New to Photoshop?

Not everyone learns how to use design programs like Photoshop in school. I'm even an advertising major and I wasn't required to take even a single class on this very handy tool. Photoshop is useful for everyone, for making neat flyers, desiging a holiday card, or altering your own photos. Photoshop Elements is a less expensive option, but with much more limited features. Photoshop is expensive [I think my student version was nearly $200], but if you've taken the leap to buy it and are now sitting in front of a big grey screen with lots of little grey boxes wondering what to do, I have help!

Photoshop Essentials is just that, the essentials to learning how to use Photoshop. The directions are written in plain English with pictures. There are tutorials on the very basics [with no underlying tone of judgment toward your lack of Photoshop skillz] and more advanced photo editing. Trust me, these are very clear to follow, totally free, and there to look up again when you can't remember how to do that cool thing you did yesterday. Start with Layers.

IceFlowStudios via youtube has dozens of videos showing you just how to add dazzling effects to photos like a snowy landscape, applying makeup, and whitening a smile. You can follow right along with the video and see actual screen shots of where and what to click. The narrator makes it easy to understand why you're doing whatever it is you're doing and adds tips to help you extend the skills you're learning outside of that particular tutorial.

The more you work in Photoshop, the more comfortable you'll become using shortcuts. These are the same shortcuts you might use in Word to copy [Ctrl+C] but are customizable. There are shorcuts already in place when you buy Photoshop, and knowing them is going to make it easier on you. Download a cheat sheet of them here for all versions up to CS4 for Window or Mac.