Buying Photoshop

• Creative Suite 6 is no longer being sold by Adobe as of January 9, 2017.
• Here are price options for subscribing to the Creative Cloud for the latest versions of Adobe apps.

Tutorials and New-Feature Movies

http://www.lynda.com - Lots of training options: videos to purchase, inexpensive online training subscription for 24/7 access, events, books. There are 1000s of courses containing videos on all sorts of software. Rate is $25/month if you pay annually ($30/month for monthly). There's a 30-day free trial option.

https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ (formerly Lynda.com) has a number of tutortials (to buy) on the latest software.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=creative+cloud+2019 - Adobe's Creative Cloud 2019 YouTube channel

http://psd.tutsplus.com/ - Creative tutorials on compositing, special effects, lots of graphics. There's also a membership option that allows access to more complex tutorials, including the assets that are used for the lessons.

http://www.totaltraining.com - DVD/video training by the experts in Adobe software.


Digital Portfolios - Presenting Yourself and Your Images Online

There are literally hundreds of ways to make digital portfolios. Once content and images are gathered, the next decision is how to make the portfolio: (1) Create a YourOwnName.com website yourself? (2) Or use free templates hosted by a free service? (3) Or use higher quality templates for a fee? (3) Or pay someone else to do some version of the above? Listed below are a few of the many choices. Since this is a Photoshop website, these choices are image oriented.

Adobe Bridge has scripted "output" (in CS6 and older, and in most CC versions) that produces digital PDFs and websites with a variety of designs and options. Bridge's resulting products then need to be hosted or presented somewhere. There are so many easier methods these days that Bridge Output isn't as useful as it used to be. But here's a short YouTube video with a summary of output options: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Kwcl6cbDQ

https://www.behance.net/ - Behance is Adobe's portfolio option for Creative Cloud subscribers. The good news is that it's integrated into Creative Cloud asset storage (the mini-Bridge). The less good news is that it's limited in how images are allowed to be presented. The best use of Behance is to take advantage of the world-wide audience tuning into Adobe, with a link to your personal and more flexible portfolio site hosted elsewhere.

http://www.flickr.com/ - Flickr provides storage and organization tools as well as presentation. The free version has ads, and the paid versions do not. And of course there are additional features with the paid versions.

http://www.zenfolio.com - At $5/month for the low-end version, this is a cost-saving option for professional photographers or other image-oriented professionals. The higher-priced plans include watermarks/branding, private client access areas, ordering, etc.

https://www.tumblr.com/ - Tumblr is a popular mini-blog website, with blog content, images, videos, audio, chat, and social networking connections via blog posts.

https://www.wordpress.com - The infamous Wordpress offers hundreds of themes and templates to customize website design. Wordpress was originally blogging-only software, and has now expanded into other areas such as digital portfolio presentation and just plain websites. The interface can be a bit complex to learn, but there are many options for page design and content. The .com version provides free hosting for a blog/website (mystuff.wordpress.com), and the .org version allows the Wordpress content management software to be installed on your website's server (mystuff.com). Installing Wordpress on your own website's server allows you to use the Wordpress interface (Dashboard) to create and update your website without having to write the programming code yourself.

http://www.squarespace.com - Squarespace is an e-commerce oriented website builder with a relatively easy interface. Accounts range from $12 to $40/month depending on options. Paying annually provides a 25% discount.

And of course, there's much more. Do an online search for "digital portfolio."


Sites of the Gurus

Bert Monroy
http://www.bertmonroy.com - Photoshop guru & photorealistic artist. Worked with Photoshop before Adobe had it!

Deke McClelland
http://www.Deke.com/ - Author of the Photoshop Bible, among other books, CDs and DVDs.

Russell Brown
http://www.russellbrown.com - Adobe Evangelist. Tons of free tutorial movies on the latest apps.

Julieanne Kost
http://blogs.adobe.com/jkost/photoshop-training-videos
- Adobe Evangelist. Great photographer. Tons of tutorials.

Ben Willmore
http://www.digitalmastery.com/ - Photoshop Master of layers and layer effects. Free PDF on light painting.


Seminars & Events

Adobe Events
http://www.adobe.com/events/main.jsp - Mostly on Adobe software, some events cost for entry, some don't.

