Hi everyone, my daughter wants to give me a photoshop course for Christmas. Can anyone please recommend one? I took a look, but there are so many and I would like a good one where I can learn something. I do not want a sky replacement course, more like compositing etc. Thanks in advance.
I can't recommend a course as such, but in the photography diploma I'm doing, we did an Advanced photoshop paper. Through this I stumbled across Colin Smith of the PhotoshopCafe. I've learnt an awful lot watching his YouTube videos. I expect you will find that he has some channels you can subscribe to.
I purchased a course from Matt Kloskowski at MattK.com and I recommend him highly. He's methodical, clear, and thorough. His course is set up in short segments of 6 - 7 minutes each and and they are labeled by topic so you can go back later, or as Taffy and I have been doing, we watch it through once, then go back and watch it again and try to follow along and practice. In the earlier ones we were trying to follow along from the beginning but as they get more difficult and complex we are finding we need an "overview" first, then follow along. I just checked his website and the LR/PS two-course set are onside for $179 which is less than either one of them alone because the usual price of one is $199. Not sure how long that sale is on. https://mattk.com/cyber-weekend-sale-2020/
I also purchased a 30 days to PS from Blake Rudis. I haven't started that one yet but that it will be the next one after finishing the MattK course. Blake talks super fast and has good energy so I'm looking forward to taking that one next.
I know that @rosiekerr watches a lot of videos on Youtube but I found I needed a more step-by-step approach to getting started. Then maybe once I get the foundation I can seek specific videos.
Taffy and I were long-time Aperture users and we transitioned to LR when Aperture died. We stumbled through the initial transition without instruction but the concepts carried over from our knowledge of Aperture. Eventually we felt comfortable enough with LR to try PS.
@jyokota genius!! I'm teaching myself Affinity, and have never thought to just watch and learn before following along a YouTube tutorial!! I sometimes wonder how I get through life in my unthinking way!
@30pics4jackiesdiamond I'm pretty sure that @bpfoto is an Affinity user and he always knows how to figure out anything so you can ask him for help, I'll bet.
@jyokota thank you. I think it's stupid fear that stops me!! I cannot get to grips with the basics, ( layers, masks) and bizarrely it takes me back to feelings of learning times-tables as a youngster ( still don't know them!)
Now I'm "retired" I've set myself the goal of doing a tutorial a month so this time next year I'll be able to "mask" with the rest of you!!!
@taffy@jyokota Thanks so much, I will look into it. Matt K has so many tutorials, I do not work with LR so I will see what else he has. I too need a step by step approach and need to see it more often. I cannot follow any that are non verbal. I like Blake Rudis too 😊
I have found over the years that I really like Scott Kelby's books on The Adobe Photoshop CC Book for Photographers. It is very step by step. I would do 2 to 3 lessons a day and do the procedure on my photos so that I could learn how to do it. Then I always have the book to refer to if I forget. He also has the same type of book for Lightroom. These 2 books are how I learned to use PS and LR. I also used these 2 books with our photography club to teach people to use the software. I prefer a book to a video myself. I hate having to stop and start the thing all the time. The book is also a lot cheaper. You could probably get both for under a $100.
There is a newer photographer on the scene, who is local in Florida (I know that is far from you). I don't have PS, but he just developed a Pro Panel in PS that is supposed to be super easy to use. You can catch him on Instagram at WhereisWeatherby. I love his work and his teaching style. I bought a course of his for less than $200, but I haven't yet had the time to take it. I was able to log onto one of his live programs one day and he spoke to each person who was watching.
@northy Thanks so much, I did watch that and enjoyed it very much. It just did not cover as much as I would like to learn, especially about composites . I am pretty useless with PS ;-)
@photograndma Thanks so much Terri, I paid a fortune for the book here in SA. It is much too thick and confusing, I need to physically see something to be able to do it. I seem to be one of those dumb blondes :-)
Years ago I started with Lynda.com (now assocaited with Linkedin) https://www.lynda.com/ . It's $30/month and you can quit any time. They have over 700 courses for photographers. My favorite instructor was Deke McClelland.
