Fun with Photoshop
After my Wordless Wednesday post, Lulu asked if my photo was straight out of the camera or edited. The answer is that it was straight out of the camera, but it reminded me of my constant promise to myself that I will start to learn how to do a few things in Photoshop.
I’ve had various versions of Photoshop on my computer for years, but never really taken full advantage of it, partly because I found it very intimidating. The software is aimed at professionals and there’s a whole new language to it. Trying to understand the jargon always felt like a major hurdle to overcome before I got anywhere with it.
I don’t know why I didn’t just approach it like I do most other new software - get in there and get my hands dirty. Have a play around, make mistakes and learn by trial and error. All my computer skillz are self-taught but I have had jobs where one of my roles was to give formal and informal software training. The biggest barrier most of the people I trained had was fear - they worried they would make a mistake, lose everything or crash the system.
So, after Lulu’s question I decided it was time to get over it and finally pull my finger out and get started on deciphering Photoshop, and - what a surprise - it’s not nearly as scary as I originally thought. Yes, there’s talk of layers and gaussian blurs and RGB levels, but there’s also a plethora of tutorials and guides out there on blogs and websites. Just getting in there and following some of these tutorials has helped me understand some of the basic terms.
There’s still a WHOLE lot more to it, but I’m quite excited about the thought of exploring all the things you can do. I guess now with the new camera I am more enthused about improving my photos or creating interesting effects.
One of the blogs I recently started reading is Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and wow, she’s got a beautiful blog! It’s just been redesigned and has different sections for her daily life, cooking and photography. Woman after my own heart! She’s taken so many gorgeous photos and she’s sharing her photoshop tips on how to make them even more stunning.
I’ve been having a lot of fun with all the tutorials I’ve found. Here’s a few results of my efforts today.
The WW photo before:
After applying the vibrant colours technique:
Before:
After applying Black & White and darkened edges:
And the same photo after a Vintage colouring effect ( think it looks really 70s -reminds me of the colours of my childhood photos)
I do love a new time waster project to work on!
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Gorgeous!!
I use photoshop but haven’t explored it nearly enough, this post is a kick up the bum to do just that!
Good on you
Dee’s last blog post..Smiley Saturday
They look GREAT!!! Is that a free version of photoshop you’re using?
Lightening’s last blog post..Smiley Saturday - Sport and Thankyous
I am totally intimidated by Photoshop. Doesn’t help that Moo knows how to do it all so I just bribe her to do things for me. Perhaps I should get off my bottom and teach myself hey? You have inspired me!
Kelley’s last blog post..Hmmm…. Dr Phil, super hero?
I just did a brush up Photoshop course at the end of last year and have had great fun playing around with it. The one thing I never did much of with photoshop before was utilise the actions and now they are my new best friend. I will email you some links that I have found very useful!
The reason I asked is because I always just upload my photos as is also although I want to learn how to use photoshop so the links you provided will be great! It is on my list of things to do in the next 1001 days!!!
I loved the last one!You are right, it reminds me of photos right out of the 70`s! Fantastic!
Lulu’s last blog post..M is for Mother…
I agree with kelley. i fing Photoshop really intimidating and get frustrated whe i can’t maHaving said that I so totally love those photos and what you have done with them, it might be enough to get me in there and figure that rotten program out.
tiff’s last blog post..Fly Away…
Photoshop is something that I never thought of using because I always saw it as for professionals only.
The photos look brilliant - and yes that last one looks a lot like my childhood photos from the 70’s - no flares in sight in your photo though LOL
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Apologies, everyone - I am so behind on replying to comments!
Dee - I needed a kick too to get started. Let us know how you go with exploring PS.
Lightening - I’m using the full version, but some of the same things might be doable with Photoshop Elements. The free version allows you some editing functions, but its not nearly as indepth. It’d be a good place to start though, and there’s some fun things you can do on it.
Kel - yeah, easy to get someone else to do it if you already have a whizz in the house. It’s fun (and addictive) once you get into it though, so its worth a try.
Sarah - thanks for the links - I am going to enjoy our tip exchanges.
Lulu - I was the same, but I really wanted to learn it so I’m glad I started. It’s a great thing to have on your list.
Tiff - your photos are all so gorgeous straight out of the camera. Some of the effects are pretty impressive, though - worth a look and its lots of fun.
Gemisht - I was the same - I thought it was only for professional photographers. I think that is how it started but now there are so many people using more advanced equipment and wanting more interesting effects just on their hobby photography that its pretty widely used.
I agree, photoshop was the most intimidating thing the first time I loaded it up but as you try new features one after another it gets easier - now many years later I can get images taken care of at a scary speed.
GREAT example images btw, especially the sky effect in the first example. A+
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[...] obsessed with photography at the moment - taking photos with my new baby and playing around with post-processing on the computer. A huge part of taking a great photo is obviously setting it up right - lighting, [...]
Learning photoshop can be intimidating at first…especially for me, a stay-at-home with mom with no formal classroom training. But, after time, I got hang of it.
Thanks for the free tutorials.
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