Friday
Dec182009
Flower Pots
Fri, December 18, 2009 at 04:05PM 
Do any of you have an illogical aversion to tutorials? To training books? Perhaps I'm the only one. I'm learning Photoshop CS4 (my new toy) one googled tutorial at a time. Above you will find my first official editing project. I took the photograph (top: edited version) in Amsterdam this summer. It was a lovely urban scene of flower pots on weathered cement stairs. When you are editing a photograph, there are so many variables, an infinite number of changes. Just playing. One slider at a time.
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Reader Comments (8)
Beautiful shot Tammy. Have you considered taking dj Pettitt's on-line course using Photoshop? You can check it out here: http://djpettitt.blogspot.com/
The possibilities are endless with how you can alter an image, impressive.
Lovely shot - both before and after editing. Your photos are stunning anyway :-)
Googling a tutorial, one step at a time seems a perfect way to absorb it all - then you are in control of it, rather than trying to remember "what's next?"
*Bren, Thank you for popping in! The Photoshop course definitely looks intriguing. Are you going to take it? The entire blog looks fun so I will go explore. Software training just isn't my thing; I guess it's my lack of patience ;>
*Sam, Hi there! I like to learn how to do what I want to do rather than learn everything the software can do. It seems more flexible and no stress. Perhaps it's big people project based learning!
~ Tammy
Tammy I'm very much like you with tutorials, instructions, you name it!! I want to dive right in....but the way I learned photoshop ELEMENTS was by an online course, which made me do things, that I thought were mundane, but it helped me to learn more about the software.. I took an online course, which worked for me, cuz it didn't go too fast, but then gave me time each week to learn the task. Photoshop has a pretty steep learning curve, so you gotta be patient with yourself.
Check out this link:
http://www.ed2go.com/cgi-bin/oic3/newcrsdes.cgi?name=bellarmine&course=pd4&title=Photoshop%20CS4%20for%20the%20Digital%20Photographer&path=1
Good luck,
Eden, Thanks for the suggestion, I will check it out. I'm definitely not impatient in learning software (just the class itself!). Right now I am just enjoying playing around, making mistakes, trying again. It's how I learned everything from Excel to Publisher! Off to make dinner... ~ Tammy
Tammy, you and I seem to learn the same way. I, too, get frustrated with tutorials. I'm kind of a hands on girl who likes to tinker around, get frustrated and learn from my mistakes. I taught myself Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. and got to the point where I started to instruct others.
Frankly, I like BOTH shots. You have a great "eye"! Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years too! Holiday Hugs, Terri xoxo
Terri, In Excel courses, folks learn what the s/w CAN do, which gives beginners a false sense of mastery. They leave class with little idea how to do what they need to do. Teaching project-based Excel would be fun and more productive...
And regarding the before/after shots, I've seen books/sites that use PS to beautify crappy shots (as a challenge, sounds fun) but I like to start with a solid shot as a starting point and make it even better. It's kind of like... why continue reading a book you dislike or that bores you... when there are so many GOOD books out there (my mom's logic). ~Tammy
Tammy, I totally agree about using a solid shot as a starting point. As my grandmother always said, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!" LOL! Lots of wisdom in an old adage. Hugs, Terri xoxo