If you are wanting to learn about the areas of photoshop with a view to compositing, I would recommend the Photoshop Artistry course which I think is on offer at the moment. https://prophotoshopartistry.com/promotional-offer
I played about with photoshop when did my first 365 project and couldn't find anything I liked that would help me do what I wanted to do. Someone recommended this to me and it has been fabulous. I went on to do the AWAKE course (no longer available) and I joined the Kaizen course at the beginning of this year.
This link is to the magazine that is produced every month containing work from AWAKE and Kaizen artists. This will give you some idea if this is the sort of thing you are looking to learn about. https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue70-final
hi diana. i agree with @obsidian. sebastian michaels' photoshop artistry is an amazing course, which i'm still working my way through! brooke shaden's creative live courses are sometimes on offer and have also taught me a huge amount about compositing. how lovely of your daughter to want to help with enhancing your photography skills - i very much look forward to seeing the results!
@ludwigsdiana I'd like to suggest she get you a one-year subscription to Kelby One. Scott Kelby made a name in the photography business as a Photoshop instructor and there are many courses available on his site. Watch out though, its an automatic rebill at the end of the year if you don't unsubscribe! Thats my singular complaint about Kelby One.
Or, as someone else suggested, Lynda.com is another very good option. The value of those subscriptions is that you have access to multiple Photoshop courses...in many cases, for the price you would pay for a single course.
@photographycrazy@obsidian@pistache@dbj_365 Thanks so much for the info and links. I will have to check them out when I have some more time. Some seem to be more than I wanted or can handle, but will have a detailed look at them ;-)
I also recommend Sebastian Michaels. I took his photo artistry and awake courses quite a while ago. Learned a lot about PS from him. He’s a good teacher. In fact I think I need to go back and review his material as I’d like to do more compositing.
@photographycrazy - thanks for the heads up. I get LinkedIn learning free from my employer for tech training. I think I'll try out one of the photoshop classes on my upcoming days off.
@photograndma@dbj_365 Years ago I bought a Scott Kelby book, which was a HUGE help in my Photodhop learning. I don't know about his on-line stuff, but I'd trust the name.
I second mention of Matt Kloskowski, he's very good. Scott Kelby is also great. There are so many choices, but if you have a Linkdin account, there are TONS of great classes, free and paid, to choose from there. If you (your daughter!) pays for the LinkedInLearning I would HIGHLY recommend Chris Orwig's series as a trainer--excellent! (He has some free ones, too, I think.)
Enjoy!!
@tdaug80@jernst1779@lsquared@aikiuser Thanks so much for all the interesting info. I think I will stay with Matt K. Much as I like the idea about Sebastian Michaels, it seems a bit too advanced for me at this stage (also a bit pricey) I don't want my daughter to spend that much :-)
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I also purchased a 30 days to PS from Blake Rudis. I haven't started that one yet but that it will be the next one after finishing the MattK course. Blake talks super fast and has good energy so I'm looking forward to taking that one next.
I know that @rosiekerr watches a lot of videos on Youtube but I found I needed a more step-by-step approach to getting started. Then maybe once I get the foundation I can seek specific videos.
Taffy and I were long-time Aperture users and we transitioned to LR when Aperture died. We stumbled through the initial transition without instruction but the concepts carried over from our knowledge of Aperture. Eventually we felt comfortable enough with LR to try PS.
Now I'm "retired" I've set myself the goal of doing a tutorial a month so this time next year I'll be able to "mask" with the rest of you!!!
I played about with photoshop when did my first 365 project and couldn't find anything I liked that would help me do what I wanted to do. Someone recommended this to me and it has been fabulous. I went on to do the AWAKE course (no longer available) and I joined the Kaizen course at the beginning of this year.
This link is to the magazine that is produced every month containing work from AWAKE and Kaizen artists. This will give you some idea if this is the sort of thing you are looking to learn about. https://issuu.com/thephotoartisticlife/docs/issue70-final
Or, as someone else suggested, Lynda.com is another very good option. The value of those subscriptions is that you have access to multiple Photoshop courses...in many cases, for the price you would pay for a single course.
Enjoy!!