New to Photoshop!

Greetings from the great state of Louisiana..!! Just recently bought CS and will mainly be focusing on editing photos, creating layers and seperations as of now. I screen print fine art and will be using it to produce art for serigraph's. Mainly I'm looking for direction because it does seem a little overwhelming with so much to learn. I ran CAD for a number of years so I'm familiar with some of the terms but there are lots I'm not. I bought the book "The Adobe Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers", not received it yet and thinking of subscribing to NAPP. Anyone familiar with NAPP and your thoughts on the benefits of joining this organization. I have lots of questions but some basic ones like list of terms used in PS, types of file to work in, creating layers and basic fundamental rules I should follow. Any thought greatly appreciated!

Thanks, rickyt :confused:

Welcome aboard rickyt! /me rolls out the welcome wagon!

You will be working and saving your files in native .psd format for the most part (saving as .jpg or .tif--or sumpthin else) would flatten your layers and negate the future use of adjustment layers.

I wouldn't worry about joining NAPP yet (some may disagree), until you're ready to attend sanctioned seminars or other things that may get you discounts. I've got a good book on photo-editing in PS at home; I'll check out the title and post it here later.

Otherwise, there is TONS of information on the web in the form of tutorials, how-tos, etc. After you've gone thru pank's tutorials on http://www.teamphotoshop.com/photoshop/tutorials/ps_tut.php ; just do a google search for "photoshop" "tutorial" and whatever you wanna learn more about.

Take a few minute and read thru the FAQ's and Resource sections of this forum. Also, before posting a question in the Photoshop Advanced or Basic areas, do a quick search on the forum to see if it's already been asked and answered. You'll save yourself some grief. Again, welcome.

I shall beat Utopian to it (and save him from writing a novel each time).

[QUOTE=Utopian23 some million years ago]
Start by reading the manual and doing the exercises using the sample images provided on the CD. Carefully inspect the Quick Reference card and keep it handy, referring to it often. Between the manual and the Q.R. card, make a strong effort to learn the PROPER names of the tools and various palette navigation and their icons. Click and Control-Click [Right-click on PC] on EVERYTHING, paying particular attention to tiny little triangles in the palettes. Control-Clicking will usually reveal drop-down, fly-out and contextual menus that will allow you quick access to commands, functions and tools.

EXPERIMENT! Use your own motivation to learn some things on your own before asking about every little thing, or you'll make enemies here?and anywhere else?quickly. Until you put in the effort to learn proper names for things and do some work on your own, you won't be able to ask meaningful questions. The learning curve is steep, and you WILL have to do a lot of work on your own, but it's worth it.

Look at the main page of this site for tutorials that you can work through. Make friends with Google and learn how to do focused searches for Photoshop-related techniques. Start a search string with "Photoshop tutorial" and after that fill in whatever you want to learn about and you'll find tens-of-thousands of results. It's a valuable resource that we all use.

DO NOT concern yourself with acquiring 3rd-party plug-ins until you have a fairly strong understanding of the application, you'll only be cheating yourself and the results you get will look like every other hack amateur on the planet. Plug-ins are terrific, but you gotta know how, why and when to use them, and in what measure. Effects for effects' sake only make you look more like an amateur, and not like an expert.

Part II

Concentrate on learning every possible way to make accurate selections?marquees, lassos, color range selctions, paths, channels, (there are many others). Learn why Adjustment Layers can make creating selections easier. Practice and experiment so that you get to the point where you can look at an image, decide what you want to do, and intuitively know which selection methods (sometimes alone, often in combination) will most easily isolate an image area you want to further manipulate. Once you get really good at this, the rest of your learning will be exponentially accelerated.

Become best friends with Google, and learn how to search effectively for techniques you want to learn about. Invest in Photoshop books. Ask for 'em for birthdays, Xmas, etc. You can never have too many.

Learn Photoshop's native filters and functions the best you can.

Find tutorials that deeply explore one aspect?say, for example, Displacement Maps (try working through Mark Zebra's Displace Tutorial(http://members.aol.com/markzebra/displace/)). Then, look for others on that native function. Then look for tutorials on something else. Work through them.

Experiment, read, search, read, study, experiment, practice, undo, redo, experiment, practice, practice, read, take a ride on your bike, read, study and experiment some more.

When you get a good handle on what Photoshop?and your mastery of it?can do, when you're motivated, you'll search out the plugin authors' websites, and read up on their software, and be better able to decide what will work for you.
Bottom line is to try to avoid Whiz!Bang! effects-for effects sake. Just because you have a bazillion plugins is never an excuse to use them just because you can.

I say again: Learn as much as you can about the incredibly powerful capabilities of native Photoshop. It's a foundation you must lay in before you can truly understand why, and when, to tap into the power of 3rd-party plugins.
[/QUOTE]

If your gonna be hanging around here... just remember one thing, don't get too into the political threads. Some people go crazy. :p

...coming from someone with a Bush/Cheney '04 signature :p

lmao good point allanon, HAHAHAHAA xDDD

by the way, welcome aboard, rickyt.