How do you get started with Adobe Photoshop?

Answer 1

Beginning with the CS versions (and especially with CS4) Adobe has really ramped up their online support and training for first time users. If you click on Help/Photoshop Help, then the link for Community Help, it'll take you to the main PS support site, where you'll find a ton of tutorials and links to major PS sites.

If you're looking for other avenues of training, you can consider joining NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) which publishes Photoshop User Magazine. The discounts and tutorials are worth the membership fee (less than $100), and NAPP tutorials are given by some of the best PS users on the planet. Many are also Adobe training instructors.

NAPP also gives you access to Kelby Training online, which is a subscription training site. NAPP also has a traveling seminar program that visits major cities, and members get a discount. They always sell out. You don't have to be a professional to join.

In addition to being a NAPP and Kelby Training member myself, I also subscribe to Lynda.com, one of the best communities training organizations online for multimedia and programming courses. While they specialize in Adobe and former Macromedia programs, major programs like Maya and many programming languages are also taught. They started issuing certifications for course completion a few months ago. If you don't want to do a yearly subscription, you can always buy a course DVD for the individual program you're learning. It's cheaper to subscribe in the long run though.

You can also get books, but you can only get so much out of them. One thing about the NAPP online tutorials is that they visually show you how to do specific tasks for different projects with video, and you just can't get that from a book.

There are also many other free training video sites on the 'net that are dedicated to Photoshop training; here are just a a few of the more popular ones:

Adobe TV - Photoshop Channel

Planet Photoshop

Layers Magazine - Photoshop Channel