I'm sure most of us know the basics of photoshop for cropping or resizing images, but I thought I'd start a thread where you can ask questions on how to do things or may be post up little guides.... We have seen some great wallpapers made by members imagination and creativity, and I would really like to know how to do this.....

I have just got fireworks as I know it is very popular and my daughter has produced some amazing results with it, so I want to be able to use this to the best of my ability also.... Starting with doing a little portfolio of my work, may be a booklet type, or something in a folder, or both!

Which would be best for this type of thing? Fireworks? I've not even had a play with it yet, but I'm hoping to this weekend when I get a minute.....

Let me start by mentioning that programs like Adobe Fireworks / Photoshop etc are amazing but very pricy.
There is an alternative which is called http://www.gimp.org/, and totally free.
Offcourse an Adobe Master Collections CS5 can be found and 'leased' through other canals,
the exact how and where is in my opinion not something to talk about online and visible ( reasons are obvious I think ).

Overal most of these work programs work the same, it's like a Buff Daddy vs a DAS6 ( in a really tiny nutshell )
Some programs go way further, each an everyone with their own specialities.

If we stick to Fireworks vs Photoshop: I started with FW due to the fact it felt more of an extention to me than PS.
FW has minor abilites to control/addapt images then PS, but for general use it's more then suitable ( well for me personally then )
The downside is indeed the way you can't create those awsome images that stand out more.

If you want to manipulate the lightning, crop / blend / fade / make licensplates disappear .... FW is your friend
If you want shiny text, smoke / neon and all those extra goodies .... go for the PS

It's just like detailing: Buff Daddy is awsome but sometimes you're short .... a Spin Doctor has to be acquired !

http://www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/tutorials.php is an awsome site which provided help / tutorials / downloadable files etc

I can write some basic handles fo you to hold on to / help you out .... just let me know and I'll give it a try to help you out !

Cheers Marcus and just the type of reply I was looking for.... Which to use for what etc.... And thanks for the links.

I will have time at some point this weekend and if I get stuck......

alrighty then .... just PM and we'll sort it out ( hopefully )
Almost forgot: find a file you like ( not a .jpg but a .png or psd ( otherwise everything is flattened and you can't see what has been done ),
make a copy ( so you have 2 on your computer ) and start fiddling step by step: what happens if I change this or that ....
the original is still on your pc so no damage can be done ( and if like what you have done so far, use the save as often )

Extra: by flattened I mean: if you look at a just fully detailed car you only see its shine but not the claying/polishing etc.
If it's been recorded on video or you're present there, thén you can see all the previous steps
Perhaps it sounds childish but I thought refering to detailing will make things a bit easier ( at least for me ) to read / translate