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Before You Start

Some Advice
There's lots of advice chucked at you these days, some very good indeed and some ........ well enough said! However it all gets very confusing to the beginner, even some who have been playing with it for two or three years still have to look twice at times.

So before we get going with all this Photoshop stuff, a few words from me. I know, you've got your new pictures and you just can't wait to load them into Photoshop and start twiddling and fiddling.

Well.................. Just ..................DON'T.

That doesn't sound encouraging I hear you say, bear with me a while. Just take a few minutes to carefully examine every aspect of your treasured image, it may save you a lot of time and a great deal of heartache.

I have seen many a good image spoilt by far too much manipulation over the time that I have been involved with digital. So think carefully first, and plan what really needs to be done. Let me stress I am not saying do not adjust, but think ahead, not every picture will necessarily start with the same adjustment. Some adjustments may improve what you are hoping for, but may also cause some damage to the quality of your image, so be careful and sparing. You will read as time goes on, about non-destructive adjustments but if you are just beginning we will talk more about that later.

I had some good advice from a more experienced photographer recently. He is changing over to the "Digital Age" but still approaches his picture-taking in the same manner as he has done for years with film. He tries to capture the image correctly first time, so the necessity to do a lot of computer correction just isn't required. His pictures are a pleasure to see, the quality of the print is excellent, as good as you could find anywhere.

Something we are all too easily adapted to these days, is taking lots of snaps because it is not costing us for film and processing. We all do it, but I suggest we may be giving ourselves a lot of work, glued to that wretched PC for hours (even days) instead of getting out there and taking some more quality pictures.

The quality of the images downloaded from the majority of good brand cameras has improved immensely over the last two or three years, so don't be faint hearted, with a little care you will soon be producing some great images and impressing your friends and family with your great skill.

So my number one tip is, learn the functions of your camera, read those boring instructions, get a book or two on photography and composition from the library and try to get it right first time. Not every picture will be perfect, life's not easy, but if you start right then the PC can be a breeze once you have acquired the tips and tricks.

Best of luck with the exercises, remember you can learn something but you can only gain experience, so keep practising at regular intervals, then apply them to your pictures and see them come to life.

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