I HATE PHOTOSHOP

Just kidding but wanted to get your attention.

Photoshop has been the industry standard for years.
My only complaint is that Photoshop is addictive!
I can spend hours working on an image. I get totally adsorbed. Time is nothing.

I learned Photoshop while working in the Commercial Printing Industry. Prior to Photoshop, I worked a million dollar system by HELL GRAPHIC SYSTEMS called a Chromacom. An image was imported over to the chromacom side from a High End Drum Scanner. Next I could run the script on the Combiscope and completely rebuild the job on it. Processing time ( Paging ) was a bear and took forever before the image was ready for output. Images were stored on huge IBM disk stacks we called TOP HATS. Maybelline was our first major account. Wonder Woman, Lynda Carter, was my first full blown retouching job for them. Her complexion was really bad. I remember sitting with the Maybelline art director for three days to get the look just right.

So much better now. Images were initially cleaned up for print purposes. Photoshop lacked layers and used alpha channels at the time. If you messed up, you had to start over...no history states! Later as Photoshop evolved, we found it could do so much more for client images.

When Digital Photography started to come along just a few years back, we had to do more correction for the early users. Resolution was an issue and 4MP images were tough to work with. Many Professional Photographers stayed with analog production of their Transparencies as they said Digital Photography would NEVER be of interest to them. Imagine that!

Digital Photography remains a growth Technology and is here to stay. There a 24MP cameras on the market if you have deep pockets. I was using a SCAN BACK on a 4x5 View Camera for bringing images into Photoshop. The size of the scan was 16" x 20" at a whopping 325 MB capture. Took about 2 minutes to image. I used it for stationary object and large art reproduction. Lighting was a bugger as it complicated to illuminate a 40 x 60 canvas without hot spots. The lighting would fluctuate as well, even with Video Lamps. Loved the images but gave up the process.

One or two more tid bits about Photoshop. IT NEVER CHANGES, IT EVOLVES. Many of the original features are there but are only available through KEY SCRIPT and not from a menu.
Other tid bit is that the average user employs a mere 15% of Photoshop's full Capabilities.

So....go out there and start finding the other 85%. You will be amazed what you can find.
I have just NOW started working with CS5. Some of the new stuff, like puppet warping,and HDR are a bit confusing but I will continue to burn the time to adjust to their functions.

Like I said, TIME IS NOTHING when it comes to Photoshop. Don't rush it. Take your time. Don't be afraid to start over if you become unhappy with your results.

OK....Last tid bit......SAVE SAVE SAVE SAVE ! Organize your files and folders well. Keep the PSD files at full resolution and in RGB. Use them later for doing any and all conversions for formatting required for the various applications, from print to web graphics.

PHOTOSHOP ROCKS.....you make it ROLL.

lol this gets thread of the month.

Wow, an OLD-SCHOOL editor has joined the ranks . Must be wonderful to have such experience. To have edited wonderwoman's face I've been shopping since 2003, Adobe photoshop 7.0. Agree, it never re-invents itself, it just evolves and gets better and better and better....

I'm motivated and inspired with that thread

Wherefore who and the what now?????

Scotty wrote: lol this gets thread of the month.

+1 Excellent thread.

I think with any of us it is a love hate relationship. It is fun to play with but kills time all too well. Sometimes when I working with it I feel like I have entered the Twilight Zone where time disappears.

This was entertaining to read

Let's start a I hate photoshop club.

I really loved reading this! So much I never knew you did (I think you told me the Linda Carter story before, but it was probably years prior to my first printing job). fascinating. More like this!

layers are your friend.

Coming from the traditional darkroom spending a few hours on a photo doesn't seem that bad, and the idea that I can go from camera to print in 5 min for most of my photos seems like a miracle. Sometimes I spent weeks working on a single photo, and still couldn't get it to work. I love Photoshop. I love getting to use the full ability of my eyeballs and use a monitor that is calibrated to match my finished prints. No more working blind or under a dim, red light. No more finding out that after hours spent in the darkroom my prints have dried down a bit darker than I wanted. No more mopping the floor.

gonzoriffic wrote: I really loved reading this! So much I never knew you did (I think you told me the Linda Carter story before, but it was probably years prior to my first printing job). fascinating. More like this!

Yes it was Andrew. I remember teaching you how to spot out the goobs in the scans for me. This was your introduction to Photoshop. You saved me hours. When we first went digital, the high end flatbed scanner did a great job but the draw back was the "noise and specks" from the CMOS ability of the Fuji machine. It was my style to PUSH the limits for the quality I was seeking.

Totally Agree. Dodging, burning, pushing, all of that was a skill. I am thankful for the darkroom experience. GLAD that part is over for sure. Although, I must admit that wet printing of the images doesn't compare to the digital print process. I used to match various papers and developers to get some great BW images. I still have some and they look as good as they did the day they were printed. I was a believer in proper fixing and washing, washing, washing of the prints. LOL