HELP!

Scott was so thoughtful for my birthday and bought me Photoshop CS5.

I was floored because I didn't expect to be able to afford this amazing piece of software for quite some time (and yes, he pretty much made up for Mother's Day by surprising me with this).

I have a lot on my plate right now: work, summer vacations/activities, Etsy orders, potty-training, being a momma and a wife, and now my newest hobby of photography.

I really do thrive when I have a lot on my plate, but right now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed.

I think part of it stems from the fact that I'm so new to a lot of this that I don't even know where to start!

With Etsy I've just kind of muddled my way through, and I think, slowly but surely, I'm figuring it out.

I know it will never be my main source of income, but it is so fun that I really want to stick with it. I'm having a blast making special orders for people, and just being creative and thinking up new stuff to sell!

(If you want to visit my shop, click here)

With photography and photo editing, though, I just don't even know where to start! My dad is helping me with the principles and science and mathematics behind the camera, and I try to put those principles into practice every day.

But by the time I finish the day and get some photo-taking in, I'm too exhausted to try and figure out Photoshop!

Like I've said before, I want my pictures to speak for themselves.

However, I know how powerful Photoshop is, and I would love to use it to the best of it's abilities....even if I'm just making minor touch-ups.

So this is where you come in.....if you use Photoshop at all, please leave me a comment and/or shoot me an email (uwmomma at gmail dot com) answering one (or all) of the following, and include anything else that could help me learn about the program:

~What's the first thing you do when you open up a photo in Photoshop?

~What tools do you find yourself using most often?

~Any "secret weapons" regarding Photoshop that you would care to share?

~What free or cheap online tutorials have you found to be helpful for learning all that Photoshop has to offer?

I seriously appreciate any feedback!

It's quite intimidating, and I just need to know where to start :)

My first Photoshop edit....and linking up for Show Off Your Shot at And Then, She Snapped.

  
I have dabbled with Photoshop this week, just to try it out a little.

Here's a before and after of one of my new favorites of Ellie.

I did some very minor touch-ups, as you can see:

Thanks in advance for your help! And, can we get a vote today?!