Deke McClelland is famous for his Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-On-One book series and the unique manner in which he trains you. The Photoshop CS4 One-On-One training videos from Lynda.com continue his personable method of training, only in much more depth.

Photoshop CS4 One-On-One: The Fundamentals contains 14:24 (hrs:min) of video training that is contained in 12 lessons showing you all of the essentials of Adobe Photoshop CS4 as taught by the award winning author and Photoshop hall-of-famer. Exercise files accompany the tutorials on the DVD as well as with the premium subscription which will give you all you need to learn the fundamentals of Photoshop.

Lesson 1, "What Photoshop Can Do," begins by taking a tour around the new Photoshop CS4 interface as well as examining what you can do with Photoshop. You will learn about combining images, adjusting colors, cloning, adding layers, cropping, sharpening and adding text to an image. This lesson gets you familiar with how to use Photoshop and some of the basic techniques that are used regularly.

Lesson 2, "Open and Organize," introduces you to Adobe Bridge, the file management tool that comes with Photoshop. Here you will take a whirlwind tour of Bridge, see how to open images, add file information, filter the thumbnails, batch rename, group images into stacks, organize your images into a slideshow, and customize your workspace.

Lesson 3, "Setting Up 'Shop'," examines how to set up Photoshop so it works best for you. There are many preferences available to you and here the instructor will look at the ones that allow you to work at maximum efficiency and minimal frustration. Here you will lock down some important color settings, keyboard shortcuts, and other interface preferences. You will also see how to organize you palettes and save your workspace as well.

Lesson 4, "Navigation," will show you the most efficient way to move around in Photoshop. While this topic may seem mundane, it does contain some of the most exciting new features in CS4. Between all of the panels, windows, and tabbed interface items, there is a lot to work with. Here you will see how best to arrange, zoom, scroll, and rotate your images.

Article Author: T. Michael Testi

T. Michael Testi is software developer, a writer, and a photographer. He also blogs at PhotographyTodayNet and is building a blog about the development of a state-of-the-art Green Dream Home in Oklahoma.

Visit T. Michael Testi's author page — T. Michael Testi's Blog