What is the best way to learn Adobe Photoshop?

What is the best way to learn Adobe Photoshop?

When I first decided to learn Photoshop, I bought a book. I believe Photoshop was then at version 3 (that's long before Creative Suite, and before The Internet As We Now Know It™ existed).

I no longer recall the name of the book, but it was something like 800-plus pages packed with textbook-like information…colour theory, what each tool did and lots more in mind-numbingly intensive detail). I gained little from it except a giant headache and a deep frustration that Photoshop was such a vast universe it would be impossible to ever master it.

I was wrong.

A year or so later, I was fortunate enough to receive on-the-job training from certified Photoshop experts (I was a journalist with a newspaper at the time, and we were just transitioning to editorial staff taking on the responsibility for page design). Suddenly, in the context of the publishing workflow and what needed to be done, it all made sense.

The reason for the long preamble is this: When you say you want to learn Photoshop from scratch, the question has to be asked…What are you going to use Photoshop for? Advertising graphics? Print publishing? Web design? Comic book illustration? Glamour retouching?

The answer to that question will dictate the approach you should take. For someone just learning the program, Photoshop can seem overwhelming, so start off with manageable chunks. There is so much to learn that even advanced users are constantly picking up new things.

The best approach to take—in my opinion—is this:

1. Familiarize yourself with the basic tools. A good course to take would be Ben Will more's Adobe Photoshop Starter Kit, $59 on Creative Live (Adobe Photoshop Starter Kit with Ben Fillmore | Creative Live - Learn. Be Inspired.). Ben Willmore is something of a Photoshop icon, and this course covers the basics and then some. One of the video segments is available as a free download, so you can try before you buy.

2. Look for someone in your field of interest to help establish a workflow, and then look for tutorials that address your specific needs. Adobe TV (Learn Photoshop CS6) covers a great deal and it's free, but also take a look at Lynda.com (Photoshop Tutorials | Learn how to edit and enhance photos at Lynda.com) and Creative Live (Online Class Catalog: Art & Design).

One important thing to keep in mind is that virtually every design professional uses Photoshop in conjunction with one or more apps like In Design, Quark X Press, Illustrator, Light room or Bridge. Seeing Photoshop as a tool to be used in isolation will only set you up for frustration.

Once you're up to speed with one aspect of Photoshop, you can explore what else you can do with the program. As I said at the start, there's no limit to how much you can learn with this program, which is a beast and beauty wrapped into one.