Photoshop is an important tool for any designer’s collection. It can do anything from simple drawing to complex layer effects, and is the most widely used software of its kind on the market. The reason for its popularity is more than just how available it is. Adobe Photoshop gives you everything you need at your fingertips for any kind of graphic manipulation.
In the world of social media, it’s easy to get interested in graphic design through doctoring photos and making small banners for your friends. Though Photoshop is extremely easy to use, it can be a bit intimidating to anyone opening it for the first time. I suggest taking your time and getting to know some of the primary functions of the program before attempting any big ideas. It’s easy to get frustrated when there’s a hurdle that seems too high to stride. If you take your learning process one step at a time, there’s virtually nothing this program can’t do (with graphics) after only a few practice sessions.
To get the technical stuff out of the way: Adobe Photoshop CS4 was officially released on October 15, 2008 and is a raster graphics editor with significant vector graphics functionality. This means its primary function is pixel images like photos. But it also comes packed with technology that uses points, lines, curves, and shapes, which are all based on mathematical equations, to represent images. This can give any Photoshop user the tools to cleanly print or display their graphics at any size (i.e. anything from thumbnails to Hi-Def quality. From a business card to a billboard without getting grainy). Understanding these advanced features of Photoshop is not required for beginners, but paves the way for years of use to anyone who takes the path.
An amazing resource for any software knowledge is YouTube. Most of the software I’ve ever learned in my life has been thanks to random people’s video tutorials, and Photoshop is no different. With 2 monitors, you can watch the tutorial while navigating the program. Pause when you need to pause, and go back when you need to go back. There’s only a couple things I’ve found that’s really irked me about any of them.
1. Annoying Voice – I just can’t learn from someone who’s voice gets on my last nerve.
2. Boasting about one’s own skills – Too many designers do it in their tutorials and they end up spending most of the video showing off.
As long as you can avoid this kind of video, you will be well on your way to learning at your own pace. For just this reason, I created a beginner’s guide to Photoshop video and uploaded it to YouTube today. I really just concentrated on the basic functions to get you on your feet with the program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NVApIfLSbo
In any learning environment I’ve found my mind has a saturation point so it’s important to know when to take a break. Often times it only takes a few minutes until I’m itching to tackle it again, but giving yourself space to clear your mind is key to absorbing anything over your head. Your frustration doesn’t mean you’re not getting it, or that you won’t get it. In fact in most cases I have the biggest breakthroughs after my most devastating frustrations. Just as you’re ready to give up, go to the kitchen and make yourself a snack. By the time you’ve eaten it and returned to your computer the information is easier to take in, and you may find yourself calling on things you didn’t even know you had retained.
Be patient with yourself and call on YouTube to answer any questions you might have along the way!
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