FOA SITE ADMIN - Member Technique Tutorials

[amk1977]

I was wondering if the management would be interested in creating a subsection in the Photoshop Technques forum, purely for site members to post their own tutorials on how they edit their images in Photoshop, for the benefit of others? Preferably these tutorials would be performed without using plugins, (although tutorials exclusively on those would greatly benefit others who have recently bought the software) as PS / Elements can be expensive enough for people, let alone paying a few hundred quid for 3rd party effects!

I was thinking that ideally we could keep it to a standard format. Starting with the original unedited image, giving a brief outline of what is right with the image and what needs correcting and what is hoped to be achieved. Then giving a step by step guide on what they have done, with screenshots showing what effects are applied, maybe explaining why they are done, right the way through to the finished article. RAW files could be made available for those that wish to share them, although the idea is that people can take the techniques and apply them directly to their own images.

I'd be more than happy to share what I have learned over the years, to help others develop photoshop techniques as well as learning new things myself. Hopefully others will contribute their ideas towards this endeavor.

[rbarry]

I second amk's great idea!

[jet_kit]

Not that George Cairns' tutorials aren't superb; there's invariably more than one way to do a job in PS and to provide that platform on the Forum would be a excellent idea.
Can we expand the notion to include members asking for guidance rather than just waiting for the solution to their problem to come up?
Good idea amk - has my endorsement.

[kentlass]

Brilliant idea! Speaking personally it would be invaluable to be able to ask questions about what is being done and get further explanations. I agree with Chris that the tutorials are very good but as a novice I sometimes find it difficult to relate them to my own photos.

Looking through the special interest forums you will often see members giving advice on how an image could be improved with photoshop techniques. It would be so much easier to pick up hints and tips if there was a dedicated forum for this!

[amk1977]

I think that's a really good idea Chris. Maybe there could be a requests subsection, where people could submit an image together with a brief of what they'd like the finished result to be like, but have no idea on how to achieve it in photoshop.

A step by step tutorial could then be produced by willing members to show the various steps that were taken and the results they had on the image. The tutorial could be posted in the main section and a link placed in the thread of the requests subsection. Submitters would then be able to repeat the processes at their own pace and leisure and develop their editing skills.

I think this is something that can benefit everyone as they can pick up hints and tips in one place and discover simpler, quicker or more effective techniques that they'd never considered doing before. Hopefully we'll hear back from someone at Photoradar before too long, either way.

[highlandscenics]

It's a good idea. Seeing as you mentioned the tutorials are to be used for only standard Photo Shop...with no plug-ins....does that mean that the techniques could be used by those of us who don't have PS??

What I mean is, if the tutorials cover things like Layers, Levels and Cloning, etc, which in my opinion are standard editing techniques, then, folks like me who dont have PS can benefit from the tutorials also, or be it adjusting them to our own software. I use Photoplus X3.

As long as the forum covers standard stuff and doesn't branch out into plugins then I reckon it will be a good thing, otherwise, like the Magazine it will alienate us folks who dont have/use Photoshop.

[amk1977]

Although I'm not familiar with Photoplus X3, I should imagine that it has many similarities with Adobe PS and so the basic principles in the tutorials can just be extrapolated to whatever editing software is being used.

[jet_kit]

I agree. Any editing software worthy of the name will share most, if not all of the basics of Adobe PS. I think we tend to talk of PS in the same way we talk of our 'Hoovers', the name has almost become synonymous with editing digital photography. I recall using some free software called 'Photofiltre' (or something like that) some years back and it did almost everything that 'Elements' does.

[rbarry]

I think you're right Chris, as Paint Shop Pro that was, Serif photoplus, Ulead photoimpact, etc all use similar methods, albeit with differing interfaces. The problem will lie for those that don't use Photoshop and are unfamiliar with their own editing software, trying to emulate what is being described and demonstrated in Photoshop. Perhaps if this happens, those who are more familiar with such editing programs can "translate" for those that want to get on the first rungs of the editing ladder using their edit program of choice.

Photoshop is the brand that other developers have followed, and so it seems logical that Photoshop would be the preferred editor for demo purposes, in the same way as English is the international language of the world, but not everyone speaks it. In fact some Englishman have a questionable grasp of the English language!

[jet_kit]

Wot!
R U tellin me sum peepol carnt unnerstan Inglish?