Photoshop

[chauncey]

Most of us agree that PS is the bestest PP software available and, that it has the steepest learning curve.
That said, most of my images over the last several years have gone in a more artistic direction.
That direction represents about 7 years of the afore mentioned learning curve.

Who else among us has spent an equal amount of time with that curve?

[Donald]

Not sure, William, of the connection you are making between your work taking a more artistic direction and your thought that Photoshop is the best post-processing software available.

Are you asking if people have spent 7 years on the learning curve of using Photoshop?

I'd be amazed if a number of people have not spent considerably longer.

[Manfred M]

I'm over 13 years using Photoshop (I got started on CS when it first shipped in the fall of 2003) and just learned a couple of new things this week and last (dealing with the Statistics function, which automates some of the things I used to do by hand using layer masks).

There are some functionality I will likely never use because I am a photographer, rather than a graphic artist, but I have played around with them. The learning never stops because every time there is a new update (both major and minor, some things change).

[Mike Buckley]

So long as post-processing software continues to provide more and more capabilities, the learning curve, depending on how you define it, can last forever. One reason I thrive on photography is exactly because it will always be a source of constant learning that never ends. The stuff I read about futuristic capture technologies is especially exciting.

[James G]

I started using PS in 2004 My memory of the 'learning curve' issue was that I needed/had to concentrate on using a few 'key' processes that delivered what I wanted. Once comfortable with those basic manipulations, experimenting and more detailed learning became a joy.

I am still learning and have every expectation that I will continue to do so. I rather subscribe to a somewhat overused and abused philosophy that it is not so much the destination as the journey that counts. (And in my case is still quite exciting!)

I can't think of a worse nightmare than having nothing more to learn/experience.

[chauncey]

I completely agree with that James.

[Rita]

I have only been using PS for a couple of years, started out with Elements. In the short time I have used it I have come to the conclusion that it is a never ending bout of learning. There is so much to learn and so many different ways to do things. And that,
to me, makes it very enjoyable.

[rpcrowe]

I really enjoy Photoshop and am now using PS CC. However, I do a lot of my editing with the free (now) NIK Photoshop Plug-Ins. My favorite is NIK Viveza...

[Thlayle]

I've been climbing that curve for almost three years now. I still have a long way to go yet, possibly due (in part at least) to the fact that I'm still finding that working in LR suits my needs most of the time and that is where I do all my importing from.

Thanks to the folks at Apple that I have even tried LR/PS: I was mostly content with my parametric editor and may not have even tried PS but for the fact that they abandoned Aperture in favor of their new "Photos" app, a very poor replacement.

I feel I have just scratched the surface on many aspects of Photoshop. But I am using it more, and liking it better, all the time.

[pnodrog]

Following a one week course and a few months practice I could more or less do what I needed for any basic correction using Photoshop. A few years latter when adjustment layers were introduced I got much more skilled at using layer masks. Now after about 18 years I still discover or read about new techniques. Usually these just add another more efficient way of doing something rather than achieving an outcome that I could not have done some other way.

To a certain extent I dispute that it is significantly harder to learn than other editors. All the concepts/theory of corrections and enhancement of an image need to be understood regardless of the editor. There is a huge amount of online reference and training material available to help in learning Photoshop.

Over the years I have had to learn to use programs for CAD, spreadsheets, database, word processing, desktop publishing, accounting, electronic schematic design, PCB layout etc etc. Nearly all of these have been puzzling, frustrating and even annoying at the initial stages but usually after a couple of weeks the skill and understanding reaches a level that allows basic tasks to be done and encourages enough perseverance to carry on to achieve a reasonable competence.