Just keep playing with it. Then it is so much fun to try to learn new things. The stuff you can do is really endless.

Morgan · 01-26-2008, 10:15 AM

Photoshop Tutorials - Photoshop Tutorials

Jtds2713 · 01-26-2008, 10:25 AM

thank you Jay and Morgan! I realize there are a lot of books on Photoshop out there. But I am hoping someone can recommend a good reference book so I don't waste my money in trying to find one? Many thanks!

Morgan · 01-26-2008, 10:35 AM

There is a photoshop for dummies. I've never read a dummies book I didn't like. You can also get something from a library to make sure it's good first.

Nic Dragomire · 01-26-2008, 11:24 AM

I would say a book by Scott Kelby would help you out. Scott is a renown photoshop guru.

But Like Jay said if they are jpgs they will have very limited exposure latitude.

hope that helps, ~ nic

Morgan · 02-04-2008, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nic D

I would say a book by Scott Kelby would help you out. Scott is a renown photoshop guru.

But Like Jay said if they are jpgs they will have very limited exposure latitude.

hope that helps, ~ nic

What do you mean by "very limited exposure latitude"? Is there a different file type to work with?

Morgan · 02-04-2008, 11:00 AM

Which is better?

The Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) by Scott Kelby

Or Scott Kelby's 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3 (Voices)

I've been using elements for a while, but I'm upgrading to CS3 soon. I can get a great deal on it through my university. I'd like to get a good reference to get me started photoshopping like a pro (or atleast like a good amature).

Be Photography LLC · 02-05-2008, 12:20 PM

Nic was reffering to using raw files instead of jpgs - this is an ongoing arugment in the photography world - Raws are huge - take longer to work with, but allow much more after-the-fact corrections to take place -

personally, I shoot in jpg's and count on making the exposure correctly when I take the image - not in fixing it later. - but photogs that shoot raw can argue their side and make valid points as well. -- do shoot in raw when I know the image will be blown up to billboard size or above however.

As for photoshop - I'd probably suggest taking a class at a local college as the best place to start. -- Of course, I assume you will want to become profecient with it - and there are alot of mistakes "basic" books can teach beginers that dont apply well to when a photo is actually printed.

I was lucky enough to learn from another pro.... but everyone has their own take on how to use it properly, and the best techniques!