Basics of Photoshop
 

OK, if I can say so myself, I can take decent pix. The DOF, composition, and other camera settings are more or less a breeze to me, but editing is a maze.

I am looking for suggestions on books, DVDs, or other things to help me with photoshop because I can't make the pictures POP due to lack of skill with the program. I am using CS3 now, may get CS4 if my friend has more licenced copies from school.

Also wondering about lightroom, hear good things but never really got into it. What's the program all about.

Thanks!

It's hard to read how to use CS4 PS.

Find someone who knows how to use the program and ask them to show you the basics.

If I ever need to know how to do a specific thing then I use youtube. There are plenty of tutorials on there.

theres way more things involved in getting a photo to "pop" than knowing how to edit a photo and to be honest with you, simply editing an already blah photo won't really make it "pop"

editing sucks...with an 8 year old computer.

you shouldnt need too much editing to make an image pop. with curves and the black point and white point droppers in there you should be able to make the image pop, then turn the line into a slight S bend for even more. thats pretty much all i do to my pics besides a clone or something but only if it really needs it


haha i knew how that was before. my old desktop had only 256mb ram and the new one has 6 or 8 gigs...soo much faster

Any tutorial I've ever tried to read and then do never worked out, lol. It's easier to play around with the photos or have someone show you. I agree with Matt that for the most part, a medicore photo will remain a mediocre photo even after editing.

x2

I open youtube in one screen and use PS in the other when I'm trying to learn something. I'm a visual learner, just reading about something doesn't stick with me at all.

There are also some really good add-ons that make simple editing a lot easier. I really like Topaz and Total Rad Actions.

I really want to learn to combine layers. For example, when I took this pic

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2593/...101cc9e4_o.jpg

Notice the blown out lights on city hall, the parkway, even the tops of some skyscrapers. I would love to learn how to take a second exposure to properly capture these areas and then overlay them onto the pic with properly exposed buildings and grass and sky, etc.

Do you shoot in RAW format? The editing tools for RAW images are different, that's why I ask.

Sometimes RAW if I am trying to do a really pretty pic, for general use I shoot in JPEG L-fine

i dont have ps open right now but this should work for what youre trying to do going by what i remember without it open
1. open both pics.
2. drag one of them onto the other so that both layers are on the same window
3. click the square with circle icon on the layers palette to add a mask or if you click alt+that square with circle it will hide that layer and show the one under it
4.hit B or use the brush tool and use black and white as the colors. if u just clicked the mask button then use black to show the image under and if u did the alt+mask use white to show whats under it. just make sure you have the mask selected in the layers palette so that youre not painting on the actual picture
5. flatten the image if you want to make it one layer then edit it as a whole

if you brush over something you didnt mean to, just hit X and it will switch the fore/background colors so that you'll have the opposite and just paint back over it...a lot easier than using the eraser and quicker to fix mistakes. also to get the default colors, (black and white) just hit D to bring them back up

whats photoshop? honestly just google search how to _______ in photoshop and tons of stuff will pop up.

^ seriously. Ive learned more that way than taking classes.

i was lucky enough to do nothing in graphics class in high school and srew around in ps and learned a lot of stuff.

alex read this
http://designreviver.com/tutorials/p...e-layer-masks/

Here is a great link to open you up to "curves". If you have photoshop. Pretty easy to follow and really covers the "basics".

http://www.layersmagazine.com/photog...ectingphp.html

If you want to make corrections to only parts of a photo then use the quick selection too.

Select the parts you want then when you go to make an adjustment PS will create a new masked layer for you so that only the parts you selected are affected.

I don't know how to copy the mask so that I don't have to repeat selecting the area to use for the next adjustment. That is annoying. I know there is a shortcut, but I haven't figured that out.

First thing you need to learn how to do is "Layer Masks" Once you master them, you are golden.

Search youtube and google, there will be endless tutorials.

Google "Scott Kelby." Dude is amazing and makes it soooooo easy.

I have been working with Adobe since early college and I now teach it. But this guy is awesome for learning anything from the simplest to the most advanced.

I use lightroom. so much quicker and easier. but to merge exposures PS is your tool.
But all in all if you understand and are a master of all the technical stuff, you don't need either cause your photo will be perfect.

Honestly it sounds/looks more like you breeze thru the technical stuff so you need editing to save the shots?
Being honest with yourself and the problem at hand will get you to your goal a lot quicker.

Certain shots like the one I posted, it's hard to get even lighting with only one shot because under say a 15 second exposure, the buildings will be fine, but the lights will be blown out. If I jump down to say a 5 second, the lights will be fine, but the buildings underexposed, so that kind of image needs 2 or more exposures.