All the design options are daunting. Photoshop, in particular, has such a range of effects and multiple avenues to achieve those effects that I find it difficult to maintain a direct A to B approach learning any specific function. Typically, I fail to follow the instructions and end up doing something that I had no intention of doing. Sometimes these neophyte diversions lead to profitable discoveries and sometimes not. Ultimately, time seems to be the real issue. With enough time, I’m sure a preferred method can be found for a desired effect. That is why I have a preference for the tutorials by Moll and Petrik. Simply, I like having my hand held. I like having a clear idea of what I’m attempting to accomplish and the steps needed to pull it off before I begin. I also like being able to refer back to the tutorial after I make a mistake or miss a step. Petrik’s tutorial was particularly helpful to me because I have photoshop elements. The more I tried to implement Eismann’s restoration techniques on scanned images of my grandparents old photos, the more I realized that photoshop elements and photoshop are substantially different. So in the end, I just wish I had more time. In that regard, this post can be considered a vote in favor of tutorials.
And speaking of the use of historical images, the NY Times ran this article by Errol Morris about a photo found on the battlefied at Gettysburg. Pretty interesting.
