How to Learn Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful and useful computer program for editing and manipulating photographs and images. Rated as a professional level program, Photoshop is considered state of the art for its level of detail and variety of manipulation techniques. Photoshop is a complex program; but a beginner can become an adept user by following these steps.

Instructions

1. Read the manual. When purchased, Photoshop comes with an extensive user manual. This manual is a good reference for getting started and using the Photoshop commands and windows.

2. Take a class. Local community colleges, adult education centers and commercial schools offer Photoshop classes and seminars. Taught by experts, these classes can help a beginner become familiar with Photoshop. One advantage to a class is the presence of a live instructor to answer questions.

3. Take a tutorial. Tutorials are offered online and through the purchase of a CD-ROM. Many times these tutorials are self-paced and are done on the beginner's computer, which is a more familiar setting.

4. View the Photoshop "Help." Many questions on the performance of Photoshop can be answered by the Help menu. Help also explains the use of Photoshop commands and is indexed for easy navigation.

5. Buy a book. Books stores and computers stores have numerous instruction books explaining the use of Photoshop. An instruction book can be used simultaneously to working in Photoshop.

6. Experiment with the program. Trial and error can be the best teacher. Explore the use of levels, layers, colors and modes. Take one file with an image, print it, experiment with the same image in another file, print it, then compare the differences.

Tips & Warnings

• Find a friend who knows Photoshop to be a tutor. This is a fun way to learn Photoshop.

Resources

• Visit the Photoshop website.