Finally got Photoshop and will need everyone's help

[Mesca]

I'm so happy... I can't say how happy but I finally managed to get Photoshop 7 and hundreds of plugins. I hope everyone will write good descriptions of what they do with their pictures so I can follow along. Not that I want to copy your work but it's the best way I know to learn. I'm so used to Paint Shop Pro that when I opened Photoshop I went "Whoooooooooaaaaa - now what coach?".

Let me thank all in advance. This has been a real learning experience so far but I've felt handicapped without Photoshop. Hopefull I can do better now.

[Doug Nelson]

First bit of help:

Don't install 100's of plugins

Hope you have fun.

[Jakaleena]

Doug's right. I didn't install my first plugin or use my first action till about a month ago. The first thing to do is learn to do whatever you're doing manually with just Photoshop.

Even though the tutorials on RP are made with different versions of Photoshop, you should still find them helpful. The ones I've written are in v5.5, but as far as I know they are basic enough that they should translate up. The desktop will look different, but you should be able to find the same functions in your version.

Good luck! And happy Photoshopping...

[DannyRaphael]

Mary Ellen:

Congrats on the big purchase. For sure, the PS learning curve can be steep for some. Since you're experienced with PSP, the transistion will be a lot easier than had PS been your first image editor.

A lot of the differences between PSP and PS are "terminology" and "placement of functions within menus." You'll get used to the differences fairly quickly.

You'll probably find in some cases that PSP has more built-in capability than Photoshop. You'll perhaps wonder why Adobe didn't include "that" function in Photoshop or why it's more difficult to do something in PS than PSP.

The answer is: Because Adobe isn't competing with PSP when it comes to Photoshop. (Photoshop Elements is attempting to capture the more casual user and grab some of the PSP market.) Adobe can do pretty much what they want because they have a huge captive audience with Photoshop.

PSP, on the other hand, was written to provide PS-like functionality at a considerably lower price, hence additional functionality and ease of use.

That said, you'll find a TON more tutorials, videos, books, internet resources for PS than PSP. Just no comparison here.

I agree strongly with Doug's suggestion: Don't install a bizillion plugins right away.

I somewhat agree with Jak's suggestion that it's important to "learn to do whatever you're doing manually with just Photoshop." But don't take that to the extreme.

That's akin to saying, "Don't start using a calculator until you can manually cipher square roots with pencil and paper." If you don't ever need to know the square root of 672.33, there's no need to torture yourself!

Experimenting with and examining actions helped open my eyes to functionality and possibilities I'd never dreamed of. Having this knowledge early on in my PS learning curve was helpful in my case.

Example: While I'm sure with a lot of effort I could manually create a 50-pixel aluminum or wood-like frame, using the Adobe provided actions got me results in about 10 seconds that I'd probably never have figured out on my own.

Action dissection day 1? Definitely not. But don't wait months (or years), either.

While I agree it's important to understand how to do many functions manually, using a plugin or action to get the job done in 1/10 the time isn't necessarily that bad. Just depends on how you plan to use PS.

While it would be tempting to post basic "help me" questions here at RP (folks will fall all over themselves to willingly help), may I suggest an alternative approach that in the long run will make you a better person.

Utilize RP's "search" function and/or use google.com or your favorite search engine to do a little internet surfing for information first. For example if you want to know about Photoshop "adjustment layers," search phrases such as the following at google will net a pile of information:

photoshop tutorial "adjustment layer"
-or-
photoshop adjustment layer
-or-
photoshop training adjustment layer

Note: Don't take the above to mean "Don't ever post a 'help me' question at RP." It's just a recommendation to help you learn to fish yourself! There's a lot of great info, tutorials, etc. here at RP. There's a lot outside of RP, too. Expand your horizons.

Good luck. May the Photoshop Fairy sprinkle Honey Nut Cherrios all over the place. May your frustrations with PS (and there will be some) be relatively short.

But remenber in all cases: HAVE FUN!

~DannyR~

[Mesca]

Thanks for all the input from all. I haven't installed the bzillion plugins yet. I failed to mention that I'd also downloaded numerous help manuals to go along with PS. I'm sure I'll be spending the next few months wading thru those. Also I'd already found there were numerous tutorial available on the web and Ed_L kindly offered to forward the training CD's to me also. If you don't see any submissions from me for a couple of months... hand on... I'll be back. This is really a great crew.

[Mike Needham]

Dont worry about plugins - go on gorge yourself, make yourself sick on PS, then worry about it.

Its always a drip drip effect in the learning curve on any program. You have a firm grounding in PSP so you will find fewer problems than complete novices.

If you want any tutorial sites for techniques that whilst may not be retouch related, may be of significant help in learning the basics and more advanced functions of PS , just shout. They may not be directly related, but will improve your awareness of the program and its functions.

If PS tutorials are to be given out, I might also ask, that this sub-thread might be made into its own thread to prevent this from getting bogged down.

Anyway, congratulations! I am sure that you will make a handsome pair, now and for many years to come - I propose a toast - To Mesca and PS!

[Jakaleena]

There's a place under Links (on the menu) for tutorials, and also an "Add" function in case you know of any that aren't already there.