Taking the photoshop plung, what have I gotten into?

[hardknox00001]

So I recently bought a Nikon D40X camera with some lenses. Walking around in Walmart the other day, I saw Photoshop Elements 8 and bought it. Any advice on how to learn how to use this thing. I have no photoshop experience, and after loading and opening it, not real sure I want any...................

Insert learning advice below.........

Edited May 14, 2010 by hardknox00001

[Garufa]

Google about for "photoshop tutorials" or similar things. There's alot out there.

[Il Duce]

Practice Practice Practice. thats what i did. also check out Classroom in a Book. it helped me greatly on the basics.

[jeffmem]

Not sure if the have elements tutorials but one month of unlimited video training on lynda.com helped me learn a lot about Photoshop cs4.

[Oh Shoot]

Try the "Help>How To's" in the program menu.

And comfort yourself that Elements is but a subset of the full program.

- OS

[hardknox00001]

And comfort yourself that Elements is but a subset of the full program.

- OS

My wife would say that most of the time, I'm a subset idiot

[Guest Glock23ForMe]

There are a number of good tutorials on youtube, grant it, some of them are done by like 15 year olds, but they are pretty good and get to the point. If all else fails, just play with it till you figure something out..

[Oh Shoot]

Few general tips, regardless of imaging program used.

- Save original picture file, whatever format it is in, untouched.

- Do NOT work with pic with multiple resaves in JPEG; use TIFF or PSD (PSD will often be significantly smaller). You can use compressed TIFF (LZW) but takes longer to open and may not open in some older editing programs).

Everytime you close a JPEG, reopen, edit, and resave, you corrupt image more. JPEG should be a final output option only, and even then best only for onscreen use. (JPEG achieves smaller image size by throwing away information - and of course you can vary the JPEG quality setting, but it looses info at all settings). TIFF, PSD, even the clunky old BMP are non-lossy formats. Disk space is the cheapest part of computing.

- Always resample (resize in pixels) DOWNward. You can't really upsize ("uprez") very much ... interpolated (made-up) pixels simply smooth but soften image.

- Don't use sharpening/unsharp mask until last step at actual output size. Save your edited pic in TIFF or PSD unsharpened. Sharpening is an undoable function, and of course the same level of sharpening affects different size pics differently. Best to not use in-camera sharpening unless you expect to use image as is out of the cam.

- For printing purposes, 220 ppi (pixels per inch at actual print size) is good guideline, though you may see improvements up to 300 ppi depending on printer. Printer rez is determined by total pixels in image constrained to whatever paper size. x number of total pixels achieve higher rez the smaller the area they are constrained to:

(1200 x 800 pixel image = 100 ppi @ 12x8 inches, 150ppi @ 8x5 inches, 240ppi @ 5 x 3 inches) - Which should tell you that you need a higher rez image to begin with if you want to print larger sizes.

- "inches" have no meaning to an onscreen image. Only pixels have meaning. A 1600 x 1200 pixel image is just that. It will appear as a different physical size on different monitors all depending on physical size of monitor and the pixel resolution set ON that monitor, but in all cases, the image is still 1600 x 1200 pixels. "Inches" only has meaning in printing to physical media.

- OS

[Guest Daelith]

I've not work with PSE, but have worked with Paint Shop Pro. I'm sure they have similar features. OhShoot has given you some good tips. Look for a tutorial about working with layers. That's always kind of fun. If you really get adventurous, the effects and plug-ins can keep you entertained for hours.

[fullmetaljoe]

I'm not sure what features are/ are not in Elements, but here are a few topics that would be useful to research.

-Layers

-Transparency and the alpha channel

-brushes

-The basic functions of the tools

-filters and layer styles

However, I've found that the best way to learn is to do. Work with a picture and try to create a specific effect. Even if you can't get it to work, chances are you'll learn something useful. As usual, Google is your friend.

Also, OhShoot's advice is good stuff.

[hardknox00001]

Few general tips, regardless of imaging program used.

- OS

Select all info, right click copy, paste to word document, save for future reference

[DaveTN]

Insert learning advice below.........

Photoshop Elements is not a user friendly program. But it doesn’t have to be; it has no competition.

I have generally dealt with one task at a time (Whatever I need to do) and used the help (online) section.

I would suggest the following for a beginner.

1. Shoot everything in RAW or RAW+Large JPG.

2. Use big cards so memory is not even an issue. (4GB and larger)

3. This isn’t film…. Shoot away with total disregard for how many shots you are taking. This is one time when Spray & Pray is a good thing.

4. Save original files and do not edit them. (Then when you screw up your pics, and you will, you can start over.)

5. Know your camera equipment and you won’t have to edit much.

6. Find a good photography forum. For Canon this is it…

Canon Digital Photography Forums - Powered by vBulletin

For Nikon I don’t know, but you can still use that Canon forum for stuff that is not camera dependent.

Good luck. Digital Photography is a great hobby, but just like guns; it is expensive and the good stuff costs.

[jeffmem]

Hopefully I am not sounding like a shill but I think you will really like the training here:

Tutorial: Photoshop Elements 8 for Windows Essential Training

You can download a few lessons for free. The only down side is that you dont get the sample files however you can usually just do a screen grab and work along using that.

[Metalhead]

Remember: Lens flares make everything better!

[bockey]

Years ago I thought the same thing. I have only have scratched the surface of even Elements. I use it mainly for "specializing " photos. For everyday retouching the tools in iPhoto on my Mac are enough. I have used ArcSoft PhotoImpression which came with my scanner. As GGP2JZ said, practice, practice, practice.

Elements can be alot of fun.