Best Photoshop Tutorials (From Basic to Advanced)

[anuk45214202]

Hi there,

I'm new to Photoshop and I am learning with my own. Right now I am facing the problem with tools, adjustment layers, layer mask and you know kind of basic stuff. I just found a new resource having 100 Photoshop tutorials and this roundup different than others I found on the Google, some are featuring advanced tutorials, some just thrown a list of tutorials and others results are paid.

The source I found has the tutorials categorized for everyone like it has tutorials for beginners like using layers, layers mask, adjustment layers, introduction to Photoshop tools, selection technique's tutorials and all the basic tuts which needed to learn Photoshop. After that, they added advanced tutorials like photo manipulation, retouching, photo effects, text effect and tutorials for the web and graphic designers as well. 

Here is the link which I am talking about: http://www.psdstack.com/resources/100-photoshop-tutorials/

I just need help here, should I go for roundup like the mentioned above or should I go for paid sites or should I learn by myself?

Please give your thoughts!

[davescm]

Hi

There are lots of tutorials available on line with quality ranging from excellent to appalling.

My advice would be this :

1. Make sure you are following a tutorial that is using a version of Photoshop the same or very close to yours. In other words don't try and follow a CS5 tutorial in CC2017 or vice versa.

2. Have a look at Lynda.com (there is a free 30 day trial period).  There are some excellent tutorials covering all aspects of software on there.

3. If you are following a tutorial and get stuck - come and ask here - but provide a link and state at what time into the video your are stuck.

Dave

[Terri_Stevens]

Although you can find some really excellent tutorials for free at places like YouTube, the trend seems to be now towards 'paid learning' The advantage of the paid courses tends to be they are organized so that one topic builds upon another and you also generally have access to the images the teacher uses so you can follow along.

I recently went through Deke McClelland's One on One series for Photoshop 2017 on Lynda.Com. The course  consists of three courses, in fact, beginning with 'Fundamentals', going to 'Advanced' and finally 'Mastery' as Mr McClelland calls it and is one of the best set of courses I know of for learning Photoshop. It is not for the casual user though as each course is around 15 hours long , so 45 hours in total for the entire thing. I went through it in about a week, but had the advantage of already knowing Photoshop quite well, others might take a wee bit longer. The truth is you cannot watch hour after hour of videos and expect to remember them, you just get information overload.  Deke also talks very fast , so a 15 hour course with him equates to a 20 hour course with many others. However for anyone determined enough the courses can fast track you from nowhere to good enough to answer questions here on the forum or maybe even make your own tutorials on YouTube and start to build a portfolio. How fast is fast? I'd say study a course like that over at least six months and do no more than a couple of lessons a day followed by practice. The masking sections of that course are particularly good and anyone struggling with Select and Mask will benefit and also perhaps understand the limitations and start using the more complex Calculations and Apply Image functionality which is the professional approach to masking and are explained extremely well.

Another great source is Phlearn.com with Aaron Nace. They have free tutorials but also very in depth professional tutorials as well. They have recently introduced a $10/month subscription allowing access to everything and you can cancel any time. Personally I prefer the Nace to McClelland style as Aaron is more of a creative who understands the importance of lighting, lens, filters and cameras and can work outside Photoshop in consequence,  whereas Deke's approach is more academic. It's horse's for courses though and both are very good.

[anuk45214202]

Thanks for your advice Terri! The Lynda is great source for learning Photoshop but as you said watching tons of hours tutorials is gonna mad myself. Phlearn free tutorials are like I mean they got how to add sky, how remove logos from t-shirt, how to whiten teeth, how to change colors I didn't find any basic tutorial there like somewhat titled introduction to Photoshop. But I appreciate you lend a hand for help!

[davescm]

..........watching tons of hours tutorials is gonna mad myself. .................

Don't be put off by lots of hours of material. You don't have to do it all at once , each individual tutorial is short, and you can jump around them if there is anything specific you want to learn now.

Photoshop is a huge application and as such you would expect comprehensive tutorials to take a large total.

Dave

[anuk45214202]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for reply. You advice sounds good. Since you are a expert of Photoshop, if a beginner come to you and asks "Hey, I want to learn Photoshop". How to you'll teach him from beginning? Is there any pattern you'll follow if so can you outline them like you should get familiar with Photoshop, then move to tool box, then use the adjustment layer, then use the layers. I mean the way you'll instruct him like a course:

Can you put some headlines like course?

[davescm · Accepted solution]

For a complete beginner it really depends on how they want to use Photoshop. So the approach may be different for someone using it to produce digital art as opposed to a photographer.

However, initially,  you should look for a course that covers the basics of :

The user Interface i.e. toolbar, windows, workspaces, panels, options bar etc.

Opening and saving files (and common file types)

Image Sizing and Cropping

Layers

Basic adjustments (inc Adjustment layers such as Brightness/Contrast/maybe an introduction to curves)

Selections

Masks

Cloning

Type

Exporting and Printing

After I jotted that down - I went to Lynda.com and looked at the One on One Fundamentals course that Terri mentioned. It covers the basics of all those plus a bit more and in a practical hands on way, so it does look a good place to start.

Dave

[anuk45214202]

Thanks Dave and I think I found my answer!

[TheDocsterMan]

You can also view Photoshop tutorials by YouTube's tutvid in addition to picking up a course from the official website.

YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/tutvid

Official Website: http://www.tutvid.com/

[Swapnil Dixit]

Hi experts,
The only thing I am an expert of is "learning" fast but I am a learner with an anamoly. Rather than learning "how to do" something, I always want to understand concepts and then, find my own "how to do". Every single photoshop tutorial I've seen focuses on "how to do" and generally begins with how to open a file --> how to crop --> change this option / that option. However, I would have loved a tutorials that begins by explaining how the designers of photoshop envisaged it. For instance, first comes the canvas - which is really like the artist's table. Then, comes the first layers. Similarly, in other tools like content-aware, what exactly is going on in the background? How is the photoshop brain thinking and processing? In the absence of all of this, I feel like a student who has been taught how to add a two-digit number and get a result without ever explaining the concept of addition. Sorry for the rant but it is with a lot of thanks to all the people who've put in their valuable time to create tutorials and communities around photoshop.