Learning Photoshop CS2 - Books, tutorials courses ?

[pthomson]

Hi everyone!

I would firstly like to apologise if this topic has been covered in depth but i am desperately looking for the right book/s as a Christmas present to ensure that my girlfriend learns Photoshop CS2 with ease. I have some experience in Photoshop and have been doing an IT degree here in New Zealand for the past 4 years but I’m not a designer so i really need your guys help!

I also appreciate that there are so many books out there but have found that some don’t go into enough depth or lack the variation in examples to significantly cover what photoshop has to offer. I was initially thinking that a couple of books might be necessary to take her from beginner to advanced.

Background - She has just finished a degree in Fashion design & Art with straight As. She has always excelled in arts and photography but has lately found her self-doing graphics based contract work for fashion designers. This has all been in Corel draw 11 and Corel photo paint 11. She has been using Corel products for about 6 years now but by no means considers herself an expert.

She now realises that she’s needs a raster based program such as Photoshop that extends the functionality of Corel photopaint. She has also decided on going back to school to specialise in computer-aided design so she needs to learn Photoshop fast.

I think she is the person that appreciates step by step instructions by example but would also benefit from software based tutorials.

I was wondering if you good people would be able to suggest any text books that would cater to her needs.

I was also wondering if the full 700 dollars + version needs to be purchased as she is charging for the work that she does? I noticed that there were several licenses within the website, which one is appropriate. She is not studying at the moment but will be start again in a few months. Are their licenses that cover students that are selling their work?

Am I making the right assumption that she needs CS2? Is it that widely supported? Would it be better for her to by another version of Photoshop?

I would also like to thank you guys for taking the time to read this post and greatly appreciate any response.

Paul

 

[Eggles]

To answer sone of your questions:

(1) Book recommendations - try Adobe's 'Classroom in a Book' for the version of Photoshop you finally buy. They come with a CD of files and step-by-step lessons which are usually quite well done. I haven't used any of the Photoshop ones, but I have used others, and I think they are pretty good generally. However I'm not sure how much they assume you know about basic functions in Photoshop, so for a really basic but absolutely necessary introductory course, I would recommend

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/l/bllps5out.htm

>>there are so many books out there but have found that some don’t go into enough depth or lack the variation in examples to significantly cover what photoshop has to offer. <<

I doubt you will find just a couple of books will do this. Photoshop is an incredible program and even after using it for several years, I have only scraped the surface. There are an enormous number of tutorials on the internet, but many tend to be geared towards web design rather than print design so you definitely have to trawl.

If you want to spend the money, lynda.com is the best for web-based tutorials.

(2) Licenses: not sure about this one. I know it is much cheaper to buy an academic version of the software, but I think if you are making money from the work you do in the program, you have to buy the full version.

(3) Version: you'd be hard-pressed to be able to buy anything other than the latest version of Photoshop (CS2) through normal retail channels. Perhaps looking on eBay might be a way of getting an older version cheaper?

Is CS2 well supported? By whom? Printers? Depends on where you live and how up-to-date the printers are in your area if you would actually be sending native Photoshop files. Photoshop can save output as PDFs (and even maintain vector components) which tend to be well supported.

I hope some of this helps (and hi from Australia!!)

 

[pthomson]

Wow, thankyou so much. I just found this

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...104-7584762-4552745?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

on amazon and must admit, that the review sounds really good. Thanks for the link as well !

I also had a look at these books but couldnt make up my mind.

1) CS2 one on one - - comes with DVD tutorials

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/05...104-7584762-4552745?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

2) Real photoshop cs2 -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/03...104-7584762-4552745?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

3) Photoshop Cs2 bible pro edition -

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...104-7584762-4552745?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

 

[Eggles]

Of the three books other than the CIAB, I would go for the middle one - David Blatner is an absolute guru with Adobe stuff.

 

[Eggles]

I forgot to add - but receiving on of his emailed Photoshop Tips is what jogged my memory - Ben Willmore is a grwat writer and he has books available on Photoshop.

http://www.digitalmastery.com/book/

It's possible the 'Up to Speed' one assumes quite a bit of prior knowledge, but the other two look OK.