Basic Q's

Hi all,

I've been a visitor and lurker of the site for a long time now. I just had to join the community since there is a wide range of skills and expertise on this board.

To get to the point, I have a question to ask.

I have been using PS for some time now. My skill level of it is fairly low. I would like to expand and learn some new things. How would I get out of the, "Using Filters & Text" mode? That is all I can seem to do. I have read a lot of tutorials but I find them hard to follow.

I would really like to learn layers, where I can munipilate many images into one. Anyone have any tutorials or tips?

Thanks,
Newbie Posting

Tutorials may seem hard to you, but that is the best way to really learn the program. All these great shaolin masters of pixel and vector manipulation have earned hard years of skill by practice so they could easily lay out some essential techniques and make our lives much simpler =) But back to tut's....
There is a lot out there, start somewhere. Just pick a tutorial you like, for instance Mac buttons, or how to make fake fur, ie, something you would enjoy doing, then spend a little time doing it. Sometimes you have to repeat the exercise a few times, but no biggie.
The part that is essential is you can learn something new about the program that will help you in later circumstances with each of these tutorials. The other option is Adobe puts out those Classroom in a Book, books and I always thought those were quite excellent with real world-like projects, rather than one exercise after another. But there is so much online information now you dont need to fork up 40-60$ for a new book.

tutorials are great. sometimes you learn about tools and techniques that you didn't know existed. eventually, through use of tutorials, you will learn what each option in ps does and how to apply the right one to get the image you desire.

when you go through tutorials read the whole thing first. make sure you understand everything that they ask of you. if you can't understand it after reading it a few times then the tutorial isn't for your skill level and you should move on. maybe in the future after doing other tutorials you will understand that difficult one. that is why it is also a good idea to bookmark some tutorial sites.

patience is the key to everything in photoshop. 99 percent of the time something will not look like you want it to. just be patient and use all of your new-found tools to attack a project.

photoshop is one of the greatest programs but many don't get to use it to it's full potential due to lack of patience.

good luck with it and keep on hunting through those tutorials.

Layers properties is one of the easiest but most powerful tools that come with it so I suggest you mess around with them and see what you can get..... also I would suggest not getting a book cause well I have looked over books and most of them suck

I'm fairly new at this also but I found if I open PS in one window and open a tut in another window, I can follow along one single step at a time. Most all of them are easily done in a step-by-step process and you'll find it easy to follow along that way.
As for books, I have to admit I found one I could understand called Photoshop 6 for Dummies (well suited for me) and I was able to learn layers that way also.
Keep plugging away and have fun with it! (just remember to play with a COPY of your favorite photo-on a new layer-so you don't accidently mess up the original)

As I'd like to say......If one learns to use the help menu in PS, one can learn a great deal just by using that. Most important is to learn how every tool works and how to use them in a useful way.

To learn how to use the advance features of PS, just try playing with every tool and most important.......Imagine an idea in your head on what it is you want accomplished. By that, you gain a lot....

I have always tried to write my own roadmaps on how to accomplish certain things with the program. I have succeeded in many ways because when I have failed, I have also learned form my mistakes.

My only rule when working with PS is that whatever I do, I can always learn a better way to do it.

But as I said in the beginning........The help menu is a great way to start......

And to add to that..........Ask others on tips and tricks........You'll never walk alone as we Liverpool fans say........ :D