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Learning photoshop CC

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 Tony Buckley 26 May 2021

I have the CC subscription that gives me access to Lightroom, which I'm no expert in but can generally faff around in until I get a pleasing result, and Photoshop.  I dipped in to Photoshop the other day and realised that my ignorance of it is profound.

So I intend, as a project for the rest of the year, to learn about it; what it can do, how I might do it, and so on.  I'm aware that it's a powerful program which can do many things and that while some of these may be useful to me others really won't be, and so I'd like to spend more time on things which bring a greater reward.  

Most of my photography at the moment seems to be either of landscape or things that don't run away, such as plants or buildings.

So before I get going, which will essentially be from a standing start, does the hive mind have any pointers?  I'm not asking for your secrets, more signposts of the 'go here, learn this, it's useful for such-and-such' type.

Learning is a lifelong thing.  Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

T.

 laughitup 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

Got a couple of thoughts for you tony:

Firstly, don't be put off by the complication. PS is extremely powerful and is as complicated as you want to make it and no matter how much you learn there will always be new or different ways of achieving a similar task/effect. I have been using it for getting on for a decade and still learning new things all the time. 

Secondly, having something you want to achieve is the best way to learn. For example wanting to fix a specific thing on an image and then googling how to do it is much easier than sitting down and watching an unspecific tutorial just for the sake of learning x technique. 

The key thing to learn, which you may already have some experience of if using Lr, is the curves adjustment and understanding the histogram. pretty much all of the other effects are just simple ways of making curves adjustments so if you can master curves you can do most things.

Blending options is another key thing in Ps but slightly more advanced but worth doing some research down the track. 

If you are doing a lot of landscapes and want to jump in at the deep end I love using luminosity masks to balance exposures. If you find a tutorial for this it would teach you a lot of the above.  

 Dan Arkle 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

For me as a photographer, the key skills were understanding layers, specifically doing non-destructive editing by having a series of adjustment layers and masks.

That might sound like gobbledigook, on which case, find a youtube video explaining each term. Youtube is a great way to learn as you watch someone elses screen as they navigate the menu system.

 Marek 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

> Learning is a lifelong thing. 

It will be with PS.

One little item I'd offer is "when you come across some neat trick, make a note of it". PS has 101 way of doing similar things and an endless list of not-well-documented keyboard short cuts and menu modifiers. You work out in due course which one are valuable to YOU and they'll be quite different for everyone. Create and maintain your own user guide.

OP Tony Buckley 26 May 2021
In reply to everbody:

Thanks all.  My starting presumption is that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing and so whilst I think I know about histograms and curves, I'm going to work through them again as Photoshop understands them.  I've assumed I know stuff before and it hasn't always worked out well.

Layers I don't know much about.  I've never really got the hang of brushes either.  There is a lot of other stuff where the names ring a bell but I probably couldn't tell you exactly what they do, even if I have come across something similar elsewhere.  So, lots of stuff to check, revise, review, learn, understand and apply.  That's really why I've set it as a project for the rest of the year (and I won't stop there).

Keeping a list of things I learn is going to be important.  Having a phone and a laptop will help as I can watch something or use Photoshop on one and take notes on the other without faffing too much.

And of course all this serves as more motivation to get out and take more pictures and squeeze every drop of good stuff out of them that I can, which is ultimately what it's all about.

Thanks chaps!

T.

 ianstevens 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

Dunno about PS, but there is an excellent set of tutorials for Illustrator on the Adobe website - so could be the same?

Edit because I actually checked: on the home page of PS there is a "Learn" tab - tutorials there. Can recommend the AI ones so presume these are of the same quality. I'd suggest them over random YouTube vids as they have guided exercises and align with the most recent version.

Post edited at 15:18
OP Tony Buckley 26 May 2021
In reply to ianstevens:

That's something of which I was completely unaware.  Thanks Ian.

T.

 Marek 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

One other thing I'd suggest is that...

