NAPP and Photoshop User

[Mike Jackson]

Hi all,
For anyone interested in digital graphics, you might also be interested in these couple of sites.

http://www.photoshopuser.com/
This is the web site for NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Users) ran by Scott Kelby.
For roughly $100 yearly, you get 10 issues of Photoshop User Magazine.
You get full access to their web site full of tips, tricks, and tutorials on a variety of subjects related to Photoshop, Illustrator, and Lightroom.
For example, I just saw a list of 123 specialty text tutorials and there thousands of tutorials on Photoshop.
The fee gives you access to all the tutorials on that site.
Additionally, there are substantial discounts on hardware, software, plug-ins, and so forth through the membership.
B&H Photo and Video includes FREE 3 day shipping.
Adobe offers 15% off on their software through the site. You'd make up your yearly fee if you planned on buying an Adobe suite and probably even an upgrade.
I believe they also offer insurance policies for photo equipment, but mine is already covered through State Farm Insurance.

http://www.kelbytraining.com/
This site is associated with Photoshop User and Scott Kelby. Similar to http://www.lynda.com, kelbytraining.com offers online tutorials on a variety of subjects and graphic software. The monthly fee is $24.95 and you can get a $5 discount if you are a NAPP member each month. There are no long term commitments, but you can also save some additional money if you subscribe for a year. Kelbytraining.com offers a variety of courses and topics on popular graphic software (Photoshop, Corel, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Painter, and so forth), but it also includes videos on how to use your camera, lights, strobes, and equipment. There are plenty of Photoshop tutorials, but there are also tutorial titles on how to integrate Illustrator and Photoshop, which might be something people here might use. I watched a couple of titles on copyrighting photos and artwork with the US Copyright Office, and now run my copyrights religiously each month.

I still subscribe to http://www.lynda.com
They offer similar titles, taught by different instructors and have a more broad title list. Besides the normal graphics programs, there are also titles on using Excel, using your iTunes program, and placing items on eBay for auction.

I've taken classes at the local Arts Center quite a few times over the past 10 years. Most 3-5 evening classes cost me around $175. These online classes seem like a better deal to me as they are accessible 24/7. And, just to be clear, if you subscribe to either of the places, you are not restricted to watching just a section on Photoshop. You can watch any of their titles on any subject. Sometimes I watch parts of one just to see if I might like the program enough to buy it.

I am not sure if this will be of interest to everyone here, but it was worth posting for anyone interested in Photoshop and digital graphics.

Best regards,
Mike Jackson

[Jim Moser]

I like the Photoshop User magazine, but have not subscribed yet.... I have several of Scott Kelby's books on Photography and Photoshop, and really like the way he writes and explains things. Would like to take one of his seminars sometime. I have been taking a Photoshop class at the local college.... CS5 has a lot of great new features compared to my CS2 version. I also just got Painter 11 and am looking forward to playing with it.
Mike, if you haven't seen any of Stephen Hosmer's HDR images, check out his Facebook page..... http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid= ... 1353082957

[Doug Bernhardt]

Just checked with my wife as I'd not seen any photoshop-user mags in the house for a while. (She "was" a member courtesy of her job) and have decided that it was time to get a membership/subscription. So thanx for reminding me. It was a terrific magasine although I think the Scott Kelby association is very much the McDonalds version of photoshop. All the info is there but no real depth which is in a sense the best part of his books and instruction. They and David Butler's workshop sure had me on track when I first became interested n the digital side of work/photography. I'd recommend that to any newbie to photoshop for photgraphy.

[Paul Jukes]

All of these resources are great for learning how to use Photoshop as well as explaining various techniques but if you want to get inspired or see the best out there I would recommend Advanced Photoshop Magazine.

http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/show ... 0The%20Mag

Jaw dropping stuff to aspire to and get your creative juices flowing. It is pricey though.