Excellent Photoshop and Web design tutorials.

I don't normally recommend tutorial type sites, though there are several I follow. My favorite Photoshop tutorial site has started a new web design tutorial site, and they've started it off with an impressive list of design tutorials. If you do any web design work, this is well worth a read.

NETTUTS

The original Photoshop site is here:
PSDTUTS

Fotoflexer - Better than Photoshop Online

Since we're on the topic, I just discovered another nice online photo editor. It has all the normal editing tools, a fast and intuitive interface, and lots of neat effects, some of which I've not seen elsewhere.
http://fotoflexer.com/

Photoshop online - eh. Not so much.

I use Photoshop all the time, actually own a legal copy of Adobe Creative Suite. It's one of only three pieces of pay software I use regularly. (XP, Office being the others.) It's a great program, and has enough of a market that "Photoshop" has become the generic term for any computer modified photo, from simple adjustments and fixes to creative and artistic modifications.

When I saw that Adobe had released an online version of Photoshop, I rushed to test it and have spent quite a bit of time playing with it this morning. I can't say I'm impressed. It lacks the serious tools that have made Photoshop the standard for professionals, and for casual users, the interface is not nearly as nice as some of the other online editors. It also lacks any really interesting or fun tools. Comparing it to Picnik or others, I can see no reason to recommend it over those.
(See my post about online editors here)

All that said, it will probably do well. When people go online for a photo editor, many will Google "Photoshop" rather than "online photo editor" and will perhaps never discover what I consider to be a better product.

Free online photo editors

I'm pretty much a Photoshop and Picassa user. I work mostly on large files, so working online is a hassle with photos, though I use it for many other doc types.

That said, there are times when I'm on a machine without editing software, and there are some pretty good online editors. They can prove useful, and are great for folks not prepared to invest in software, they work well.

• Picnik - Probably my favorite of the bunch. Seems to work pretty fast. Has all the expected basic editing tools. Also has a bunch of really cool effects that you can apply. I want to find some of these for Photoshop. Integrates very easily with Flickr, Picassa, and other online photo services.
  
• Splashup - Splashup will look immediately familiar to users of Photoshop. The interface is very similar, and it provides tools like layers. Useful if you are attempting to follow instructions intended for Photoshop. Pretty slick, and also interfaces well with most of the online photo sites.
  
• There are others. Check out this Techcrunch page. But having looked at them all, I can't see any reason I wouldn't use one of the two listed.
  

Very, very cool optical illusion I made.

• Stare at the Dot in the center of the picture for 30 seconds
  
• WITHOUT looking away, put your mouse over the picture
  
• Looks like you are looking at a normal color photo, right?
  
• Nope...Look Away without moving your mouse.
  

Believe it or not, there are only two pictures. The weird color one, and a b/w one. Pretty neat huh?

This is the tutorial I used. Let me know what you think.

Photoshop Tutorials

Photoshop is an amazing photo editor. I've been using it casually for years, and have barely scratched the surface of what it is capable of. When I have something I want to do, even if I think I know how, I will frequently search online for a tutorial, More often than not, I find a better way of doing it, easier and with better results, explained clearly in a tutorial. Here is a list of Tutorial Sites worth checking out:

• http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/ - This Site has a simple listing of techniques, nicely listed by what the goal is. (Remove a back ground, fix color, etc. )

http://www.tutorio.com/photoshop-tutorials.html - Another good collection of Photoshop Tutorials - The site also has tutorials on other subject, like Flash, Web Design, Etc.

• http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tut_fx.htm - Some of these are a tad out of date, written for PS 7, but cover some solid effects and the principles still apply.


• http://www.good-tutorials.com/tutorials/photoshop - A huge collection of great tutorials.


• http://www.tutorialized.com/tutorials/Photoshop/1 - 8,000+ PS Tutorials


• http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Most-popular/1/ - What to say? More great PS tutorials.


• http://www.sketchpad.net/photoshp.htm - A good collection of basic tutorials. Learn about Layers, Clipping, etc.


• http://pslover.com/ - 11,000+ Tutorials