I started scanning photos with a Logitech handscanner and cut/pasting my kids heads on animals and dollar bills and such in 1992 with Aldus Photostyler (subsequently purchased and killed off by Adobe) - the same year the first release of Photoshop came out with a Windows version (codename: Brimstone, which incidentally is what many photography purists still refer to it as).
I used various things like Paint Shop Pro for a short while and started using Photoshop v4.0 and have been hooked ever since. My ADD prevents me from reading manuals or stepping through tutorials - as a result, I am still learning things by accident just about every day.
I learned via google and youtube. I just typed in photshop tutorial and clicked on everything that sounded interesting. The first thing you should learn is using "non-destructive layers"
I learned via google and youtube. I just typed in photshop tutorial and clicked on everything that sounded interesting. The first thing you should learn is using "non-destructive layers"
Self taught from the age of 13. I was offered $10000 for a new computer and at the time Macintosh was the way to fly. I had already been using computers (TI-99A) since I was 5 writing simple programs in BASIC, then later on using my brothers Mac on the weekends.
I decided to test the waters at a local Mac store since they had the model Quadra 840av that I wanted on display. I primarily intended on taking up programming supplemented by photo retouching.
They had Photoshop 2.5 installed on the display model and I gave it a whirl. Some forty visits later I was asked to leave if I was not going to purchase the machine. I still wasn't sure at the time but I knew I loved Photoshop already.
I later purchased a machine from a catalog having been insulted (there was no line to use their machine, they had no real reason to ask me to leave, it was left on all day anyway, I didn't smell either.)
With the machine I purchased a copy of Photoshop 2.5 with a free upgrade promotion. Free upgrade to the next version, cool beans.
The next version was 3.0 and I did qualify for upgrading to it. Does anyone here remember 3.0? It was quoted as one of Adobes greatest failures in software? Crashing and corrupting work left and right. This was no upgrade, free or not.
After several hours of tech support with Adobe and being basically told "Well, 3.0 is the next version and you upgraded to that, not our fault it doesn't work. 4.0 should be out in about a year, you can upgrade to that if 3.0 doesn't meet your requirements.", "For free?", "Oh no, it will be full price unless you buy 3.0 with upgrade support." I hung up.
Oh, sorry ranting a little, where were we, ah yes catalogs and Macintosh computers...
So I got my bad boy 19" monitor, Quadra 840av, photo quality dye/wax printer, flat bed scanner, Photoshop 2.5. This was just before our 6 year road trip via RV for those who know that story.
I had picked a sofa in the RV for a bed, it came with two 1.5 foot wide tables that each connected with a single leg to the floor. I duct taped my monitor to the far left table, put the keyboard on the near right table, and I had a pillow and cutting board on my lap for the mouse. It was a very awkward way to learn Photoshop.
I would scan photos from catalogs then edit them, change their color, move things around, touch up professional photos from magazines that didn't look that like anyone bothered. I took a photo of a woman fly fishing on a boat and removed her pole and made it look like her rod snapped and she was pulling her fish in by hand.
So Photoshop and some programming stuff were my main source of entertainment for some 6 years.
Sadly I must say that I am still learning and don't think I've scratched the surface compared to what I've seen some people do.
I taught myself, more or less. Reading threads here is a huge help, asking questions of members as well. I also interned with a professional photographer and watched him edit. As I got better and had more specific questions, I read web articles, magazine articles, etc.
Konador taught me almost everything I know since almost the day I joined; the rest I learned from replicating steps during validations.
sp thats how you validate peoples photos? by imitating what they did?
I want to know the answer to this, lol.
I learned out of necessity...I was put in charge of designing the publications for my school's banquet, which involved a lot of photoshop...and then I got put in charge of other graphics stuff, lol, so I learned pretty quickly.
Konador taught me almost everything I know since almost the day I joined; the rest I learned from replicating steps during validations.
sp thats how you validate peoples photos? by imitating what they did?
I want to know the answer to this, lol.
...
Yep, that's how we validate that the editing rules on the images were followed, by using the steps given by photographer and performing them on the original (unedited) file and seeing if we get the same result as the submission. The better the description of the steps, the faster it gets validated!
I took a starter class that taught workflow, the various adjustment layers, masks, some of the tools, and copy merge. Then I played with it a lot. Radiant Vista has a weekly 10 minute video called Photoshop Workbench that has taught me a lot of tricks, and introduced me to blending modes. I also learned things from the tutorials and members here on DPChallenge.
Best way besides reading helpful tips & such, be it here in the tutorials & forums, is to fix pictures.
Restorations, extreme fixes/edits, in my opinion, are one of the best ways to jump in and try stuff. The trial & error and instant feedback while doing so is huge.
As an example, a good friend of mine is in Miami this week on business. She ended up at a party on a Company Yacht, dressed to the hilt, but had no camera. Best anyone could do was a Blackberry. She sent me the shot to see if there was anything that could be done with it.
--- to --->
(one of those moments I wish I were a fly on the wall when she sees it.
Even added the reflections in the water on the far away buildings to our right)
I doubt there are books to show how to do this stuff, but the hands-on trial and error is priceless.
4 year bachelor and 1 year masters degrees in image processing amongst other things. Then spent a few years writing plug-ins and designing hardware accelerators for photoshop. After that started actually trying to take some pictures and found out that knowing what the buttons do isn't the same thing as knowning what you want to do with them. 10 years later still learning
I actually started out with a program called Photo Impact. Learned from reading the manual and just trying things. After a year I downloaded the free trail of Photoshop CS2. Learned many functions which were similar to Photo Impact. Finally I bought Photoshop Elements 5 and have mostly learned by trying. Also learned from a few threads on DP. Now I have picked up some books from the library, but in all honesty they don't cover anything I haven't already tried and learned. I learn mostly by experimenting and doing, not by reading.
