Photoshop n00bz!
 

Hello. I recently got myahdn on Photoshop and I have ABOSULETLY NO CLUE about how to use it, and upon searching for tutorials, I found most only teahc how to make specific thigns (sunsets, eclipses, stars, old maps, etc) and I've also beens earching for filters and such to download, but to no avail. So I've been wondeirng if soemone who knows Photoshop could teach me a few things.

You will find most of your tools for making shiny stuff under the Filter submenu along the top.

Okay, I'm going to capitalize, underline, italicize, and boldicize this: DO NOT USE FILTERS WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP!

I've said this many times and I'll continue to hammer it into this forum until the cows come home
so.
I repeat in even bigger letters:
DO NOT USE FILTERS WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO USE PHOTOSHOP!

Filters are supplemental tools meant to be used sparingly. Not the end-all-be-all tool for photoshop. They will hurt your educational process more than benefit it. In a nutshell: filters are bad. Very very bad. Hell even the many yeared photoshop users I run with avoid filters like the plague.

go to phong.com

dubtastic.com

and do every single damned tutorial you can find everywhere you can find them. The tutorials are singular in their purpose to get you acquanted with where the tools are and what they do, not meant to make one time shiny things. I did at least two years of every tutorial I could find and I'm better off because of it. Frankly, if I had my way photoshop would be completely filter free. I rarely ever, if ever, these days use filters.

Make best friends with layers and layer effects.

I've used filters... once! And to a good effect ebcause it was something I used in some other program (go to my website and check out the cross and title image) and it came out okay, but as you said, only because I knew about said filter. As for doing the tutorials, will they really help that much?

Yes. Doing a tutorial is not about the final product of the tutorial, but rather it familiarizes you with the functions that Photoshop offers, so that eventually you will know what tool to use to produce various effects.

Even to this day I still use tutorials to refresh my memory.

I absolutely agree, tutorials are fantastic for helping you get acclamated with tools and their functions. The information that you get from them can be extremely invaluable. I suggest going to http://www.good-tutorials.com and giving some of those a shot.

And yes, filters are not good. Helpful if you know how to use them, the bane of your existance if you don't. Layer effects and masks are your friends, your best friends.

Okay then, thanks everyone for the tips. I'll start doing some tutorials and get familiarized. I appreciate the help everyone.

EDIT: I've been looking for sometime now, and I can't find a tutorial to help me with what I want to do. There is a certain effect I have seen used that I would like to know about. It's the effect where there are horizontal liens on an image ande very other one is either dark or light than the original, in order ot give it some texture and value. Also any help on how to round out rough edges to make something seem less pixelated?

I can't quite figure out the first part of what you mean. But for something less pixelated theres two methods. One being the blur tool and the other being one of the few uses I have for a filter. Being filter>blur>gaussian blur. Just move the slider not too far from the left and it will keep the image clear but with a slight blur to it.

Oh that does seem to help, thanks. As for the first part, i'll link to an example i've seen: here.

I know the spotlight effect, but I want to elarn how to make that wierde horizontal line effect.