It was 1998, maybe 1999. I was sitting at my desk in an office in an industrial sign company. My boss comes by, and unable to find the graphic designer, hands me this letterhead with edit scribbles on it, and tells me to fix it. This became my intro into learning CorelDraw.
Fast forward a couple years, and I’m working in the corporate office of a train company, mostly exec admin stuff while I’m going to college. Almost the same scenario – there was a need for a designer, they knew I had some experience, and then I spent the next 8 years or so in Adobe CS.
That was some time ago now, there were a few other stints afterwards, and while I don’t do it for a living anymore (burn out is real, man, it’s real!!), I haven’t really refreshed my knowledge or habits. Most of my Adobe training is circa 2000, and my DSLR familiarity is gleaned from pro-photographer friends.
I looked around online for a refresher course. I need some updated habits for Photoshop and to get a better handle in general. I looked at Craftsy and Youtube and blogs and pros and all that crap. I’m not going pro here, I just need a reboot. Old dog, new tricks. That sort of thing.
I settled on A Beautiful Mess’s Photoshop for Bloggers + DSLR Basics Bundle. It’s a good price, the synopsis says it’s a basic overview of both the subjects I want, I go at my pace, it’s a combo read/video with play files and PDF cheat sheets – it’s perfect for what I need.
AND I’m currently half way through in only a few days, and I’m super pleased. I’m not a true beginner, so I can bust through these really fast, but I’m learning some new habits. Like, back when I learned, we made exposure adjustments from the base image, not in a layer. That alone has been worth the cost of admission. I was all, “WOW” and “DUH” at the same time. Why did I not do it that way? Also, when I started, there was no Bridge, so when Bridge came out, I rejected it. ABM has shown me the error of my ways.
I don’t want to give it all away, but I do recommend if you find yourself in the same boat. Or maybe you’re a true beginner? I think it’s great for that too. She goes through a few parts kind of fast in the video if you’re super new to Photoshop, but it’s completely repeatable. Like, I’ve had to rewatch the same 4 seconds of a knitting video to learn it – same diff.
Besides, those darn girls are so precious, how can one not enjoy taking a class from them?
Thanks for the review! I’m super clueless about PhotoShop and anything computer-y, really (I remove dark shadows in iPhoto sometimes and that’s the extent of my photo editing skills!). I’ve looked at classes on Skillshare, but they sort of stressed me out… I’ll have to try this class!
For $125, it’s a steal. there’s 52 (!!) sessions, half DSLR, half photoshop, comes with photos to play with, a few actions, etc. Each is smallish – very manageable and absorb-able. I’m pretty computer-y, but it’s all old habits and this is all super fresh and updated. I’m not easy to impress, I’m all like “what do YOU know” but I’m all over this.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this course! I have been considering purchasing it so it is good to hear that you found it to be helpful.
oh yeah, it’s worth every penny.