To all you Photoshop gurus

[fins]

How did you go about learning your photoshop techniques?

I've tried following online advice and tutorials and have been working through a couple books particularly Jack and Sue Drafahls Digital Imaging for the Underwater Photographer but I'm still just not getting it. Maybe it's just lack of patience (and talent) on my part.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[justleesa]

I'm a notorious button pusher - I just click, figure out how it works for me....

Not much help....sorry

 

[flyinghuntster]

It depends on what you are trying to do. YOu can get by if you learn all about Image sizing (Croping), Color Balance (Image>Adjustments>Color Balance) (adding the colors back into the pictures that get removed like the Reds and yellows) I pick an item that I know what the color is and then adjust the colors until they match their actual colors, Contrasts (Image>Adjustments>Brightness/Contrast), Sharpen might come in handy too (Filter>Sharpen>(play with all of these)) Unsharpen can actually help you sharpen a pix and a newly learned tool for me is LEVELS (Image>Adjustments>Levels) which allows you to set the Blacks, Whites and Mid-Tones. It helps adjust the pix that are real dark or real light.
The best way is to use the MANY tutorials and PLAY spend time with it and try your best remember what you did to get a certain effect, What works with one pix might not always work with another.
PSWorkshop.net is an outstanding resource. If you Google for "photoshop" "tutorial" you'll score so many more!!!
Have Fun Playing with your Pix.

 

[RonFrank]

Exactly WHAT are you NOT getting? Layers? Curves? Color? Tools? What???

Hard to provide advice with such little info. As for how I learned, books, practice.... I found a GREAT book on CS, however it's at home, and I am not. If you use CS, let me know, and I'll post the title when at home.

Ron

How did you go about learning your photoshop techniques?

I've tried following online advice and tutorials and have been working through a couple books particularly Jack and Sue Drafahls Digital Imaging for the Underwater Photographer but I'm still just not getting it. Maybe it's just lack of patience (and talent) on my part.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[fins]

Exactly WHAT are you NOT getting? Layers? Curves? Color? Tools? What???

Hard to provide advice with such little info. As for how I learned, books, practice.... I found a GREAT book on CS, however it's at home, and I am not. If you use CS, let me know, and I'll post the title when at home.

Ron

I do have CS to please forward the title when you have a chance.

I've gotten pretty good a cropping and some of the basic adjustments like brightness, contrast and of course auto levels. I'm really struggling with the concept of layers and the other more advanced features. I'm really struggling with trying to remove backscatter.

Thanks

 

[alcina]

I am by far not a guru...still can't work the layers thing to my advantage so do only the bare minimum. But what I have learned comes from practice and playing around - go extreme and then work backwards to find the pleasing effect. This let's me see what a tool will do and then I work on controlling it.

Backscatter in CS I use the healing brush and the clone tool. I leave all the defaults, but change the size of the brush. I enlarge the image on the screen and work from that. I also use the undo function alot

Best tool I've found at the moment is the curves tool. I use the middle eye dropper and click around until the colour comes good on any that need colour correction. This works better on many images than the auto functions and again gives me more control. I found it useful to do one on Auto that I though turned out well, then open another copy and play with the manual settings until I get something similar or, more usually, better.

Don't forget your shadows/highlight and brightness/contrast functions - they can add just that subtle something that isn't apparent in an image and makes it go POP.

YMMV - I'm a total novice.

 

[Scubatooth]

fins

im not a guru with CS but i know enough to make my images very good, so if you need so help i would be willing to help you out with the a problem either over the board or email.


i have some PS books that are good but let me go dig them up as im still at work and not at my desk to see what they are

Tooth

 

[azcaddman]

try Photoshop CS Artistry by Barry Haynes, and The Adobe Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby

Both are for phot editing, none of the web graphics/animation stuff that fills 1/2 of other books.

 

[Charlie99]

try Photoshop CS Artistry by Barry Haynes, and The Adobe Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers by Scott Kelby

Both are for phot editing, none of the web graphics/animation stuff that fills 1/2 of other books.

Add in another recommendation for Scott Kelby's books.

I just couldn't get ahold of how to use layers and masks until I read the Scott Kelby book for Photoshop Elements 2. Reading and understanding his clear step by step procedures finally got things to click. Then I could go back to the manual and other tutorials and make sense of them.

Charlie

 

[fdog]

I'm a notorious button pusher - I just click, figure out how it works for me....

Eeexxxxactly.

It's kind of like a language... I just sort of "follow the force".

All the best, James

PS: the hardest part is knowing PS can do something, not getting it to do it!