PS is a bit of a Swiss-Army knife in that it's used by quite disparate groups of people to achieve different ends. So if you are interested in landscapes (say) then I would strongly suggest you look at how landscape photographers use PS, rather than (say) some graphic artist or product photographer. At least initially. Having said that, half the battle I think is getting a feel for what can be actually achieved with PS (with enough skill). Having some sight of a plausible destination is key to figuring out how to get there. 

OP Tony Buckley 26 May 2021
In reply to Marek:

Fair comment, Marek.  I shall have to write some SMART objectives for myself so I know where I'm going rather than just traveling hopefully.

T.

Removed User 26 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

I love this guy's youtubr tutorials:

https://m.youtube.com/c/PiXimperfect/videos

 nufkin 27 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

I've got a Scott Kelby book that's been enormously helpful for things I've wanted to use Photoshop for. My version of of Photoshop is really old, but the book is even older - I figure, though, that most of the functions and processes remain the same. Not sure what the most recent revision  covers - or covered - but it could be a good alternative to Youtube.

The downside is that I tend to just follow suggested procedures, rather than learning more broadly about layers, masks etc that might supply me with knowledge to experiment or solve thing for myself. But since almost everything I do is just tweaking photos in the same fundamental way that doesn't much matter

 Mike_d78 27 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

I've got an awful lot from YouTube tutorials. 

Phlearn and Anthony Morganti I found the most helpful. 

In reply to Tony Buckley:

There are some really good tutorials on the Adobe site that I started with. https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop/tutorials.html

Just try and learn one thing at a time there is so much you can get overwhelmed.  

In reply to Mike_d78:

+1 for Anthony Morganti, his series Mastering Lightroom got me started. One key lesson is to understand how cataloguing works and setting up your file structure accordingly.

 Sean Kelly 28 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

Agree Scott Kellby is the go to book. Just go to the bit you want and bingo  a result. Learn a work process, it's at the back of the book I think.

 AllanMac 28 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

Are you using raw files from your camera, or jpgs? There's a world of difference between them in their ability to balance highlights and shadows in Ps. Jpgs have very little headroom for exposure and colour adjustments. 

With landscapes in raw, there is enough exposure latitude in a single file to be able to balance skies (usually highlights) with foregrounds (midtones and shadows), via separate conversions from the same original file. 

Taking all your photos in raw from now on might be your starting point. By the time you've learned more about layers, adjustment layers and luminosity masking as time goes on, you will have accumulated a satisfying number of photos that you can return to, and convert them into images that are far more sophisticated than the jpgs straight from the camera. You can set your camera to raw+jpg for every shot, but it will fill your card up quicker!

Apologies if you know this already!

OP Tony Buckley 30 May 2021
In reply to AllanMac:

I learned the dividends of shooting in RAW a wee while ago Allan, but thanks for the nudge anyway, all contributions welcome and thank you to everyone that's commented.  

Thus far I've mostly been reading/watching, and shouting at Adobe Camera Raw.  I'm sure things will improve.  

T.

 Mike_d78 30 May 2021
In reply to Tony Buckley:

You mentioned in your first post that you're ok with LR. At least from my understanding LR and ACR are very similar editing wise. So I'd suggest using LR for basic/medium edits and then PS for more advanced edits. Personally I avoid ACR almost entirely. You may already know but you can edit in LR and move seamlessly into PS and back again? 

OP Tony Buckley 30 May 2021
In reply to Mike_d78:

I'm rapidly coming to the same conclusion about ACR.  The way I'm approaching this is by putting all my assumptions and presumptions away and starting from ground zero, in the hope that once I've progressed a bit and understood a lot then what I've learned will help me go further, faster and better.  

I knew nothing about ACR.  Now I know something, which so far seems for me to be that it's best avoided.

But I'm learning a good deal and avoiding gardening except, of course, for the heavy lifting when my presence is demanded.

T.


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