Post by David Pierce. Find me on Twitter.

Adobe Photoshop, as anyone who’s used it will tell you, is a pretty unbelievable piece of software. It’s expensive, but if you’re aiming to do any sort of heavy-duty image editing, Photoshop still seems to be the favorite and most-used applications.

There are tons of websites out there to help you achieve Ninja-status in Photoshop, and do a whole variety of cool things – I’ve even covered a bunch of them over at MakeUseOf. But, in reality, the hardest part of Photoshop is the beginning, that learning curve from installing the software to doing even the most basic things.

Thankfully, a few sites around the Web are looking out for the little guy, and everything from tutorials to guidebooks are available to you to teach you some of the basics in Photoshop.

Whether you’re firing up Photoshop for the first time, or just need a refresher course, here are ten great resources:

About.com

About.com is a truly amazing resource for learning about… well, anything. And Photoshop is no exception. About features a long list of "Tutorials for Photoshop Beginners" on how to do everything from use the healing brush to touch up photo imperfections, to using the Magic Eraser to its full potential. Most of the links are to videos, and most of the videos are simple to follow and helpful to watch. About.com is a place to learn, in a simple way, about almost anything – it does Photoshop nicely.

Tutorialized

Tutorialized, rather than teach you about the toolbars and keyboard shortcuts, just wants to get you started doing what you need to do. It features both videos and step-by-step instructions on how to do some simple things in Photoshop, like creating stone text. Many of the videos talk to you as if you’re a five-year-old, which annoys me, but the simplicity and usefulness of the videos makes them worth checking out anyway.  Every video has a rating and comments, too, which gives you a quick and accurate sense of how useful the tutorial actually is.

BasicPhotoshop

BasicPhotoshop is, in my opinion, the most complete set of beginner’s tutorials out there. It has a huge number of tutorials, all showing you how to do something truly useful in Photoshop. The "Record an Action" tutorial, for example, shows you how to create simple, repeatable macros in Photoshop – an unbelievable time-saver for anyone who uses Photoshop extensively. The content hits on basic image editing (removing redeye, making your pictures smaller) as well as the more complex features that only Photoshop can offer. It’s a great place to start, and BasicPhotoshop has certainly taught me a lot.

Good-Tutorials

Good-Tutorials is one of the biggest sites on the Web for Photoshop tutorials, and it also includes a huge section of tutorials for beginners. These, like a few of the other sites, tend to hit on particular skills and tools, rather than a broader overview of Photoshop. The tutorials are great teachers, and help you learn how to do things like create packaging design and attach a realistic paper clip to a photo. These tutorials are all very specific, but they’re great at teaching you the ins and outs of a particular part of Photoshop.

Photoshop Essentials

With a name like "Photoshop Essentials," who could leave them off the list? And hey – they deserve to be there anyway. The Photoshop Essentials site is chock full of tutorials, eBooks, fun downloads, and tons of tips and tricks to get you on your merry Photoshopping way. Tutorials range from the incredibly simple –"Zooming and Panning in Photoshop" for instance – to the more complicated but equally useful – "Saving, Loading and Reusing Layer Styles." PE is particularly good at showing you how to do things faster – using macros, creating custom swatches, and the like.

Texas iSchool

Add one part "How To" guide, one part tutorials, and one part walkthrough, and you get the Getting Started with Adobe Photoshop guide from the Texas School of Information. The guide starts at the beginning, showing you how do things as simple as open or create a file in Photoshop (even these are surprisingly complex in Photoshop – lots of options, numbers, etc.) Then you’ll be walked through some of the tools you’ll need, how to work with layers (which is really the feature that makes Photoshop incredible), and a ton of other useful information. You can even print out the guide or save it as a PDF to share with other people. If you’re truly starting at Square One, Ground Zero, or whatever, start with this one.

Photoshop Lab

The Photoshop Lab is a site with tons of tutorials, articles and tips on how to get the most out of Photoshop. A click on the "Beginner" category brings up a number of great articles, most notably the "Photoshop Tool Basics," a list of the names, shortcuts, and uses for most of the tools you’ll use in Photoshop. The names and icons for some of the tools in Photoshop can be super cryptic sometimes, and this list (and the rest of the content from Photoshop Lab) is a great resource for diving on in to the software.

New Tutorials

New Tutorials has tutorials on things from Photoshop to Flash, with everything presented simply and easily. For the true beginner, there’s the "Photoshop Basics" section, which helps you with things like drawing curved lines (deceptively difficult in Photoshop), and use the toolbars more effectively.
Once you’ve gotten your feet wet, you can learn how to do things like create angel wings.

GraphicsWorld

GraphicsWorld has a long list of great beginner resources, with everything from a step-by-step on how to use the pen tool (apparently that’s important) to a list of the 101 Hidden Tips and Secrets for Photoshop. This is a great way to get shortcuts, tips and tricks that the pros use, and a little extra know-how once you’ve gotten Photoshop up and running.

YouTube

YouTube, frankly, might be the only site you need to learn 95% of Photoshop. Just search for "Photoshop tutorial," and be astounded by how much comes back. I won’t bore you with a look through what they’re all about (which would be impossible anyway), but a couple of great ones for beginners are "Photoshop 101 – Part 1" and "Part 2." Those videos, and the thousands more, will have you Photoshopping like a champion in no time.

With these sites and more, there’s nothing stopping you from becoming a Photoshop machine! (Well, except that nasty price tag). But if you’re involved with images in any way, Photoshop is a great tool – and an easy-to-learn one, if you look in the right places.

Do you use Photoshop? How’d you learn?

Photo: torkristensen