how long to get the basics?

photoshop is not made for basics 😉

Basic whats though? Image editing? Design?

basics – a few minutes

I've been playing with it for the best part of ten years and have yet to produce anything worthwhile out of it, though

Not long assuming as you understand the basics about graphics such as colour channels, alpha, the different formats etc. Work out how to use the layers properly, they will save you a lot of time and frustration.

Illustrator on the other hand is a beast. I've never managed to work it out despite many (shortlived) attempts.

job app specifies competent use of photoshop. :s

Out of all the Adobe stuff i've dabbled with After Effects has confused me the most.

Image editing etc is quite straightforward. lots of things under menus but you can get away with using a select few. Design requires a little more familiarisation, is it posters / adverts you're going to be required to create?

leaflets by the looks of things. I've used indesign and quark before, and know my way around final cut pro so I'm not a computer moron – photoshop though I always tend to hand over to our designer

.duncan – Member

Image editing etc is quite straightforward. lots of things under menus but you can get away with using a select few. Design requires a little more familiarisation, is it posters / adverts you're going to be required to create?

This kind of stuff does make me chuckle – the names give it away,. Photoshop is intended for editing photos. If you want to illustrate advertisement, illustrator is the tool you need….

oh sounds like you'll be alright really then. IMO An incompetent photoshop user with a better knowledge of typography and layout creates far better stuff than a photoshop wizz with no clue.. It does follow a somewhat logical structure with everything where you'd look for it.

Things i've found that confused all my friends when they had to use it for product design at school were things as simple as the auto select layer option and selections / moving items.

Photoshop is intended for editing photos. If you want to illustrate advertisement, illustrator is the tool you need….

Yea i would agree with that..

Although the way they seem to be heading with photoshop cs3 – cs4 had hardly any updates benefitting to photographers. CS5 has some nice new stuff in it though.

they are coming closer and closer, the links between the two are blurring the boundaries, but there are definite differences

The definition of 'competency' probably depends on job applied for.
I've been using PS for 12 years and for some jobs I'm more than competent, but for others I doubt I'd even be close.

If it's not a main requirement of the job then have a poke around, try a few tutorials and I'm sure you'll be able to blag it. If the job requires proper photoshop work, a lack of experience might catch you out.

it's not the main competency by a long shot. But it's hinted at

ask simonFbarnes he's a beginner with photoshop.

I use it daily to supplement my knowledge of InDesign and Illustrator but can't do anything advanced although I have used it for around 20 years. So what I am saying is if you need to be able to do cut-outs and touch out blemishes etc it is quite easy but I reckon I only know 10% of it's capabilities but it is all I need to know

Chris – Your photoshop skills are so good as per that email the other day 😆

photoshop is quite an easy program to use as there is generally more than one way to do the same thing. take a look on youtube for tutorials. there are loads! it doesn't matter which version you have as not much changes between upgrades.

give it a go. you'll love it.

ask simonFbarnes he's a beginner with photoshop.

read my Photoshop rant 🙂

After 2 weeks of messing around with it I'm able to do useful work with it, and once I've read the Javascript manual I can write my own controls – but I'm still shocked at how flaky it is – settings come and go for no obvious reason and some controls are frankly antedeluvian. But there are plenty of good things too 🙂

Photoshop is intended for editing photos. If you want to illustrate advertisement, illustrator is the tool you need….

to me 'editing' means selecting and sorting of images into a first edit, selects and finals. using something like bridge, capture one or lightroom.
photoshop is for retouching.
but then i'm a photographer not a designer so using it in a different way to a designer/artworker.

photoshop is easy to pick up if you have a good book or tutorials to follow.
i started with a beginners book for the basics (layers/paths/selecting etc) but picked up the advanced stuff from other professionals. or if there was a specific task a quick hunt around the web, although usually it was a case of combining techniques to get the desired results.

I found it really easy to pick up after following a few tutorials. I seem to pick up new software packages really easily though, need to for my uni course.

duncan, After Effects really isn't that hard, it's basically Photoshop with video! All about key-framing things.

All you need is photoshop portable [loads fast].

Picasa

and Xara Xtreme.

All quite easy to master all, depends what your after.