LEARN PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUES - FOR FREE!

One of the big challenges facing any camera club is dealing with the fact most members come to the club at very different skill levels. There are members who may be professionals together with new members that have little or no knowledge of Photoshop (or other editing programs) and very little experience using their cameras. Each club has to develop its own method of handling this disparity in skills to hopefully create an environment that keeps all of its members active. This challenge generally repeats itself each year as new members are attracted to our clubs.

Camera clubs can deal with this issue through presentations at meetings, photo shoots and tutorial sessions where more experienced members are able to teach less skilled members, and the judging process used at most clubs. But the learning curve is generally steep and there is simply not enough time at a club meeting to continually bring everyone up to speed without risking the loss of experienced members.

Ultimately the issue is one of responsibility. Our clubs accept the responsibility to help new members learn, but these members have the responsibility to learn the skills they need to be active in the club. Or put another way; the club should be a resource for new members to learn the skills they need to actively participate. Since there is not enough time to do this at a club meeting, one way to address the issue is through the use of outside resources.

Which bring us to the title of this post, learning Photoshop for free. Using Photoshop or other software in photography accounts for a large part of the learning curve. There are excellent websites out there that teach Photoshop skills such as the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (photoshopuser.com) and its associated site Kelby Training (kelbytraining.com). But these and other sites generally charge a yearly fee for the privilege of membership. You can access a wealth of learning at www.photoshopessentials.com for free. The tutorials on this site are written by Adobe certified experts. The mission statement of this site says it is written with "beginner Photoshop users in mind, but it contains techniques that go far beyond a basic knowledge of Photoshop.

Check out this site and keep us informed of any sites you think are a great resource for learning photography and related skills.