Photoshop Beginners Mastery: Zero to Hero in Photoshop
What you'll learn
- Customize workspaces and work with panels.
- Create new documents with various settings and modes.
- Navigate and zoom in and out of documents using a variety of methods.
- Switch between screen modes.
- Work with multiple documents and arrange them using various methods.
- Describe various file types and modes.
- Crop and resize images using various settings.
- Use Bridge with Photoshop.
- Rearrange, group, and adjust settings of layers.
- Adjust layer blending modes.
- Create and apply a variety of adjustment layers.
- Create and apply various layer styles.
- Describe the various selection tools and apply them in various ways.
- Use the selection tools in conjunction with each other.
- Add to and subtract from selections.
- Modify and save selections.
- Describe how masking is better than erasing.
- Mask parts of layers using the brush tool.
- Add layer masks using selection tools.
- Apply a clipping mask to text.
- Create an high dynamic range effect using masking in a landscape photo.
- Use layer masking to create selective sharpening in a portrait photo.
Requirements
- Students need a copy of Adobe Photoshop, preferably CC (Creative Cloud). The free trial would work as well.
Description
January 2020 course updated: I added a quick video about Photoshop 2020 update on constrain proportions when resizing smart objects, photos, type layers, and shape layers.
Course updated: a fun new tutorial on Parallax Effect or 2.5D Animation Effect in Adobe Photoshop added in a new section for fun effects.
This introductory course to Photoshop covers the fundamental functions to get started editing and improving photos. The student learns how to customize workspaces and panels, navigate the canvas effectively, work with multiple images and file types, and use various methods of image enhancement, including layering, selecting, and masking. Support files are included for this course, so students can follow along in the hands-on lectures. If you're a beginner to Photoshop or simply want to learn more about various selections, layering, and masking techniques, this course is for you!
The course is structured in a way to maximize learning. I first go over how to do basic functions in Photoshop like
Adjusting settings of new documents
Navigating around the canvas
Cycling through screen modes
Working with multiple images
Cropping and resizing images
I then go over into more detailed instruction, in which the students continue to follow along and learn more about
Layering images
Layer blending modes
Adjustment layers
Layer styles
Making selections
Masking layers
Color and lighting corrections
The course includes follow-along exercises that involve using layering and masking to create a “text in photo" clipping mask effect, a high dynamic range landscape adjustment, and a selective sharpening portrait edit. You will also learn by creating images for online advertising and social media in Photoshop.
I have years of experience using Photoshop, including doing web and advertising design at a newspaper, an advertising design firm, a library system, and freelance work for about two decades. I've also been managing editor at two international graphic design magazines, and I'm currently a full-time professor of graphic design and digital media. I've taken classes on digital production and design during my undergraduate and graduate work.
So enroll today and let's learn about Photoshop and its amazing capabilities of photo editing and digital effects.
Who this course is for:
- This course is great for students who are new to, or beginners in, Photoshop.
- Many intermediate students might also learn from this course as well, for example, they might learn new keyboard shortcuts or about specific layering and masking techniques.
- Students who are considerd "experts" in Photoshop and know all shortcuts, layering techniques, and so on, will not benefit much from this course.
Instructor
- 4.5 Instructor Rating
- 29,660 Reviews
- 542,091 Students
- 15 Courses
I love seeing students succeed in their designs, photos, productions, artistic work, and careers.
Do you want to learn become a better designer or communicator? Do you want to learn industry-standard editing and effects in Photoshop? Do you want to create logos for your brand or for clients? Do you want to learn new skills that are in demand in the new digital economy?
I'm passionate about communication, writing, art, and design education, and I'm currently a full-time professor of communication and digital media. I've developed curriculum and taught classes on design, photography, and writing for over a decade. My university students have become full-time, award-winning photographers, web designers, creative specialists, reporters, and layout designers. And now, you can learn from me as well!
Get started by enrolling in my courses, learning new skills and knowledge, and asking me questions in the courses and forums.
My Three-Part Qualifications to Teach You (Professional Experience, Education, and Experience Teaching):
By combining my professional in-the-field experience (both full-time and freelance), formal education, and experience teaching these topics, I've been able to produce top-notch courses that maximize learning and enable students to become better graphic designers, logo designers, photo editors, artists, and digital media producers.
Real World, Professional Experience:
I've worked as Webmaster and Advertising Designer at a regional newspaper (The News Chief), Internet Development Director at an award-winning advertising design firm, Technology Librarian at a city library system, and Managing Editor at two international graphic design magazines at Kelby Media Group. I've also written for print and online publications and designed websites and other promotional design work for clients on an on-going basis for the past 20 years.
Education:
Besides relevant marketplace experience, I also have a B.A. in Communication from Southeastern University, an M.A. in Journalism and Media Studies from the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and a Ph.D. in Communication from Regent University. My Ph.D. dissertation focuses on the mythic branding of Apple's Macintosh/Mac in their primary commercial campaigns (1984, Think Different, Switch/Real People, and Get a Mac). Example graduate courses such as Creative Approaches to Digital Media and Visual Storytelling have helped me when developing my own courses.
Experience Teaching:
Teaching these topics in the classroom and online has helped me figure out the best ways to explain concepts and guide students in the designs and productions. Besides being a full-time professor, I've developed curriculum and taught design, photography, and digital media courses for years at the university level for various schools in Florida, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Sorrento (Italy).
Courses:
I'm the founder of Good Creative Academy, the premiere online school for learning and creating. If you're looking to learn more about graphic design, photo retouching, visual art, Adobe software, and digital media production, you have arrived at the right place.
Fun tech-related facts about me:
I taught myself QBasic when I was 13, and later used that programming language to write a program that simulated the DOS prompt, to fool my high school graphic design teacher into thinking the computers had been hacked.
I used web banner advertising on my websites in high school and during my freshman year of college, which brought in about $750 a month in income.