Better Yourself. Better Your Work.
One of the many advantages of working in the digital world, is the seemingly bottomless pit of skills and tools that one can learn, and even master. We’re all pretty aware that top names like Apple, Google, and Facebook are always rolling out new devices or updated technologies and user interfaces (even though not everyone is always happy with the updates Facebook makes to our profile pages, so frustrating), like the MacBook Air, iPhone 7, and Google’s plethora of Chrome apps. With so many constant changes, it can get a little overwhelming trying to stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest. However, this doesn’t mean that we should stick with what we’re used to and sit idly by while the tech world rapidly evolves around us.
Back to the title of this post: Never Stop Learning! We at Greenstone Media believe that it is important, not only for company improvement, but for personal improvement as well, to continue to seek ways to add to our knowledge base and skill set. I have always believed in the importance of continued learning, and I am thrilled that I am part of a team that believes the same! Whether it’s learning a new subject or skill for our own personal interest, or a job related skill, we at Greenstone Media acknowledge the importance of continuing education.
So what new skill am I learning? Well, I have always loved photography as a side hobby, and have even worked on a few paid photography projects. In college I briefly delved into the world of Photoshop, but haven’t used this amazing photo editing software since. While I still love photography as a hobby, iPhoto and Photos for MacBook can only do so much. This led me in the direction of Photoshop courses in Lynda and Udemy.
Course 1: Cleaning Up A Creative Portrait
Course 2: Removing Unwanted Objects
While I am not going to bore you with a typed, word-for-word retelling of these two video courses, I will tell you that they were very helpful. These two short courses both covered simple beginner skills in Photoshop, and served as a good refresher course for me (especially since there have been numerous updates, I am sure, since my freshman year in college). They also showed me the benefits of using a purchased software such as Photoshop, as compared to Photos that comes with my MacbookPro. For basic edits, Photos can get me by fairly well, but it does not compare to the variety of tools that I can use in Photoshop to accomplish the same (or similar) tasks with more quality results.
I look forward to my next courses on Photoshop, and I can’t wait to apply what I’ve learned! This also reminds me of the importance of quality web design and development. While there are free (or at least very cheap) services out there such as WordPress blogs, Wix, and Google Sites, these don’t really compare to using the professional design and development services of companies like Greenstone Media!
-Amanda Highley, Greenstone Media
