Photoshop is Fun!

According to Amazon, I purchased a copy of Photoshop Elements (PSE) 7 in September 2009. Since that point, I looked at the software exactly once. I have a Dummies book, and still haven’t really cracked it open. I really am a photo purist – if I can’t get it right out of the camera, then I feel I shouldn’t be doing a lot of manipulation to correct something. But I’m starting to realize that it might be OK to get a little help from software because it might be difficult to get great photos of little rugrats who move around so much!

And for whatever reason, I haven’t been able to force myself into learning PSE via online tutorials or the Dummies book. It was time for an intervention.

So I started a Photoshop class thru the Redondo Beach parks department in April. Technically, I was supposed to do the beginner class on Wednesday nights, but since my nose was a fountain of snot and my eyes were a watery, itchy mess for the first class, I just went home and sent Steve to check in to the class for me. Well, turns out there were only 2 people registered for the class, so the instructor suggested coming to the “advanced” class on Thursday to see if I could handle it because he was probably going to cancel the beginner class due to low attendance.

Original JPEG- straight out of the camera of my current favorite lil drooler

Um, yeah… I’m 30 and reasonably computer savvy, so it wasn’t a big deal to keep up with a fairly fast-paced “review” of what the advanced people had previously learned. I have to laugh a bit though – I’m most definitely the youngest person in the class, but I have the worst software (PSE is much more basic than Photoshop, and I’m running 4 versions behind PSE10) and probably have the oldest, clunkiest laptop (6 years old?? which has to be plugged in, the battery doesn’t hold a charge anymore) on top of that! I definitely have computer & software envy – wouldn’t mind a MacBook Air loaded with the latest & greatest Photoshop CS5 (MSRP of $700). Steve is waiting to pull the trigger on a new laptop to see if if there are any good graduation deals to be had.

RAW edit – could still use some work in the lower left corner so her dad’s shirt isn’t as prominent

So after about 3 weeks of class, I honestly felt like I wasn’t getting as much out of it as I probably could – my software isn’t capable of some of the fancier functions, not to mention having to wait for some of my classmates to stay caught up with the instructor. But I did pay for the class, and hung in there for 7 of the 8 classes (I’m missing the last class this week, as we have 4 people visiting this weekend). I do have a reasonable idea of how to do some basic things, including working with exposures on RAW images, and doing the whole cut & paste part of an image into a new image stuff, and working with HDR (I like the concept, but am not a huge fan of the execution – HDR often looks too fake to me).

My first “real world” application outside of class has been to create a cover image for the new (and apparently mandatory) Facebook timeline thing. PSE was helpful in that I was able to make my cover using exact pixel dimensions – not to mention the ease of putting together text, images, and gradient backgrounds.

Looks familiar, huh? Well, I’m not too original! But I feel armed & dangerous – I should be able to put together a pretty fun baby announcement coming up soon! (Seriously, 35 weeks, and OMG!) And maybe a blog header update is in my future too??