Alright, so I guess an explanation is in order. I have a term project in a technical writing class, and I plan on doing a handbook on the basics of Photoshop (those being the different tools, what they do, and maybe a basic example of how to use them).

I'm writing an informal proposal for the project now, but I'm required to have some kind of proof that there's a problem that my project would solve, and you can imagine how I'm skeptical of their being any real research on the topic. Hence the poll..

I guess the general idea is whether you think Photoshop is complex and can be intimidating to beginners or not. Ideally I want votes from people that don't know how and want to learn it, but people that know Photoshop are welcome to voice their thoughts as well, or how they thought when they were learning.

I'll use the poll as quantitative data, but I'd appreciate posts with your thoughts as well, since I'm not fond of the idea of limiting somebody to the options I have without having the opportunity to explain themselves.

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I think is is fairly intimidating when you first start because it is a pretty complex program and both has alot of functions you will never use, and sets of functions you use all the time depending on what you are doing.

I learnt the program through experimentation and from reading tutorials and such. I still keep learning stuff abot brushes, textures, levels, etc.

There are quite a few books out there about photoshop, but I never found them particularly useful because I wanted to use the program for art, and the books were mostly about photo manipulation. So there are quite a few tools I just don't use.

Photoshop is more user friendly then other programs, but the only real way to learn it is through use and pick up tips here and there. It definatly isn't self-explantory.

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Good luck with your handbook/project!

I thought photoshop was some sort of scary monster that only experts could tackle. Especially when I saw the price tag. 😀

The whole idea of layers was complex to me when I first used it. When you've only used flat 2D things like paper, the idea of multiple layers that can have different things and different visibilities is odd and frightening. The amount of tools that you're presented with can also be intimidating.

I thought using photoshop was slightly difficult in the beginning, but after learning the basics, it wasn't too bad.

Definitely intimidating; expecially since I didn't use a guide for a while.
I had no idea what to do, just sort of sat there looking at all the buttons.

A guide is definitely a good idea for you to create, and it's very helpful for all people starting to work with photoshop, especially those who have no or limited experience with other image editors. It's a powerful program, but you have to know where to direct that power if you're going to get anything done. P:

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Well...in my opinion, it was a bit difficult to play around with but it only took me a few months to advance quite far (for a nine year old/ten year old years ago who played with graphic design and HTML I actually understood the overlays, layers, opacity control, brushes, effects in general, image manipulating etc). But I realized after awhile I preferred Paint Shop Pro (especially PSP9) over Photoshop just because it seemed simpler/easier to manage. Dunno, if you take it slow and experiment with editing images it'll become easier...it's kinda like playing around in MS Paint but not really.

Photoshop was intimidating at first.
I was already familiar with using layers, but many of the other options were new and took some time to discover and experiment with. There are a lot of online tutorials, but for myself, I played with the program until I had it figured out. It has a lot of features that a beginner will not even use; that many artists and designers may not use either.

it's fairly daunting, it's really complicated if you go deeper than the basics

I wouldn't call it intimidating, just a pain in the arse to figure out how to do certain things.

PhotoShop 7 doesn't have a direct way of drawing curved lines. You have to fiddle about with that crappy pen tool, which doesn't always do what you want it to do (even if you follow the freakin' help guide in PhotoShop to the letter).

Rather than intimidating, I'd call it poorly made. MSPaint is superior to it in some ways, not many, just some.

Although, I suppose PhotoShop is easier if you have a drawing tablet, or are stupidly skilled with the mouse like my ex-uncle.

Anyway, a handbook would definitely be a good thing. Just make sure it has lots of step-by-step pictures. I hate reading large blocks of text and I understand things more easily with pictures.

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nope, photoshop is not that complicated especially when you have used gimpshop. you will see that photoshop is a whole lot easier compared to gimpshop

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I don't believe so, but I had used Gimp before I used Photoshop. At the time, Gimp seemed very disorganized and complex. When I got Photoshop, Gimp went out the window because Photoshop was far more organized and user friendly in my opinion. I had not even learned the more easy bits of Gimp before using Photoshop, so I think I can say that it wasn't intimidating.

Trial and error is the best way to go. I have a few years of using it under my belt, and I learned some of the more advanced stuff before I learned the basics. For example, I just recently discovered the wonder of the clone tool, and I discovered the color swatches far too late. 🤢 There were so many things that could have made everything easier, but it took some time before I realized they were even there.

If I were to delve deeper into Photoshop, I'd definitely be intimidated. The program is a bit inflated...

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Anyway, a handbook would definitely be a good thing. Just make sure it has lots of step-by-step pictures. I hate reading large blocks of text and I understand things more easily with pictures. I would, but I can't have a step-by-step setup since it's an information booklet rather than a tutorial. The direction I'm trying to head towards is sort of like a primer on the tools/dialogs so that you have a clue what the hell is going on before you delve too deep.

the whole assignment is limited to 12 pages of content, so you can imagine how I actually had to work to scale down the project to fit the constraints.

Thanks for the input everyone. Keep it coming.

I personally thought photoshop was intimidating, even after using Gimp for a year. I'd gotten so used to Gimp (not gimpshop, god no), that doing things the Photoshop way was so unintuitive that I deemed it an utter failure.

Eventually I was gulled into switching after convincing myself that it was worth it for the few things I'd use that gimp lacked (adjustment layers). I'll be damned if it didn't take me 3 tries though. I still complain about things, like the Pen Tool's controls being overly complicated compared to Gimp's, and utterly failing at having a working shortcut system.

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I was honestly intimidated when I opened the program, but when I saw the tools and other stuff, it went away. I guess it's because I had lots of time and didn't feel the necessity to use it back then so I just taught myself slowly how to use it 😀

I rather watch photoshop tutorials on youtube

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It did seem intimidating at first, and even now I only how to do scanlation edits with it. I taught myself using Forever More's guide, but I don't know how to make my own art using Photoshop, though.

It wasn't intimidating for me. I was experimenting with Paint Shop Pro trials before I actually used Photoshop, so I sort of applied what I've learned. Like someone mentioned above, trial and error seems to what taught me the most. And I'm still learning new tricks to this day.

Though I was already using PS for a about a year, I had to take a mini supplementary class for my major. In that class we were required to purchase Classroom in a Book for PS. Didn't really interest me considering it's about 3 inches thick. A more concise handbook might be helpful and a bit more appealing to people.

Intimidating or not, I think it all boils down to how dedicated one is willing to learn.

On the note about having a tablet to make using PS easier, that's really only applicable if you plan on drawing/painting. I used a mouse for years before I finally purchased a tablet. Everything works the same. I don't really like PS as a drawing medium and prefer PaintTool Sai or something similar.