Apple Events
https://www.apple.com/retail/learn/ - Enter your zip code to find mostly free events and workshops on new or existing Mac system features, or Mac-specific software. You can also make Genius appointments for troubleshooting your Mac problems.

O'Reilly Media's Community Webinars/Events
http://oreilly.com/webcasts/index.html - Tons of free webinars, mostly very technical, occasionally on Photoshop with Lesa Snider.


Associations & Groups

Graphic Artists Guild (GAG)
http://www.gag.org/ - A national union of illustrators, designers, and other creatives who have come together to pursue common goals, share their experience, raise industry standards, and improve the ability of visual creators to achieve satisfying and rewarding careers. Good info on copyright issues and the rights of artists.

American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)
https://www.aiga.org/design-for-good - Their Design for Good program page has a long list of how to use your digital and/or design skills to help make the world a better place. For example, their strategic initiatives include: Get Out the Vote, Diversity & Inclusion, and Women Lead, which includes a Gender Equity Toolkit. Plus the page link above has a long list of how to engage Design for Good in your own community.


Newsletters and Subscriptions for Periodic Tips & Tricks

Ben's Extra-Strength Photoshop Tips
http://www.digitalmastery.com/ - Ben Willmore's periodic tips and tricks.

GoMedia's Online 'zine for Designers
http://www.gomedia.com/zine - Based in Cleveland, Ohio, GoMedia.com offers Photoshop tutorials, graphic arts business tips, a great newsletter ('zine), and often lots of freebies.

Photoshop Cafe
http://www.photoshopcafe.com/ - Colin Smith's website with freebie tutorials and resources. He has a current subscription for "Live under Lockdown" with tips in general, plus new features in PS2020. He's also has (and sells) tutorials on photography with drones.

Photoshop Roadmap
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/ - Freebie brushes, textures, lots of stuff, plus tutorials and offers.

Tim Grey Newsletter
http://www.timgrey.com/ - Sign up for Tim Grey's free newsletter on digital imaging. He also has paid yearly subscriptions for more features, like discounts on items sold on his site, ability to ask questions on his blog, and more.


Artist Resources

Copyright Information
http://www.asmp.org/ - This site is aimed at media photographers, but the copyright info applies to illustration artists as well. There's also good copyright and intellectual property rights info in the Graphic Artist Guild website in the Associations & Groups section above.

Design Cuts
https://www.designcuts.com/ - A small design company based in London, England. If you subscribe to their periodic emails and create an account, they send freebie deal downloads every Friday: fonts, textures, vector drawings, watercolors, and other artwork you can use in your own compositing in Photoshop (or anywhere else). They also have free design tutorials and resources for sale (with great pricing and generally free usage agreement).

Put Your Portfolio (or a story) in Book Form
http://www.blurb.com - Blurb makes books one at a time - very unusual in our mass-produced world. Download a template and fill in with your images and text. Prices vary according to size and the number of pages. Astounding value for a few books at a time. Blurb is only one of many.


Books & Reference

ProDesignTools - 30 Free Book Dowloads
https://prodesigntools.com/newsletter.html - Sign up for their newsletter and get access to 30 free downloadable books on Adobe apps, from Creative Suite to Creative Cloud, and more. Some downloads may require an Adobe ID. If you don't have an Adobe ID yet, go to Adobe.com and clicking on the Sign In link top right.

PeachPit Press
http://www.peachpit.com/ - Great books on a variety of applications, online "club" discounts, periodic emailings if you subscribe. My favorite series is the QuickStart Guildes. PeachPit started out a local company in Berkeley, and is now worldwide.

Browse bookstores, libraries and Amazon.com
There are literally hundreds of Photoshop books, each with a different perspective, from basic learn-the-tools beginning level to advanced color management. Different authors have different approaches to the same topic. Do a search on Amazon, Google, or with DuckDuckGo.com (doesn't track your browsing), or in bookstores and libraries for Photoshop topics of interest to you. Be sure to check the level of instruction or content, generally indicated on the back cover. Before buying, read a few pages or chapters to make sure the author's approach makes sense to you and how you learn. Once you have authors and titles in mind, purchase from an independent bookseller.

Here's SFGate's list of independent bookstores in the SF Bay Area:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-independent-bookstore-guide-3231797.php

The Northern California Independent Booksellers Association list of East Bay bookstores:
http://www.nciba.com/east-bay.html



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