Photoshop Basics - Using the Toolbox
Using a new piece of software can often be daunting, and one of the most difficult things when picking up any new package is getting to grips with the different tools and functions it offers. When trying to learn the Photoshop basics, there are two main approaches which can be used, both of which has advantages and disadvantages. Which method you choose will depend very much on your personality, as some people prefer to follow tutorials carefully and learn in a logical manner, whereas others prefer to dive straight in to the package and learn by experimenting and pressing buttons to find out what each thing does. The best method of learning any new software package is probably a combination of these two techniques.
The methodical approach
The Photoshop package itself comes with a comprehensive manual and help menus which will answer most of the questions a user may have about how the package works and what all the different tools do. Reading through the documentation will give a comprehensive overview of how everything works and what everything does, but will not give any hands on experience of manipulating and using the tools. There are also many tutorials available online on websites such as YouTube which can both give a beginners’ guide to using the software as well as help explain trickier to master features with the additional benefit of being able to watch the accompanying video to see what is clicked and how the software is used. Learning in this way will give you a thorough overview of not only the Photoshop basics, but some of the more advanced features as well.
Learning through doing approach
The other way in which people typically learn to use a new software package is by jumping straight in and trying to use it. Luckily, Photoshop is fairly intuitive and those who are familiar with other graphics packages, even something as simple as Paint, will recognize many of the features and will find it easy to get straight into editing their photographs. This approach to learning the Photoshop basics has the advantage of being much more hands on, and allows the user to start working with the software immediately. However, the risk is that by not reading the manuals or doing tutorials, the user will miss out on some of the more unusual or hard to master features of the software which can make the difference between a good result and a fantastic one. It is probably best that the new user follow a combination of the two approaches. Start off by doing a little background reading before taking the plunge into the software and trying to edit your own photographs.