Photoshop or photograph

Ireland1980

Hi all,

Just wondering if any professionals out there have any advice. I am trying to get into photography and just wondering if I should get classes in photography or photoshop. I probably need both but looking at you tube videos, photoshop seems amazing. Any pic can look great.
Anyone know who does good photoshop training. I have CS3 and very basic knowledge.

Many thanks.

magicbastarder

very similar circumstances to the 'film vs. digital' debate.

Cook my sock

no harm in knowing both imo, I think these days with all the digital cameras they come hand in hand.

I would say it's more beneficial to learn about your camera, general settings, etc. before you bother learning about the world of post-processing properly.


There's no denying that post processing, photoshop, etc. is a huge part of the current day photography landscape, but I personally feel it's best to know how to take a photo first.

If you feel you've got a good idea of that, though, then I'd say fire away with Photoshop.

FoxT

For me, the first thing I wanted to do was take photos, so I got a camera. Then I learned how to use it (am still learning of course) .

I quickly realised that a bit of PP is needed for almost all photos - straightening, cropping, contrast, sharpness, etc.

I use Picasa for that atm, it is free & is quite good. I have reached a point now though ( uhhh, a few 000 photos later) where I want a more advanced pp capability.

Photoshop is expensive - if you do not have a camera, then you need to get one, before spending on pp software, unless you specifically want to work on graphic art as opposed to photography. If that is the case, photoshop may not be the best starting point - I dont know as not into Computer generated art/imagery myself.

kjt

You need both to be honest but starting out you want to work on your photography NOT photoshop.

If you can't take a decent shot (knowing your camera, good composition, interesting subjects, correctly exposed, odd angles, etc etc) this will hinder you in the digital darkroom/photoshop.

Spending all your time on photoshop is like working in a darkroom for days with bad negatives. You could be a darkroom/photoshop master and get good photos from ****é photographs but if you have good photographs, you can create amazing images after in photoshop!

leche solara

Agree with KJT. Photography ability comes first. Get that right and your pictures will stand on their own without PP.

Paulw

Photoshop can only enhance what you have in the photograph.

A crap photo will never be anything more than that, no matter how much PP you do.

Learn about photography first.

pimark

photography first and then photoshop (processing)

stunt_penguin

All this said, a little knowledge of lightroom will help- it helps you organise , colour correct and export your photos and the learning curve isn't quite as steep as photoshop....

TheVoodoo

Having been in your position a few years back, i can safely say, do the photography course first. As as been said, learn about your camera first, before you learn how to alter it's byproducts.

smelltheglove

Photography first in all honesty. Whats the point in trying to get into photography by taking ok photos and working on them through photoshop, better to take great photos and spend just a minute or 2 tweaking.

Put it this way, you spend what 10 seconds on composing and taking a shot max. If that shot is just ok and needs work you could spend another 30 minutes working it. Spend 10 seconds taking a perfect shot and another 1 minute tweaking it, isnt that a better way to spend your time?

oshead

Learn both at the same time. The skills needed for one can complement the other. Trying to fix a bad image in post production will teach you so much about what you are doing wrong when you actually click the camera. Implementing a good workflow process that produces consistency should be your goal. From camera to print. That's the end game. Not one thing or another.

Promac

oshead wrote: »

Learn both at the same time. The skills needed for one can complement the other. Trying to fix a bad image in post production will teach you so much about what you are doing wrong when you actually click the camera. Implementing a good workflow process that produces consistency should be your goal. From camera to print. That's the end game. Not one thing or another.

I'd go with this.

johnmcdnl

try to learn to use the camera first - no point in trying to post process terrible pictures....

magicbastarder

guys, this seems like a bit of a driveby to me; first post from a poster posting a similar question to the 'film vs. digital as a learning medium' thread; no response from the poster, and a somewhat contentious issue. might be worth seeing if there's a meaningful response before giving it much thought.

Promac

magicbastarder wrote: »

guys, this seems like a bit of a driveby to me; first post from a poster posting a similar question to the 'film vs. digital as a learning medium' thread; no response from the poster, and a somewhat contentious issue. might be worth seeing if there's a meaningful response before giving it much thought.

It's not like there are two opposing factions though is it? Might be an interesting debate if it's allowed to go on.

People who are photoshop-phobic might learn something and people who prefer retouching to composing/exposing might learn a bit more classical discipline. And besides, why else are we on a discussion forum to do with photography?

magicbastarder

fair point.

Ireland1980 wrote: »

I am trying to get into photography and just wondering if I should get classes in photography or photoshop.

if you want to get into photography, do classes in photography.
if you want to get into photoshop, do classes in photoshop.

Promac

If you want to get the best possible results from your photography learn both.

There are plenty of photoshop tutorials on the internet so there's no reason why anyone can't learn it on their own. If budget or time are a factor do the photography course first. Learn both at the same time though - it's not one or the other.

dinneenp

Photography first.
you can always use Picassa to do more than just basic editing. And Photoshop down the line...

101001

I found photoshop really helped my composition. If Ive taken a 'crap' photo... a common occurance i found cropping helped some what. This lead me to understand the importance of the composition and how I liked to compose and now I can crop while taking the photo, aligning objects, moving closer, different angles, finding points of interest etc. I saw how I should have composed/taken the photo being able to reflect afterwards.

I might lean on the side of photoshop (although it might be easier to learn over the net as there are so many tutorials). You tend to study how you are taking photos and then learn how to shoot them better.

Zascar

Deffo photography without a doubt. You can learn the basics of photoshop (also check out lightroom) fairly easily - but it gives you a better sense of satisfaction of an image is beautiful because you took it that way, not modified it to be far better than it really was...

I'm doing this course right now learning photoshop but I've been doing photography for years, and always learning.

Stay on youtube, a wealth of information to be had for free on both subjects.

solus

Photography first definitly!