My blog post on How to improve your Photoshop skills in 9 seconds has gotten a lot of views and responses. It seems that I struck a chord with many people, "reminding" them of the value of quick little experiments as a way of learning new things.
Let's take this a step further, inspired by a presentation by Joe Glyda at Photoshop World. Joe talked about how he tries to keep his photography (and creativity) fresh through self-assignments. He chooses a theme and runs with it, for example "circles" or "shadows". His slide show of the results of his assignment was really interesting and got me thinking.
First, I've tried to do the same thing with my photography. So far I gave myself a relatively easy assignment: textures. I ended up with a card full of really cool textures that have come in really useful in Photoshop. Then when I did the Worldwide Photowalk I decided to bring only a prime/fixed lens. Boy, when you're used to zooming in and and out whenever you want, it's a real eye opener to shoot with a fixed lens - and makes you look at things differently.
What does this have to do with Photoshop? Well, why not apply the same theory of self-assignments to Photoshop? Along with those 9 second experiments, if you find yourself with a little time on your hands, give yourself an assignment such as "the Pen tool" or "design a logo in 2 minutes", or find an old photo and give yourself a set amount of time to fix it as best you can in the alloted time.
So, what are you going to give yourself for your first Photoshop assignment?
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5 comments:
Dave, that is a really good advice. Though some may say it is a contradiction to a creative soul but having a clear purpose put in a time frame brings productivity. Who knows maybe it even boosts creativity as well. I take your suggestion and gonna create a watermark for my photos in 2 min. :) Thanks, for the spark.
Been doing this to a degree. Also working your thursday fix it challanges helped me a lot.
Dave, I just photographed the members of our church for a directory. I did it against a green screen. I listened to your lessons on color range, alpha channels, etc but I still had some green screen showing through the hair. Experimenting finally gave me the cure.
I went to the color replacement brush, mode color, clicked on 2nd eyedropper (Sampling once), limits discontiguous, tolerance 30%. I then sampled a portion of the hair and was able to paint away the green screen showing through the hair. I used all of your techniques but had to do some experimenting on my own to solve the problem. Thanks Dave for your help and dedication.
Is there a place where I may download or view Joe Glyda's presentation? I am interested on what you were saying about exploration and I would like to see how I may integrate Glyda's ideas into my classroom.
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