Photoshop Training

triodes · 07-16-2021, 03:44 PM

I live in northern Arizona, and have no easy access to classroom instruction on PhotoShop. I know just enough to be dangerous, and would like some fairly intensive training.

What is folks opinion on DVD courses and such out there, or any other sources?

Thanks much

John E

vonBaloney · 07-16-2021, 04:31 PM

DVD sounds a bit outdated. There a million online courses using streaming videos. As far as which ones to recommend, I'm not sure, but most have a concentration for a certain type of photographer (portraits or landscape, etc) although I'm sure there are plenty of Photoshop 101s as well.

Also a ton of free content on youtube -- some with ads for more comprehensive courses. I'd probably start there and just dive-in.

**AggieDad** · 07-16-2021, 05:03 PM - **1 Like**

I highly recommend Phlearn. For $100 per year, you have unimited access to all their tutorials – from basic how-tos to advanced topics. They cover Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop, and Lightroom. Everything is clearly presented, and I find the moderator has a pleasant manner. You can start with with Phlearn's FREE 30 Days of Photoshop to get started with Photoshop and to see if you would like to invest your $100.

**AlwaysAl** · 07-16-2021, 05:04 PM

As a personal preference, I shoot in Adobe RAW and use PhotoShop on a Windows platform. To help me learn the ins and outs of PhotoShop, found Blake Rudis (f64 Academy) presents material in a clear, logical fashion complimenting my process.
He has a lot of free content on YouTube and great specific course content available for download/sale Here's link to his first segment of Adobe Camera Raw if you'd like to review:

You Tube

Good luck

**DWS1** · 07-16-2021, 05:28 PM - **1 Like**

There is ample free instruction on Photoshop all over the internet. You just have to sort thru it and determine what's important to you and what you want to do. There is a lot one can do with Photoshop that doesn't apply to photo processing. The difficulty with learning Photoshop for me is the terminology. Almost like trying to learn a foreign language, and most of the presenters seem to think we all understand it. Now that I've begun to understand the terminology Photoshop & Lightroom is becoming easier.

**ToddK** · 07-16-2021, 08:17 PM

There is a guy named Matt Kloskowski at Matt Kloskowski | Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography Training that has a very good online course for Photoshop. It is not free but is worth the money in my opinion. I like the way he has it put together and how he presents it. Once you subscribe he will send you a lot of additional updates and other useful information. You are able to download it or go through it online with the subscription.

tokyoscape · 07-16-2021, 09:31 PM

Saying without knowing what you will use the Photoshop for, [I am guessing] If you want to use it for photo processing purpose, you might want to focus more on the CameraRaw side of the software. (CameraRaw is the core photo processing engine of Adobe.) It is not that hard and you can pretty much DIY learning from online video for as long as you have the software to practice.
You can check out this person, Russell Brown. He has been with Adobe since the begging of Photoshop. A key contributor of the software since its first version and most of all a great teacher. His YouTube channel which teach all things photoshops, LightRoom on both mobile & desktop can be found here. His teaching style is very easy to follow. It is not because he teach easy things but he has a way to make complicate things easy to understand and follow.

**BarryE** · 07-17-2021, 12:30 AM

Be sure to think what you want to learn. Some trainers can be very persuasive that their techniques are the way to go. Some use a very formulaic approach. Some a more creative using fewer tools, but more sensitively. Take one tool set: dodge and burn. I feel this is ignored by many, though it is probably one of the best approaches to finesse a photo. However, the dodge and burn tools are clunky. Much better to create dodge and burn with curve layers and masks, and then careful application with brushes and opacity to get a better D&B. That last sentence may be a little deep, but what I was trying to show is that with a few tools, applied in more complex ways, many of the pre-set tools are not actually used by professional retouchers.

Just be careful who you follow is helping you learn the style and approach you want.

AfterPentax Mark II · 07-17-2021, 02:23 AM

These kind of things always bring out the explorer in me. I do not like courses, certainly not on DVD or streaming video's, most of the time it is so passive just sit and watching things explained and there is no interaction between you and the teacher. It is much more fun doing it yourself and it better sticks in your memory. So take a picture, decide what you want to do and just do it. If it goes wrong, well you always have the original and start all over again. If you cannot find out how to do it you can always look it up on the internet by using a search engine. Sometimes the manual can point you in the right direction and even the help function on adobe.com can point you in the right direction (that is, as soon as you have taught yourself how to find your way there as it is not always linked in a logical way). Good luck and enjoy the search!

