Thursday, June 26, 2008

How to improve your Photoshop skills tenfold without spending a fortune in time or money

A while back I was playing with iTunes PodCast feature, even though my first generation Nano doesn't support them. While there I ran across the Photoshop User TV podcast so I started watching it.

It features Scott Kelby (one of my favorite authors), Dave Cross, and Matt Kloskowski all of whom are Photoshop gurus. Each episode features about 40% of non-sense which can be frustrating, but the useful nuggets you get from each episode will dramatically increase your Photoshop skills! Of course, you need to know the basics of Photoshop first, but if you do you'll get some GREAT tips that will have you doing great stuff in no time!

But I don't have time for that - I just want results - NOW

For those who want more directed and specific help to solve a problem, I highly recommend joining NAPP. The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) is a real official sounding name, but it really boils down to people like you and me who want to learn how to do stuff in Photoshop. Their magazine is excellent and helps you solve real world problems, but even better is their web site. On their web site you can jump to short videos and tutorials to specific problems you are trying to deal with and quickly learn how to perform that task.

NAPP is kinda expensive, is a magazine and web site all that I get?

I felt this same way, but when I saw how much getting the equivalent training I got from NAPP by paying for third party training videos and books, the math just added up in NAPP’s favor. Having the newest tricks in the magazine helps a lot to stay current too. I haven't regretted it and the magazines have continued the tradition of the podcast by teaching me cool new things that I didn't even dream existed.

Are there any good books I can read on Photoshop?

I've tried to cover that topic based on my own experiences in my article entitled What Photoshop Books Should I Read?.

Disclosure

While I have been a member of NAPP for quite some time, I did let my membership lapse due to procrastination. As part of my review of KelbyTraining.com I was given a free membership renewal to NAPP. I also may get a commission if you join NAPP using my code.

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