Greetings

[kaige]

Greetings and salutations from deep in the mountains of British Columbia.
I am an enthuisiastic amateur photographer who would like to learn about
photoshop. Right now I am the very bottom of the learning curve and
from this perspective it looks to be very steep. My plan of attack is to
learn as much as possible from observing and listening, from the tutorials,
from the search feature and from letting loose now and then with a
newbie question when I get confused. I am not a stranger to confusion
or learning curves, so be gentle.
Thanks to those whose efforts and time make a site such as this possible.

[CJ Swartz]

Originally Posted by kaige

...My plan of attack is to learn as much as possible from observing and listening, from the tutorials, from the search feature and from letting loose now and then with a newbie question when I get confused. I am not a stranger to confusion or learning curves, so be gentle...

Kaige, Welcome to RetouchPro!

Learning Photoshop can seem to be a steep climb at the beginning, but just remember to ENJOY what it can do at each step along your learning curve -- if you start with making a levels adjustment layer on your most recently processed photos -- enjoy seeing the improvement that one step can make. When you learn to handle more steps, you can make more changes to your images, but there's no timetable other than your own desire to learn new skills. As for being "gentle", I think you will find that this forum is filled with gentle people who remember having to ask questions to learn new skills, and who still ask questions because there is always something new to learn when your mind is open.

Newbie questions are often a way for the rest of us to brush up on our own skills -- often we do something without really understanding some part of it, and trying to explain it to someone else helps us clarify the method in our own mind -- so ask away! Also -- try one of the Challenges to practice your new-found skills. Read what others wrote about what they did on the same challenge and see if you can do the same, and then do your own thing to see if you like it better.

Also, visit our Photography forum -- there are threads for posting some of your favorite photos and threads that ask you to go out and shoot new photos -- come join in the fun!

[DannyRaphael]

Hi Kaige...

Let me add my welcome. As one who lives fairly close to you (near Seattle), I can appreciate BC's beauty having had the opportunity to visit Vancouver and Victoria on several occasions.

Adding to CJ's comments, embrace the challenges of Photoshop. While it is definitely not the most intuitive program to learn, its wealth of functionality enables one to achive some pretty incredable results.

Everyone starts at the same place with PS: the beginning. Enjoy each step of your learning journey.

~Danny~