Bleeblee · 07-17-2021, 06:51 AM - **1 Like**

I was searching on youtube and happened upon an amazing photoshop teacher named Unmesh Dinda. His youtube channel is PIXimperfect and he is simply amazing! His videos are free and he is fun to watch, his instruction is snappy without being too quick, and he is a master of photoshop. I go to his youtube channel and he has years worth of videos and you can search them by subject if there's one thing you're trying to learn to do. That's how I go after it otherwise it is overwhelming. In each video, he shows various ways to achieve your editing goal - the pros and cons of this tool vs. that tool- and he shows how and why they're different and what situations they work best for. Did I mention he's a hoot? It's super fun watching him and I have to be careful or I'll just spend the evening watching Unmesh and forgetting what I was supposed to be doing. Seriously. Amazing! PiXimperfect - YouTube

triodes · 07-17-2021, 08:00 AM - **1 Like**

I thank all of you for taking the time and effort to respond to me. I have enough information here to proceed in just about any direction. Very much appreciated. This forum is absolutely fantastic.

**StiffLegged** · 07-17-2021, 12:36 PM

I'll second the recommendations you've been given. I'll just give one cautionary note: there at least half a dozen ways to accomplish the same result in Photoshop – none of these are wrong. Settle on one tutor or video series and stick with it or it's easy to get confused in the early stages.

texandrews · 07-17-2021, 12:57 PM

I'll put a word in for Scott Kelby's instruction universe. As mentioned above there's a great deal of very helpful stuff online, but it's a bit of a crap shoot---you'll spend a lot of time weeding through the less good stuff, a lot of which is incompetently presented and/or so case specific that it's not that helpful.

Scott Kelby's paid subscription library is organized and down to earth. I've been to 2 of his Lightroom conferences and they were very much worth it. He's got books as well, not all of which are great.

Of course, the gold standard in books are those by Martin Evening, but they are dense---read more like college level textbooks.

triodes · 07-17-2021, 01:52 PM

More thanks guys, very much appreciated.

peggers · 07-18-2021, 09:02 PM

There is an amazing amount of stuff on YouTube. With me I find the difficulty is knowing what it is that I need to ask. My use of language may not match with the actual tecnical names for what I am trying to do. Accordingly, it normally takes me a couple of clicks to find what I want. Once found I will normally choose the shortest video available. I have also come across Matt: Matt Kloskowski | Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography Training and find him to be pretty good too.

07-16-2021, 03:44 PM	#1
triodes Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: Prescott, Arizona Posts: 29	Photoshop Training I live in northern Arizona, and have no easy access to classroom instruction on PhotoShop. I know just enough to be dangerous, and would like some fairly intensive training. What is folks opinion on DVD courses and such out there, or any other sources? Thanks much John E

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07-16-2021, 04:31 PM	#2
vonBaloney Pentaxian Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 6,029	DVD sounds a bit outdated. There a million online courses using streaming videos. As far as which ones to recommend, I'm not sure, but most have a concentration for a certain type of photographer (portraits or landscape, etc) although I'm sure there are plenty of Photoshop 101s as well. Also a ton of free content on youtube -- some with ads for more comprehensive courses. I'd probably start there and just dive-in.

07-16-2021, 05:03 PM - 1 Like	#3
AggieDad Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Houston, TX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 1,456	I highly recommend Phlearn. For $100 per year, you have unimited access to all their tutorials – from basic how-tos to advanced topics. They cover Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop, and Lightroom. Everything is clearly presented, and I find the moderator has a pleasant manner. You can start with with Phlearn's FREE 30 Days of Photoshop to get started with Photoshop and to see if you would like to invest your $100.

07-16-2021, 05:28 PM - 1 Like	#5
DWS1 Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Arkansas, USA Posts: 1,169	There is ample free instruction on Photoshop all over the internet. You just have to sort thru it and determine what's important to you and what you want to do. There is a lot one can do with Photoshop that doesn't apply to photo processing. The difficulty with learning Photoshop for me is the terminology. Almost like trying to learn a foreign language, and most of the presenters seem to think we all understand it. Now that I've begun to understand the terminology Photoshop & Lightroom is becoming easier.

07-16-2021, 08:17 PM	#6
ToddK Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Texas Hill Country Photos: Gallery Posts: 11,566	There is a guy named Matt Kloskowski at Matt Kloskowski \| Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography Training that has a very good online course for Photoshop. It is not free but is worth the money in my opinion. I like the way he has it put together and how he presents it. Once you subscribe he will send you a lot of additional updates and other useful information. You are able to download it or go through it online with the subscription.

