By David Peters
Everything you want to learn about Photoshop is grouped into sections that are easy to identify and access. Tutorials are continually being made simpler and clearer so that everyone is included. If however, you think that the tutorials are not enough there are DVD Rom tutorials that you can purchase and have to access anytime that you forget how to do something and need to refresh your memory. This DVDROM has 120mins (yup, 2 hours) of tutorials that will help you know how to use Photoshop even in your sleep. If you already have more than a basic knowledge of using Photoshop you can take a look at the Photoshop Secrets Special FX. It's a tutorial CDROM with 19 lessons that are packed into 2 hours that will teach you exactly how to use the special cutting edge effects that the advance Photoshop users' use.
If you try to learn Photoshop yourself, a trial and error method of learning will allow you to become pretty good at a few fundamental techniques. But you'll never begin to imagine the unlimited potential of Photoshop CS2 until you sign up for Photoshop training. If you deal with images or graphics of any type in your work or in your favorite hobby, Photoshop training can help you reach your full potential. Adobe says that Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film and video professionals, professionals in the manufacturing industry, medical professionals, architects and engineers, and scientific researchers. Photoshop CS3 lets professionals render 3D images and incorporate them in 2D composites. When CS2 came out, professional and novices alike were thrilled with the new Font Preview capability.
To begin, open your Photoshop program, then hold down Ctrl-Alt-Shift in Windows or Command-Option-Shift for Mac OS. This restores the default preferences. Click on "Yes," which resets, and then close the screen. Open an image file inside Photoshop, then make a duplicate layer to work on. This is one of the best habits you can develop for working with Photoshop; once you're used to editing only on a copy of the original, you will see that it's easy and worth it. SHARPENING. From your top menu, click "Filter," then "Sharpen." Normally, the "Sharpen Edges" function, judiciously applied, will be all you need to bring clarity to your photo. There is an unlimited cornucopia of enhancement options for the well-versed Photoshop user. The very basic steps above will get you started.
Unleash the power of the Gradient Editor to customize Photoshop's default gradients. The key to using the Gradient Tool effectively is to be able to master its editing options. Select the Gradient Tool and click on the gradient preview in the options bar to open the Gradient Editor. You'll see a variety of preset gradients displayed, from the default Foreground to Background gradient to the more complex Chrome gradient. All these preset gradients can be edited to create new gradients. You'll notice that some gradients have more colour 'stops' than others; the Foreground to Background gradient has two colour stops - black and white - while the Spectrum gradient has seven colour stops.
Photoshop offers blending options unsurpassed in the design industry in your "Layer Style" dialog box, you will first find "General Blending" options, which are often enough for any task. Experiment with the Blend Modes and their opacity to see just how incredibly flexible the normal Blending Options can be.To find your advanced blending options in Photoshop, double-click a layer or click the "Add a Layer Style" icon at the bottom left of your Layers palette, and then choose "Blending Options." Your "Layer Style" dialog box will appear.At the bottom of the Layer Style box, you will find, under "Advanced Blending," something called the "Blend If" tool. What is the Photoshop "Blend If" tool, exactly? Blend If is a "smart" blending tool. You can use it to blend images or create a more transparent image with almost infinite precision. This one tool is so flexible and handy it behooves any serios Photoshop designer to learn to use it, and use it well.
Indeed, Adobe's online push has as much to do with consumers' expectations as encroaching competition from Google, said Peter O'Kelly, an analyst at Burton Group."From a digital-media consumer experience, Adobe really needs, for competitive and customer value reasons, to be the end-to-end products and services supplier," O'Kelly said. "It doesn't portend well if Adobe can't get on top of it." The latest version of Google's Picasa, which is a desktop application, introduces features to post photos on the Web. It also allows people to read Photoshop files, O'Kelly noted. Showdown with Picasa? Chizen said that although hosted Photoshop is meant to be a low-end product, the company intends to ensure that it is of a higher quality than free alternatives. As an online image-editing application, Adobe faces a challenge in providing a good experience for customers, he added.
When you want to add an adjustment layer quickly, the best way to do it is to click on the shortcut option that is located at the foot of the Layers palette. You can also go to the Layer - New Adjustment Layer in the main menu. If you use the Lasso Tool when making a selection on your original layer, any adjustment layers you design will only affect the selected area. A mask protects the unselected parts of an image on each new adjustment layer. You can build your image adjustments effectively and slowly if you combine the effects of multiple adjustment layers. You also have the option of turning them off and on when you are ready to fine-tune the overall effect. Use the thumbnail icons to quickly identify your adjustment layers. These thumbnail icons are attached to the corresponding layer and they are labeled so you can see which layer applies which effect.