Only the (Photoshop) Basics.

Okay. So it's been a while since the last post. Why?

Several reasons -- first and foremost is the fact that, in addition to running http://www.photoshopbasics.com/ with very high hopes for the future, I also run a special events company and perform as a magician. SO when you factor Christmas into the mix, you wind up with time for eat, sleep and work.

Second is the notion that I just might be talking to myself. It's true that my web jedi partner and I intend to build PhotoshopBasics into as much as humanly possible. It really is amazing software and it SHOULD be in the hands of more people. But I have no real concept how to get people to this particular blog, to know if anyone is actually reading it, or if it will get people to the actual site where I hope to make a living which is http://www.photoshopbasics.com/ .

I know that someone looking at Photoshop for the first time is likely to react the same way I did. I nearly threw up. There I sat in front of my computer with no freaking idea what was what. Everything looked unfamiliar and there were SO many options that I had no idea where to start.

So I did what a lot of people have done: I tried to learn from the piles and piles of "free" tutorials on line. This isn't a course of action I recommend. Some of them give you little gems of knowledge. Others give you wrong information and still others add you to nasty little mailing lists and you get endless emails from people who think there are various aspects of your body that need immediate improvement.

You can get a book, of course. I did. I buy a LOT of books. They come in two varieties: the COMPLETE EVERYTHING YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT PHOTOSHOP AND A LOT MORE. These books are great if you are patient and able to absorb HUGE amounts of information. (MOST of it is stuff you don't need to know.)

The other variety of book is what I call "fairy dust" stuff. This kind of book touches on specific projects you can do. Along the way you learn how to do some very cool stuff. But you don't learn ALL the basics.

I just wanted a course that would assume I was a reasonably intelligent person. I wanted a course that would show me the basics: where the Important Stuff was and What The Important Stuff Did. I needed to know how Layers work and how to select stuff -- and how to change stuff. Once I have that under my belt -- then I can learn new "stuff" as it comes up.

This course didn't exist. OR if it did, I couldn't find it.

So I wrote one. This course has full screen "videos" that go step by step through the ins and outs of the Photoshop workings. AND I created some interesting projects that would make learning fun.

I'm not under the illusion that I am going to get rich from Photoshop Basics...or even that I am going to make a lucrative living from it. BUT I DO very sincerely hope that it will launch many people into careers, hobbies and magnificent obsessions with this wonderful software.

Hopefully -- that clears up WHY this blog exists...and what PhotoshopBasics is all about.

So there.