Adobe Photoshop Training

Photoshop training comes in many shapes and forms. While the bookstore shelves are packed with Photoshop training books, book-based learning often fails to jumpstart the brain. (Disclaimer: this is from a guy that's put many geekbooks to bed.) For many folks, hands-on classes with real live Photoshop experts will open the eyes faster than any book or video. But the level of Photoshop training classes varies with the venue.

There's great stuff out there, to be sure, but there's stuff that's not so great ...

While many of the books are cool (some very cool, indeed), I've long thought that the best Photoshop training comes in the form of real live classes. But here's the rub. Although you might luck into a good Photoshop class at a local county college, you'll probably have to travel to the big city for the best in-depth opportunities.

Photoshop is all about depth. Although the program may seem simple at first blush, it has grown to include an abundance of intricate features. It's easy to get lost while wandering through the many halls of the great castle of image manipulation. Finding the right corridor and dialog box is one thing. Discovering the magic key is something else, altogether.

Proper Photoshop training will show you the key.

To get the best training, you need to be ready to pony up the fees. Adobe Certified Training (ACT) facilities tend not to be cheap. It's not about the dollars you lay out, however, it's about the value that you take from the class. A good ACT will have qualified and experienced trainers. More so, they should be able to offer you a class that's tailored specifically to your needs, whether creative or production related.

The Photoshop World Conference and Expo is the granddaddy of Photoshop training extravaganzas. The 2005 edition is scheduled for March 8-10 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas. With three days packed full of Photoshop goodness, your brain will explode with ideas in the training sessions as your pockets are emptied at the gaming tables. The instructor list reads like a who's who of Photoshop, stacked with big guns like Bert Monroy, Bruce Fraser, Dan Margulis, and Deke McClelland.

If I still had a corporate expense account, I'd be there ...