Learning Photoshop

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mikeh32217

Senior Member
I've been a casual Photoshop user for a long time but just recently started getting serious when I coincidentally got serious about photography so am going to post an occasional shot here as I progress to see if I'm making any progress and if anyone can give me any pointers.
1st one on the list is a shot I've tried many variations on and never quite get it right so have been playing with textures and filters and here is the result.

Snake River Textured.jpg
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
mikeh32217 said:
I've been a casual Photoshop user for a long time but just recently started getting serious when I coincidentally got serious about photography so am going to post an occasional shot here as I progress to see if I'm making any progress and if anyone can give me any pointers.
1st one on the list is a shot I've tried many variations on and never quite get it right so have been playing with textures and filters and here is the result.

View attachment 50746
Click to expand...

That looks nice. What did you use to get the effect?
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
Basically CS6 Oil Filter filter and Satin effect type and some tweeking.

Photoshop reminds me of the old saying the more I know the less I know.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
For anyone interested in learning CS6 allow me to suggest Scott Kelby's The Adobe Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers.

Parties interested in obtaining a copy could contact me via PM to discuss it.

Before I started with this book, I had no real workflow. I didn't understand Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera RAW seemed superfluous and, really, just a little annoying. Scott Kelby plots out an elegant workflow in the opening chapters of this book, and explains how to use both Bridge and ACR like a power-user and now, I wouldn't want to live in a world without them. The Photoshop techniques you will learn in this book will have your jaw dropping. It never ceases to amaze me what Photoshop can do.
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
Horoscope Fish said:
For anyone interested in learning CS6 allow me to suggest Scott Kelby's The Adobe Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers.

Parties interested in obtaining a copy could contact me via PM to discuss it.

Before I started with this book, I had no real workflow. I didn't understand Adobe Bridge and Adobe Camera RAW seemed superfluous and, really, just a little annoying. Scott Kelby plots out an elegant workflow in the opening chapters of this book, and explains how to use both Bridge and ACR like a power-user and now, I wouldn't want to live in a world without them. The Photoshop techniques you will learn in this book will have your jaw dropping. It never ceases to amaze me what Photoshop can do.
Click to expand...

Can't find the way to PM you but it looks like a good book, a little dated but might be useful and I can get it from Amazon for $4.50 with shipping so will give it a try.
Thanks for the heads up!

I've already read; Perfect Digital Photography by Jay Dickson and Jay Kinghorn which is a very good book and I'm reading the Photoshop CS5 Bible now, it's a little dry but is a good reference and have learned a lot about the tools and what they do (only about 1/4 of the way into it).

I'm learning, slowly but surely (please don't call me Shirley) but at times a little overwhelming.
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
mikeh32217 said:
Can't find the way to PM you...
Click to expand...
Well just for future reference, you click on a user's ID on one of their posts and you get a menu of options... One of which is to PM them. :D


mikeh32217 said:
... it looks like a good book, a little dated but might be useful and I can get it from Amazon for $4.50 with shipping so will give it a try.
Click to expand...
Used print copies are cheap on Amazon but some people prefer electronic versions, which is what I am offering to interested parties. And I'm not sure I understand why you're under the impression it's "a little dated". It's based on the most recent version of Adobe's Creative Suite (version 6) and is copyright 2013...
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
Here's today's entry! One other thing I will mention here is that 99% of these travel photos were taken from a moving vehicle, got to be pretty good at it.

Snow Bound.jpg
 
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WhiteLight

Senior Member
I think it would be great if you write what you did in PS for each of these pics.
That way a lot of others can learn & with inputs from experienced folks here, you could improve your skill as well.
Just a thought :)
 
Horoscope Fish

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
How Do You Eat an Elephant?

One of the best resources I've found for learning Photoshop are the free tutorials available on Photoshop Essentials.com.

I started off doing basic, global corrections to things like exposure and sharpening then learned how to use the selection tools. Along the way you'll learn about things like layers, brushes, content aware tools and so forth. How do you learn photoshop? Same way you eat an elephant... One bite at a time.
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
OK I'm going to get an early start on tomorrows today and post one that is new to me.
I've always wanted to try the clarity set in a minus direction but never had a photo that it looked good with but I think it works here.
It was very bright at the beach so a lot of my pictures didn't turn out the way I wanted. Just got a CPL and still learning to use it!

Ok as requested what I did; (original on left)

Lightroom
1) Adjusted the WB
2) Adjusted the White and Blacks
3) Kicked contrast up and set clarity all the way left
4) I believe I dropped exposure just a tad

PhotoShop
1) Made a copy (Ctrl J)
2) Set the Layer type to Soft Light
3) Create a blank layer and set Layer Type to Soft Light
4) Did a bit of shading to give a little better effect (Burn and Dodge)

Longneck - org.jpg Longneck.jpg

Overall I like the eerie effect and I think it worked pretty good with this photo.
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
Get your kicks on Rte 66!

Here's an old one I dug out of the archives it's a truck stop museum in Russell, OK on the old Route 66. It's a family owned and has been in biz a LONG time and is one of the few truck stops that is still operational on the old Rte 66.

russell OK.jpg
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
So that's what a truck stop looks like! :D I haven't seen the Mobil gasoline logo in years. Great photo! :)
 
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mikeh32217

Senior Member
Playing with textures I got from skeletal mess

Before After
Snow scene-2.jpg Snow scene.jpg

I like how it looks but it's not the right texture for the photo. What i was trying for was an old painting with flaking paint, if that makes any sense.
 
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