Adobe Photoshop

fifomania

Hi
Dunno if i'm in the right area here but i'll post anyway!
I'm interested in going in to the area of photography, hopefully to assist someone or to work for myself, i've always had an interest in it and would like to do a course in it soon.
In my local college there's a digital photography course run for a couple of weeks, but on contact with the course director, he said I'd have to do Adobe Photoshop course as well before I could start up on my own.
Does anyone know if this is right? Also where can I do an Adobe photoshop course, online or through a college? What are the costs of this course?
Thanks so much

kjt

Theirs no right or wrong way to go about photography in my opinion. In saying that though if your shooting digital you really need to have you head around photoshop in some way shape or form.

I'd recommend doing some lessons online yourself with Lynda.com

All the best

Sebzy

Yep you could purchase a students edition of Photoshop CS3 from your collage if your are currently a student it would only cost about 100Euro

if your not a student you could grab a copy of Photoshop elements for about 100 from most good retail outlets.

stcstc

but if you buy the student version, be careful as if you use it for commercial use you break your terms and conditions

fifomania

so if I did the Digital Photography course successfully and bought a copy of the Photoshop thing, I'd be able to start up on my own? sorry just want to make it clear in my head! :rolleyes:

stcstc

educational versions of software are for that only

they are not for commercial use

so technically you would be breaking the agreement with the software vender

but do check the specific agreement for the software you buy

Calina

Whether you can start up on your own depends on how good your photographs are, not whether you've done an image processing class or not.

A lot depends on what kind of photographs you want to take; obviously any photographer worth their salt starting out now will have a fist on some image processing system, the industry standard being Photoshop, yes.

What kind of photographs do you take? I am sure this is not the impression you want to give but you're talking about doing a course in photography plus a course in Photoshop....so where exactly are you on the curve, then?

fifomania

to be honest and probably quite simple all I want to do is work as a photographer! i take shots of people and landscapes, which i think are good and opinions on the majority of pictures are good also. i only mentioned the Adobe photoshop course because that's what the photographer doing the photography course told me i'd have to do! i wasn't going down that route to begin with! :rolleyes: :cool:

mikeanywhere

The two are tied together in the long run. Having the ability to see a shot and take it well will always be a bonus. Having some PS skills will only serve to help in the long run.

To be honest, why go on a course when there are stacks and stacks of free tutorials available??

CabanSail

fifomania wrote: »

I take shots of people and landscapes, which i think are good and opinions on the majority of pictures are good also.

Having not seen any of your work I cannot comment on it's merits. I would be careful of opinions given by friends and/or people who know very little about Photography. I have been down the same route. A long time ago now I was told how good my images were by friends & aquaintences. Looking back, that only really meant that my slides were better than the grainy prints they got back from their P&S 35mm camera or their 110 Cartridge Camera. I did enjoy Photography, but it was as an adjunct to many other activities in which I was involved. Since 2005 I have taken a more serious interest in Photography & after moving to Ireland & joining a large Camera Club I found out how much I still did not know (especially about the new world of Digital Imaging) but I have learned heaps.

It is good that you have a passion for Photography. It would probably be useful to get some of your images criticised by people with photographic experience. This forum is quite a good place to learn &, for the most part, friendly & helpful.

JackieO

Not sure if its ok to high-jack this thread slightly but I have a very similar question. I also want to get photo-shop. Not planning on using it commercially at all.
Just wondering how I got about getting it? Is it possible to get it for free at all? Also, would be very interested in doing the online tutorials as I could do them at my own pace - is there any one in particular people would recommend?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Paulw

You can always download Photoshop direct from Adboe and use it for a 30 day free trial.

Adobe support site also has a number of free video tutorials, that are well worth checking out.

Aside from Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom is also a brilliant tool for photographers, and will do probably 90% of what you would use Photoshop for anyway. You can also get the 30 day free trial of that too.

Also, some other online tutorials on http://www.thedigitalphotographyconnection.com/

JackieO

Thanks Paul. Think I'll try the free trials and try to get used to the new camera first.

Shiny

I downloading the Trial for the new Photoshop CS4 at the moment.

It allows you to install it in parallel with CS3 so it can be easily removed
if necessary.

Linky

Lightroom Trial is also available for download there too.

Ricky91t

Shiny wrote: »

I downloading the Trial for the new Photoshop CS4 at the moment.

It allows you to install it in parallel with CS3 so it can be easily removed
if necessary.

Linky

Lightroom Trial is also available for download there too.

I just get linked to an email reminder page when its going to be released i'll be notified...

Shiny

Ricky91t wrote: »

I just get linked to an email reminder page when its going to be released i'll be notified...

OK well this is what you have to do.

go to http://www.adobe.com/downloads/

1. Choose the Lightroom 2 trial
2. Login with your account info (or register if you haven't)
3. When you get to the page that asks you which language/OS you want, paste the links below into the tab and each one will download.
4. Be sure that your download manager is active
5. Download will start automatically

Photoshop CS4

Photoshop CS4 
http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/Photoshop/CS4/Win/ADBEPHSPCS4_LS1.exe 
http://trials.adobe.com/Applications/Photoshop/CS4/Win/ADBEPHSPCS4_LS1.7z 

It's weird I know but it works.

kwake D~signs

Are you guys telling me that no-one can advise where to download a full vbersion of Adobe Photoshop for free???!!!!>.............:eek::mad::rolleyes:

Modedit:
Guess what?
Banned.

Sebzy

kwake D~signs wrote: »

Are you guys telling me that no-one can advise where to download a full vbersion of Adobe Photoshop for free???!!!!>.............:eek::mad::rolleyes:

Nope you got us there.

Shiny

kwake D~signs wrote: »

Are you guys telling me that no-one can advise where to download a full vbersion of Adobe Photoshop for free???!!!!>.............:eek::mad::rolleyes:

Did you make an account and say that just to get banned?

ThOnda

We cannot advise you how to breach copyright and cause both legal and financial damage to any company, even if we knew such a thing.

Fajitas!

Shiny wrote: »

Did you make an account and say that just to get banned?

Yes.

And yes.

ThOnda

Hobbes

If you want to go the free route then I recommend GIMP

http://www.gimp.org/

It has pretty much everything Photoshop has except it is free. Offsetting potencial whiners the latest version has had huge (and I mean huge) UI improvements.

The only thing that I recall that differs is that photoshop has CYMK support (used for professional plate printing).

Shiny

Hobbes wrote: »

It has pretty much everything Photoshop has except it is free. Offsetting potencial whiners the latest version has had huge (and I mean huge) UI improvements.

I used to be on the whiners.

Used Gimp recently to edit a photo and most of the tools I frequently use
in photoshop are available and most importantly are EASY and OBVIOUS to use
as opposed to earlier versions.

I have to say I was quite impressed with the interface overall.

Edit, It doesn't natively support RAW. Are there any plugin's for Gimp 2.6 ?