A post that is neither fic nor even about fic

[ratherastory]

Okay.

So I have a not-so-legal copy of Photoshop CS4 on my computer. Shh, don't tell anyone, 'kay?

Anyway, I have discovered, much to my chagrin, that I understand diddlysquat about how it's supposed to work. No, seriously. I can't cut and paste shapes, I can't even find a fill too. It's embarrassing just how badly I suck at figuring this out, and usually after I futz around in a program for a while I can usually make out the basics. Hell, I once figured out an entire image editing software that was in Portuguese, and I don't even speak the language.

Dear flist, help a girl out. Are there good tutorials out there? Preferably with screencaps and plain language, or at least language that will explain to me what all the technical terms mean? I have this shiny toy, and I really want to play with it!

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[hereare-mysins.livejournal.com]

No need to embarrassed. Photoshop requires a lot of practice. I've been using it since PSC2 and I'm still learning.

Deviantart has TONS of tutorials that have screen caps. Just type Photoshop CS4 tutorial on the search bar and it should give you some good ones.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

It's like it's in Chinese, I swear! Or possibly Swahili. :P

Thanks for the tip! I'll check them out when I get home.

I wanted to make a banner or something maybe for my LJ, just fiddle with things, but I can't even figure out how to copy/paste sections of an image. I can sort of manipulate a single image, but that's where it ends, and that really kind of limits what I want to do, you know?

Eesh.

[authoressnebula.livejournal.com]

Dude I'm still trying to make PAINT work. :P

I've been working with Gimp, mainly on photos, as it has this really cool Red Eye feature and I can manipulate colors and shades with an easy click...once I figured out where to click.

You's gonna be awesome by the end of it all, I know it. ♥

~Nebula

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I don't have Paint or anything like it on my computer, hence why I was optimistic and downloaded PS. Little did I know...

I'm hoping that with some practice I'll be passable by January. :)

[silverblaze85.livejournal.com]

*nods* I was gonna suggest GIMP. I can't make Photoshop to work at all, but Gimp I can make it do what I want it to. <3

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Neat. Do you know if it exists for Macs?

[silverblaze85.livejournal.com]

http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/ <-- Says so, at least, it looks like it! They do warn that it's only for version OS X (gibberish to me, but I'm sure it'll mean something to you).

Also, at the bottom of the page is a link to a forum based purely on GIMP for Mac.

Hope that helps a little bit. ^_^ I adore GIMP; I tend to use it by default rather than paint.

[embroiderama]

All I can do is commiserate. I'm trying to figure out how to use GIMP, the open source sort of copy of Photoshop, and I SUCK.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Gah. We can suck together. *clings*

[wave-obscura.livejournal.com]

I used my friend's lynda.com account. IT IS AMAZING. I think it costs $25 a month or something, but (not to sound like an infomericial) best video tutorials EVER. Basically like taking a photoshop class.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, neat. Does it work outside the States?

[wave-obscura.livejournal.com]

I dunno. They do have a bunch of free tutorial videos, though. You could try watching one, see if it works.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I'll definitely try that when I get home from work, then. :)

Thanks!

[bellatemple]

Yeeeeah, I've been using Photoshop for, like, a billion years (okay, so actually about ten, shut up), and I still barely know how to do what I do know how to do with it. I'm gonna agree with someone above who said "try googling" or something to that effect. There's loads of "have some screen caps showing what should happen" tutorials about -- just watch out for the ones that start going on about raw photo data and things. There's loads of those about, too.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, Google is my friend. It's just that there are a TON of different tutorials out there, so I was hoping for more specific recommendations -the ones people found particularly good or helpful. :)

[bellatemple]

Yeah, the basics tutorial I used was a guy at a media conference in Atlanta ten years ago. I'm less than helpful here, alas.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

It's okay. Other people have pointed me in what looks to be some pretty promising directions.

Also, what does your schedule look like for January? You and I need to write that MacBeth casefic still. I haven't forgotten.

[bellatemple]

Let's see, January. New US congress, start of US tax season -- we tend to be pretty busy at work at that point -- on the other hand, that's all federal and I'm little miss international, now, so some of that business might be me sitting around waiting on editors.

Of course, it's also the start of big bang season, too. But I'm fairly certain I wouldn't have any other fannish obligations.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

True, although if you're interested we could always do it as a Big Bang. Just a thought, no obligations there. :)

How about we tentatively schedule the beginning of January as a brainstorming/plotting time, and then the end of January to whenever will be the actual writing time?

[bellatemple]

Hmmm. I have another idea for the big bang this year, I must admit, but we could give writing just to write it a shot.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! If you already have an idea, then you should totally write that. I have two ideas currently competing in my head for the Big Bang.

I am still psyched about that casefic, though. I think it could kick ass. :)

[bellatemple]

Oh definitely! I've been resisting the urge to start a theatrical fic, myself!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

w00t!

I'll dig up your email when I get home from work and ping you so we can maybe start the engine again. :)

[bellatemple]

*salutes*

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

I should read the other comments before I say this, but anything by Adobe, Macromedia and whatever else they've purchased in the past 5 years is dreadful with tutorials. I had to teach myself InDesign (and then InDesign for the Middle East!) and it was/is torture. There is NOTHING intuitive or user-friendly with the programs.

Having said that, mashable.com understands how we feel and posted this recently: 12 beginner tutorials for Photoshop

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

You are awesome. Thank you!

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

Not awesome -- just in the same boat.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

You ARE awesome, don't try to deny it, no one will believe you. ;)

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

Bah! I spit on your claims.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Ewwwww!

*pulls out an umbrella*

*sticks out her tongue*

[yasminke.livejournal.com]

Run, kiddo, run!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

*dashes away*

[jesseofthenorth.livejournal.com]

There is no way possible you suck as bad as I do at stuff like this so I go to
icon_tutorial . They cover a lot of stuff but i find their tutorials effective and mostly pretty easy to follow

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Heh. I dunno, but I'm not willing to enter a contest to find out. ;)

I'll check it out, thanks!

[thorny-wood.livejournal.com]

For what it might be worthy, I'd absolutely recommend the online show Pixel Perfect (http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/) for learning to do stuff in Photoshop. The show -- sadly over -- was done by a kind of big name digital artist, Bert Monroy, and every episode showed you how to create some effect or use some tool. It was all very step-by-step, learn-by-example, and by the end, I always felt like I understood the tools a little better, and I could almost always reproduce the cool whatever that he demonstrated.

Hope that helps, and good luck with Photoshop. :)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds really shiny. Thanks!