Adobe Photoshop CS

It's really not an easy one to master.. we've got a few people in my office who are pretty proficient at it (myself included) but we've each got a different way of doing the same thing. If you're coming from a Mac background I really can't give you any help; the thinking process needed is all mid-90's PC.

I started with Photoshop 4 and have been working my way up every since. CS 8 is a big leap ahead and 9 gets even more packed with confusing features you probably won't ever need. I'd see if you can download an earlier version somewhere and cut your teeth on the basics first.. 6 is an excellent place to start.

 

what kind of stuff are you trying to do?

there are thousands of useful tutorials out there.
http://photoshopjunkie.com/ is a decent one for car tutorials.

just type in what subject you're looking for and photoshop tutorials in a search engine like google.

i'm a computer animation major in my senior year.

 

I once sat down and read through an entire reference book on Photoshop so I know the program pretty well.

Here are a few tips...

1) ABOVE ALL - Photoshop uses layers. Think of a layer as a piece of clear acetate to start. You can put whatever you want on it... it can be a color, text, an image, etc. If you put red on the bottom and text on a layer above the text will be on a red background because the red shows through. Layers are good tools to organize things, you can keep parts of an image on a layer or have a few layers that create an effect.

2) You can change how layers interact - the dropdown on the layers pallet lets you change that. So if you have red below and blue above, the various settings will create different results. This can be cool when, for example, you put a diamondplate pattern below, then a car image above, and set the upper layer to take on the appearance of the lower - giving a car that appears to be made in a diamondplate texture background

3) Learn the difference between image formats. GIF does not really compress, and uses limited numbers of colors. Its good for web graphics, for buttons, and such. It is NOT good for photographs. JPG is good for photos, but does not compress things well unless they are pictures. Neither GIF not JPG supports layers (AFAIK). If you open up a GIF and it won't let you do something, its usually because your image type is set wrong (well the color type really). Click Image->Adjust and make sure it's full color RGB or CMYK instead.

4) A BIG part of photoshop is selections - it lets you change anything but first you need to be able to select things. There are a lot of tools to help with that - learn those tools well!

5) Learn the filters - but dont get too nuts with them. Lots of folks just learn these and come up with cheesy graphics They are a good tool but not the only tool!

6) There are LOTS of tutorials online - do a search for Photoshop Tutorial. Then step though the ones where you like the end result and you will start to see how things are working and why different things produce different effects.

Don't forget to show folks your work - friendly criticism will help you learn quicker.

I ended up paying for a tutorial coure from a site called Savva. It wasn't free but it was well worth the $$, imo. The site is savva.com.au. The stuff this guy does in PS is mind-blowing.

 

I agree, layers, layers, layers. Non-destructive editing/manipulation. Layer masks instead of erasing things, etc. Never want to do anything that can't be undone.

 

+1 on everything Mike said.

I hate when people get on PS, take a pic, apply 12 different filters and throw it on the internet like it's some kind of masterpiece. haha

 

Practice a lot. Participate in PS competitions ... at first you'll suck ... when I look at my first PS, I just have to laugh. Now I'm a fair bit better. A couple years later.

It also depends on what you want to do. Enhance pictures? It's all in the curves, sharpening/blurring, color saturation, etc.

Want to make a billboard ad from scratch? Now you'll need more than that. Layers and masks are your friends. As long as you hesitate before masking a layer, it means you need to practice.

 

USE THE HELP FUNCTION! Seriously, if you're JUST getting into photoshop, use it's help, it is quite expansive. There are THOUSANDS of tutorials out there, you'll lose your mind trying to find exactly what you're looking for.
Here's an old list, don't know how useful it will be.
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=93803

And here's a link to my gallery - I ONLY use Photoshop CS, I love it, but it does take some time to learn - it's very expansive and powerful.
I have done a few tutorials, but they're not exactly for begginers. They're in the following gallery:

http://bennettua.deviantart.com/gallery/

Hope this helps

 

Nice to see another deviantart user on here!
http://adamantiumknot.deviantart.com/gallery/

 

Buy a book. I did back when I started in Photoshop 4 to help with understanding the program. I use CS now too, and there's so much to it I probably won't even use any of the real advanced functionality.

 

I am pretty much an expert & use Photoshop CS every day as a pro photographer. What exactly are you wanting to do? There are several ways to achieve the desired results: for a simple edit using layers vs history brush for example. Deke has a set of like 8 DVDs for PS that are annoying but good training for basics.

 

Lots of GREAT advice here! Try to keep up on this forum (and others that shall remain nameless outside of a PM) as people will ask for p-shops of different things. "Can I see this car in this color" or 'what would this car look like with these wheels' and practice on those things. If you dont like the results don't post them, or do and ask for advice...this helped me out a lot.

I also bought and read this book http://www.amazon.com/How-Wow-Photoshop-Photography/dp/0321227999 I keep it as a reference as this guy really knows his stuff.


These websites should help you out too
http://www.pslover.com/tutorials/basics/1
http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/tutorials.htm
http://www.planetphotoshop.com/category/tutorials/?id=tutorials

above all else, have fun with it

 

Not sure if this is helpful or not:

http://www.good-tutorials.com/author/Photoshop%20Tutorials