Do You Computer Savy Mommas Know How to Use Photoshop?

I use Photoshop all the time. (At work and home.) There is a learning curve involved to be good with it, but like with most things, it can be used simply or in a higher tech way. If you already have it, I'd say go for it. It's expensive, though, if you're going to buy it and there's probably less expensive "photo editing" software available.

Is she proficient with Microsoft Office? Word, Excel and Powerpoint are broader-use programs that she will most likely need familiarity in an office setting, etc. At work (marketing/adv) we use photoshop for design applications.

I am a photographer and use photoshop daily! It is pretty complicated. Maybe start with photoshop elements? It's close to photoshop, but not as hard to figure out. Also elements is a lot cheaper ($85 I think). Photoshop can range from $600 on up.

I can use Photoshop on a self-taught level. I've taken some Seminars for work too. IMHO, this software is way to advanced for a 9-year to learn from a mother that also needs to learn it. Although I don't scrap book, there is easy-to-use digital scrapbooking software out there that's FREE. Your daughter may enjoy this when starting out.

Every child is different, but I do think at age 9 Photoshop might be too advanced. I use it, love it, and would not consider anything else, but even my teenage niece will come to me for help with it. It is not the most intuitive program and you need to be "in the know," but I have been using it for over 15 years. It is exceptionally powerful, but if you only want to teach your daughter to be creative with software there are easier and less expensive choices. Also photoshops power is less in creating than it is in editing. I don't want to make any specific recommendations, because I am not sure of your goals or if you are PC or MAC, but if you google alternatives to Photoshop you will come up with literally hundreds of options. If you are trying to teach computer skills with mainstream software, I would suggest having her do a homework presentation in Powerpoint which is graphic oriented and also widely used. Or perhaps website design or movie editing. I could go on forever, but I think you need to determine the goal or skill first then you can find software to match.
Good luck,
C.

I've been using Paint Shop Pro since version 7 and I currently have version XI.
It's very user friendly and uses a very wide variety of graphic formats.
There are a number of Paint Shop Pro for Dummies books out and there are a number of help/tutorial sites as well.
http://www.michelespaintshop.com

There is a tutorial in Photoshop. Photoshop is expensive. Adobe has a scaled down version for home use that is more than able to provide the basics of photo manipulation. (I think it's Elements). A lot of the expense comes from features that home users don't need anyway, like color separation for a print job.

You probably can find some tutorials online and your library should have some good books you can check out as well. (search the catalog and reserve them - the popular ones are never on the shelves) I haven't checked but I would guess there's an online community or two of photoshop users or digital image people that would be able to help, especially a student.

good luck! it's a LOT of fun.

There should be a tutorial feature.. maybe go through that with her?

I started using photoshop 14 years ago and thought that I could learn everything I needed to know just by using the help, tutorials and usage. I am/was an advanced computer user. After a couple weeks of frustration, I realized that I needed to take a class on the basics. If you have never used a desktop publishing/photo editing program other than Paintshop or other consumer-type program you will probably end up doing the same or buying a basic book. To give you an idea of photoshop - our teacher at the time for a beginning photoshop class said "we don't even offer and advanced class as there is so much in photoshop - the programers don't even know just how much it can do." Photoshop is considered a "professional" photo/graphic editing tool. The cost alone would seem a little much for just "for fun."

Again, I've been working with Photoshop for years and a daily basis and I still only consider myself an intermediate user. If you want her to do something educational on a computer why not learn a new language? or study science? Or heck, even money management - Just my opinion =)

I use photoshop for basic things and have just figured it out as I go along. I would suggest starting with a relatively simple task you want to do, google the task and then find instructions for how to do it. If it were me I would go through it first without your daughter to make sure all the directions match up with your version of photoshop.

For example if you want to take a picture of your daughter at the apple orchard and make the photo all black and white except the apple she's holding. You can find instructions for that here (http://www.ehow.com/how_###-###-####_black-white-image-us.... It's not really difficult, but you want to make sure if you don't have CS4 that you know how to do it all before you instruct her on how to do it. Plus if you can't figure it out than it might be a good idea to start with simpler software. I think it's a great skill to have an a lot of fun for her to do, it's amazing to me how much faster kids can pick up on these things than we can. Good luck!

I've never been able to figure out all the perks to any of my photo programs, but I am able to play around some and figure it out as I go. Maybe the both of you could take a class together in your community.....?

I have been using photoshop for about seven years now. There are a lot of things you can do on there, however, without a clear cut goal of what you are trying to achieve, I don't see the value in taking the time to learn. I think there are many other programs available that aren't quite as advanced.

Is she interested in photos, or scrap booking, or art? You don't mention her interests, which would help us determine if this would be a good fit for her. You don't have to be an artist to use photoshop, but you do have to have an imagination, as there aren't any templates to guide users.