Photoshop FREE!

[Traditionalist]

A big thanks from me too Mike. re the "how to use it" any advice on good places to get a basic idea?
Brian

These are for CS2. This is very good indeed, if you work through it you will be able to use the software very well indeed;

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshoptutorialsbasic/Photoshop_Basics_Tutorials_for_Photoshop_Beginners.htm

an example from the above;

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/ig/The-Photoshop-CS2-Workspace/

Youtube tutorials;

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=photoshop+cs2&oq=photoshop+cs2&gs_l=youtube.3..0i3j0l9.2449.12062.0.13079.26.17.1.3.3.3.144.1134.14j3.17.0...0.0...1ac.1.-kNzqktHlKE

Some more info on that;

http://psd.tutsplus.com/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/10/adobe-photoshop-tutorials-best-of/

http://www.photoshopstar.com/

there are thousands of tutorials on the web. You have to look and see what suits you the first link I posted is one of the best.

There are also thousands of add-ons;

http://thepluginsite.com/resources/freeps.htm

[Fishtales]

Some more.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/

http://www.photoshop.com/tutorials

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/category/tutorials/photoshop-tutorials/

[Traditionalist]

Some more.

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/

http://www.photoshop.com/tutorials

http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/category/tutorials/photoshop-tutorials/

Some things there will not work as they rely on functions from CS6 etc.  The first link I posted is best for beginners to start with and it is based on CS2;

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshoptutorialsbasic/Photoshop_Basics_Tutorials_for_Photoshop_Beginners.htm

shows you how to get around the toolbox etc for instance;

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/ig/The-Photoshop-CS2-Workspace/Toolbox.htm
an example page;



it is best not to bury yourself in stuff to begin with. The same applies to the add-ons.  These can do a massive number of things, but it is best to just choose the ones you are going to use!  There is no point in filling up with a lot of stuff you are never going to need.

The basic functions can be learned in few hours at most, some advanced stuff takes a very long time to learn and you will basically always need instructions for some things. 

[Traditionalist]

Some PDF references you can print out to help you;

http://esmstechnologytoolbox.wikispaces.com/file/view/Beginning+Adobe+Photoshop+CS2.pdf

http://morris-photographics.com/photoshop/shortcuts/downloads/PSCS2_Keyboard_Shortcuts_PC.pdf

http://www.umass.edu/art/prospective_students/application_guide/photoshopCS2.pdf

This shows basic stuff like this;



http://www.designzzz.com/cheatsheets-boost-photoshop-experience/

all these PDF's are first class.

[Traditionalist]

Well, yes, I could but it would take a very long time and wouldn't do much good anyway!  You have to learn the basic functions by using the software.

I don't have the time to do it anyway, I have my new cable connection that is quite fast, but uploading all this stuff still takes a lot of work and time.

I don't know whether you can get cable there ( in the UK );

but these are my current speeds;



I could up this to 100 Mbps  no problem
http://www.kabeldeutschland.de/internet-telefon/flatrate-tarife/
but there is no point. It is fast enough for what I want.

Of course, some things wont work well at lower speeds.

[Inchlaggan]

Wee suggestion.
This may not last forever, so I have saved the downloads rather then run them, and noted the registration keys.
Figure the rest for yourself!

[Traditionalist]

Wee suggestion.
This may not last forever, so I have saved the downloads rather then run them, and noted the registration keys.
Figure the rest for yourself!

Indeed, I would suggest you burn the downloads to a disc, along with a text file of the serial numbers, so that you have an "original" backup.

an image of the numbers works as well;

[Traditionalist]

More and more people are asking about this, so here is the main tip for using software like this.  You really need a dual monitor setup. If you have a laptop you can usually connect a second monitor to it. If you have a desktop then you need a video/graphics card that supports two monitors. Both Windows and most Linux distributions will support multiple monitor setups.

You can have your working area on one screen and a manual or other help file from a browser or whatever on your other screen.  This will allow you to learn things a lot faster and also give you a much larger working area.

This is such a setup using the GIMP with a manual and the toolboxes on the second screen;



as I work a lot with some pretty complex stuff and quite a bit of graphics software my main screen has a very high resolution. In this case a DELL IPS  (In-Plane Switching technology)30 inch  panel running at a resolution of 2560*1600 pixels.  The second screen in this case is  A 26 inch Samsung syncmaster running at 1920*1200 pixels.

The resulting screenshot image of the full desktop in this case is of course very large, and I have reduced it considerably in size to show it here.

However, even if you use normal sized monitors it is a lot easier to work with two than it is with one.

[Traditionalist]

How to do it on Windows;

http://www.microsoft.com/athome/organization/twomonitors.aspx#fbid=8VNcjlAWbUG

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976064