Photoshop 101: Starting from Ground Zero

[James Burke]

Since we do mostly monument and stone engraving, we've never had the real urgency to use Photoshop other than to do a quick brochure. But now that lasers are widely used to etch photos on granite, we'd like to start learning Photoshop from gound zero...the correct way.

We started with CS2, but have downloaded CS5 trial version and I'm floored by all the new goodies available. But I need to start way back at the beginning by doing basic editing (crops, color adjustment, cloning, etc...) and just getting used to the format of the program.

Lynda.com looks like it has a lot of stuff and I'd like to hear from anybody who's already been a subscriber.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[Fred Weiss]

I did the 13.5 hour Photoshop CS5 video by Andy Anderson at Creative Edge and was very pleased. I think they charge 19.95 for a one month subscription.

 

[GAC05]

Adobe offered a 1 month free deal to Lynda when I upgraded Illustrator.
Some pretty good info available there, at least for AI.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Adobe offered a 1 month free deal to Lynda when I upgraded Illustrator.
Some pretty good info available there, at least for AI.

wayne k
guam usa

I got the same thing when I got Ai CS4. Lynda.com has always helped me along and I continue to recommend it because of that. Well worth the subscription.

 

[rjssigns]

I am taking a prototyping course at our local college and they have an Epilog laser 36"x24" and we drive it directly out of CorelDraw 12. Just click PRINT and select the Epilog in the printer dialog box, then set speed and power. Looks incredible! For vector art you can set the laser to Color Map which will prevent it from scanning. It goes into a single line draw mode which is very clean and defined. Hope this helps.

 

[boxerbay]

your local community college should have some adult/night classes available.

 

[James Burke]

I am taking a prototyping course at our local college and they have an Epilog laser 36"x24" and we drive it directly out of CorelDraw 12. Just click PRINT and select the Epilog in the printer dialog box, then set speed and power. Looks incredible! For vector art you can set the laser to Color Map which will prevent it from scanning. It goes into a single line draw mode which is very clean and defined. Hope this helps.

The laser etching I'm talking about involves making a halftone image from a photo using Adobe Photoshop...like what you see etched on black granite monuments.

JB

 

[SqueeGee]

+1 for Lynda.com

 

[Bobby H]

I've been using Adobe Photoshop for nearly 20 years. I have quite a collection of software discs. While the application has lots of glitzy bells and whistles I always tell people new to the using the program to first learn the basics. Much of that revolves around really knowing how channels, layers and paths work. Just about everything else in Photoshop is built upon that foundation.

 

[James Burke]

I've been using Adobe Photoshop for nearly 20 years. I have quite a collection of software discs. While the application has lots of glitzy bells and whistles I always tell people new to the using the program to first learn the basics. Much of that revolves around really knowing how channels, layers and paths work. Just about everything else in Photoshop is built upon that foundation.

That's what I'm looking for....a good foundation.

I downloaded CS5 and put in about 12 hours on it by desiging a banner for our trade show display. I'm hopelessly hooked on it. And besides that, CS5 is the last version I can upgrade to from CS2.



JB

 

[Suz]

My last Photoshop upgrade was CS2. I think I got a free month of Lynda.com when I did that upgrade, then subscribed to it for about a year. I liked it, helped me quite a bit.

When the year ran out, I bought "Total Training" CD's for "Advanced adobe Photoshop CS2" and think it's pretty good. I checked their website and it looks like they now have the monthly training like Lynda.com does, but it says no monthly commitment at $24.99 month. I think the monthly rate was about the same price as I paid for the Lynda.com.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[4R Graphics]

I have used photoshop for years and Lynda has good info. I like youtube lots of good free info there also. In fact search for "you suck at photoshop" on youtube the guy that does the videos is pretty good and they are easy to follow. I have learned over the years that the best way to learn any program is to just dive in and start playing. A good foundation makes playing easier. Also try the classroom in a book books I know the local college actually uses those to teach the classes here.

Good luck.