Learning Photoshop

So for the first time since I bought a digital camera (2.5 years ago) I am finally bothering to learn Photoshop. I took a digital photography class last year, but I didn't actually learn photoshop, I have always relied on just being able to take a good picture. The book that was required for my class was Real World Digital Photography by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey, but to be honest I never actually opened it until now.


I spent about three hours yesterday learning how to insert layers and play around with the coloring, the hue & saturation, the color balance, the contrast and a million other things yesterday. Unfortunately, I am working with a really old version of Photoshop, version 7, but for now it will do.


I worked on two photos, one that I took back in 2006 at the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco, and the other that I took this past weekend at the Rhododendron Gardens in Federal Way, WA.

Here is the orignal photograph before any photoshopping:

Here is the photograph after I spent a couple hours playing with it:

Here is the original Fern Photograph:





Here is the finished Fern Photograph (this one I was able to do a lot quicker, b/c I was more familiar with Photoshop):