07-16-2021, 09:31 PM	#7
tokyoscape Inactive Account Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery Posts: 1,256	Saying without knowing what you will use the Photoshop for, [I am guessing] If you want to use it for photo processing purpose, you might want to focus more on the CameraRaw side of the software. (CameraRaw is the core photo processing engine of Adobe.) It is not that hard and you can pretty much DIY learning from online video for as long as you have the software to practice. You can check out this person, Russell Brown. He has been with Adobe since the begging of Photoshop. A key contributor of the software since its first version and most of all a great teacher. His YouTube channel which teach all things photoshops, LightRoom on both mobile & desktop can be found here. His teaching style is very easy to follow. It is not because he teach easy things but he has a way to make complicate things easy to understand and follow.

07-17-2021, 12:30 AM	#8
BarryE Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Hampshire, UK Posts: 1,654	Be sure to think what you want to learn. Some trainers can be very persuasive that their techniques are the way to go. Some use a very formulaic approach. Some a more creative using fewer tools, but more sensitively. Take one tool set: dodge and burn. I feel this is ignored by many, though it is probably one of the best approaches to finesse a photo. However, the dodge and burn tools are clunky. Much better to create dodge and burn with curve layers and masks, and then careful application with brushes and opacity to get a better D&B. That last sentence may be a little deep, but what I was trying to show is that with a few tools, applied in more complex ways, many of the pre-set tools are not actually used by professional retouchers. Just be careful who you follow is helping you learn the style and approach you want.

07-17-2021, 02:23 AM	#9
AfterPentax Mark II Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2021 Posts: 1,467	These kind of things always bring out the explorer in me. I do not like courses, certainly not on DVD or streaming video's, most of the time it is so passive just sit and watching things explained and there is no interaction between you and the teacher. It is much more fun doing it yourself and it better sticks in your memory. So take a picture, decide what you want to do and just do it. If it goes wrong, well you always have the original and start all over again. If you cannot find out how to do it you can always look it up on the internet by using a search engine. Sometimes the manual can point you in the right direction and even the help function on adobe.com can point you in the right direction (that is, as soon as you have taught yourself how to find your way there as it is not always linked in a logical way). Good luck and enjoy the search!

07-17-2021, 06:51 AM - 1 Like	#10
Bleeblee Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Saltspring Photos: Gallery Posts: 42	I was searching on youtube and happened upon an amazing photoshop teacher named Unmesh Dinda. His youtube channel is PIXimperfect and he is simply amazing! His videos are free and he is fun to watch, his instruction is snappy without being too quick, and he is a master of photoshop. I go to his youtube channel and he has years worth of videos and you can search them by subject if there's one thing you're trying to learn to do. That's how I go after it otherwise it is overwhelming. In each video, he shows various ways to achieve your editing goal - the pros and cons of this tool vs. that tool- and he shows how and why they're different and what situations they work best for. Did I mention he's a hoot? It's super fun watching him and I have to be careful or I'll just spend the evening watching Unmesh and forgetting what I was supposed to be doing. Seriously. Amazing! PiXimperfect - YouTube

07-17-2021, 08:00 AM - 1 Like	#11
triodes Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: Prescott, Arizona Posts: 29 Original Poster	I thank all of you for taking the time and effort to respond to me. I have enough information here to proceed in just about any direction. Very much appreciated. This forum is absolutely fantastic.

07-17-2021, 12:36 PM	#12
StiffLegged Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2018 Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,635	I'll second the recommendations you've been given. I'll just give one cautionary note: there at least half a dozen ways to accomplish the same result in Photoshop – none of these are wrong. Settle on one tutor or video series and stick with it or it's easy to get confused in the early stages.

07-17-2021, 12:57 PM	#13
texandrews Moderator Join Date: Apr 2014 Location: Baltimore Photos: Albums Posts: 3,397	I'll put a word in for Scott Kelby's instruction universe. As mentioned above there's a great deal of very helpful stuff online, but it's a bit of a crap shoot---you'll spend a lot of time weeding through the less good stuff, a lot of which is incompetently presented and/or so case specific that it's not that helpful. Scott Kelby's paid subscription library is organized and down to earth. I've been to 2 of his Lightroom conferences and they were very much worth it. He's got books as well, not all of which are great. Of course, the gold standard in books are those by Martin Evening, but they are dense---read more like college level textbooks.

07-17-2021, 01:52 PM	#14
triodes Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2021 Location: Prescott, Arizona Posts: 29 Original Poster	More thanks guys, very much appreciated.

07-18-2021, 09:02 PM	#15
peggers Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Endeavour Hills, Victoria, Australia Photos: Gallery Posts: 210	There is an amazing amount of stuff on YouTube. With me I find the difficulty is knowing what it is that I need to ask. My use of language may not match with the actual tecnical names for what I am trying to do. Accordingly, it normally takes me a couple of clicks to find what I want. Once found I will normally choose the shortest video available. I have also come across Matt: Matt Kloskowski \| Lightroom, Photoshop, Photography Training and find him to be pretty good too.