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I use PS Elements now for basic things like simple color corrections, brightness and contrast changes, cropping, resizing, etc. What's the best way to really get to know this and other photo programs? Is it a matter of using the apps and thrashing around until I learn, or is there a better way? Also I use the GIMP quite a lot. Thank you for your advice in advance.
Hands on Experience works for most things in life;)
GIMP is similar to photoshop in a lot of ways.
I think the best way is to jump in an try out ****. When hit a wall, I usually find youtube has great photoshop tutorials on layers and **** like that.
The best way to learn is simply to do. Come up with some fun projects that are applicable to what you want to learn to do (have a goal in mind). I would recommend also finding some good tutorials online and following them step by step. This will give you a good idea of the tools available and the quickest ways to accomplish certain tasks. I don't have any tutorial sites handy as I'm at work at the moment, see if I can't dig up a bookmark or two when I get home. There are always multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. With practice, you'll learn which methods yield the best results, and which save the most time.
[EDIT:]
Here are a few tutorial sites. Alot of the ones I had bookmarked are old and either no longer updated or no longer exist.
http://psd.tutsplus.com/
http://www.photoshopstar.com/
http://www.photoshoplady.com/