Adobe’s powerful creative suite provides many great design tools that let creative designers produce fascinating and powerful artwork.
For example, Photoshop allows users to tweak and transform photos in amazing ways, such as removing blurs, removing people from the image, adding extra details, and changing colors. It’s a potent tool for people who are serious about design careers, including teenagers with a visual eye and a keen ability to capture photos.
Thankfully, high school students interested in learning Photoshop have many potential training opportunities that could work well for them. Photoshop is a complex piece of software but by no means impossible for teens to learn. In fact, its relatively simple and streamlined nature masks multiple powerful tools that designers can tap into when producing powerful visual art. Any teen interested in Photoshop training for high school students should read on to learn more..
Teens Can Learn Photoshop in School
Yes, high school students aged 14-18 can certainly learn Photoshop, often through their school's graphic design courses. These in-depth classes will pair teens with skilled teachers with years of experience in Photoshop and similar Adobe software. Students will move through these classes quickly and efficiently to produce unforgettable artwork. A typical graphic design program covers a handful of different subjects to help teens master these skills, including:
- Basics of Photoshop: Early in class, teens will get an introduction to Photoshop’s interface, tools, and basic functions like cropping, resizing, and adjusting brightness and contrast. While they could potentially figure out these tools on their own or suss out how to use them with practice, knowing for certain helps make their training easier.
- Project-Based Assignments: During their courses, students apply Photoshop in hands-on projects designed for their specific skill level. For example, they’ll create projects like posters, digital artwork, and photo manipulations that highlight their abilities. By working in this way, they master Photoshop while creating a great work portfolio!
- Integration with Other Subjects: Some courses may integrate Photoshop skills with subjects like art, technology, or media studies, enhancing cross-disciplinary learning. This approach may vary depending on the school, as some might have more specific tech-related focuses. In this way, teens can pick and choose their knowledge base.
These classes provide students with fundamental digital editing skills that are essential in various creative fields. Just as importantly, they’re easy to transfer to other Adobe software tools. For example, mastering Photoshop should help teenagers understand InDesign’s user interface a little better. While these programs aren’t 1-to-1 in their design or layout, they’re close enough that most teens should easily transition to more coherent usage with practice.
Learning Photoshop Outside of School
Graphic design classes have spread rapidly to high schools in many parts of the nation. That said, they’re not yet mandatory nationally, so not every high school student may have easy access to these classes, which could frustrate or discourage them from learning.
Thankfully, for students who want additional training or whose schools do not offer comprehensive Photoshop courses, there are other options that may work best for them. Just a few that might interest high schoolers fascinated by Photoshop include:
- After-School Programs: These unique class options can offer more specialized or advanced Photoshop training. Some high schools may provide these courses in their community. However, some cities may have private programs taught by individuals or companies. Often, these options include scheduled payment options that minimize excessive expenses.
- Dual Enrollment Courses: If a teen lives near a college or university, they may sign up for dual enrollment. These classes let a student earn both high school and college credits, which they can apply towards a future degree. Most graphic design classes of this type should cover Adobe Photoshop, particularly in photograph-related fields, such as journalism.
- Summer Design Boot Camps: Intensive boot camps, like those offered by NextGen Bootcamp, teach Photoshop through immersive projects and real-world applications, going deeper than many school courses can get. Often, they’re a smart opportunity for students because they take only a few weeks and give them the foundational skills they need to learn.
Why Learn Photoshop as a High School Student?
Photoshop is a powerful tool for creative expression and practical application. There’s a reason the word “Photoshop” has become a byword for image editing. While there are other editing software options available, most not only follow Photoshop’s example but rarely match the OG program. Even better, learning Photoshop offers several benefits, including the following:
- Creative Skills: Learning and enhancing creative skills helps students boost their artistic abilities by providing a platform to experiment with complex photo edits and digital art. As an easy-to-use but powerful software suite, Photoshop provides a fascinating area for play and experimentation that ensures students produce attractive and appealing work.
- Professional Skills: Learning Photoshop can prepare students for careers in photography, graphic design, digital marketing, and more. However, it can be useful in areas that might surprise some students, such as web design, ad making, etc. All these careers provide a strong platform on which a teen can build a unique career.
- Preparation for College: Proficiency in Photoshop can bolster a student's college application, especially for design-focused programs. As mentioned previously, dual-enrollment courses actually provide college credits for students who want to build their resumes. That said, some private schools may also work directly with colleges to sync their training.
- Cost-Effectiveness: Mastering Photoshop can save money by allowing students to create their own marketing materials, presentations, and more. It’s a great one-stop design program that teenagers from all walks of life can master, particularly if they’re on a budget and trying to save money on their training and design careers.
- Versatility: Photoshop skills are useful in various roles, including journalism, advertising, and web design. However, students can even use Photoshop for personal projects, such as creating presentations for graduations, family reunions, and even YouTube channels. In this way, teens can use Photoshop in so many fascinating and powerful ways.
Topics That Teens Will Study in Photoshop Education
Beginner-Level Concepts
A teen’s Photoshop training begins with foundational skills that help build their knowledge and make it easier to transition to more challenging roles. These include:
- Tool Familiarization: Learning about brushes, layers, and selection tools helps students better understand beginner-level design concepts in Photoshop. Once they’ve learned about all the tools and the UI, they can progress to more complex ideas.
- Basic Photo Corrections: Knowing how to adjust color balance, remove red-eye, and use basic retouching techniques can help teenagers get to work with Photoshop. These practical theories and exercises can ensure they edit photos effectively.
- Simple Compositions: By combining elements from different images to create simple new compositions, teenagers can produce unique and attractive work that they can build on when crafting advertisements and other types of appealing designs.
More Challenging Concepts
As teens progress through their learning experience, they’ll likely master more advanced concepts that give their designs more character. These advanced Adobe skills include:
- Advanced Compositing: These important techniques teach teens how to create complex digital artworks involving multiple layers and effects. In this way, their work becomes far more professional and suitable for careers throughout this fascinating market.
- Masking and Layering: Using masks to edit images without affecting the original layers allows for non-destructive editing that improves a teen’s work. For example, they can layer different images to produce appealing and professional-level work clients will love.
- Typography and Design: Integrating text effectively into images, learning about typography and graphic design principles, and utilizing them properly make a teen’s images even better. It’s particularly important for marketing and advertising jobs.
Gradual Integration
These concepts are introduced gradually, making them accessible for beginners and allowing students to progress at their own pace. Some learning programs even include self-directed courses using asynchronous learning. Others utilize a professor-led setup that helps teens get more hands-on support. Teens can choose whatever approach makes the most sense for them, as some may be more self-motivated than others and learn best by doing rather than listening.
NextGen Bootcamp Programs
NextGen Bootcamp offers specialized programs in Photoshop that are tailored for high school students. Designed to be easy to understand and fast-paced (most last no more than 1-3 weeks), NextGen lets teens get in and out of training quickly to master complex theories surprisingly easily. Currently, two courses from this provider include Photoshop lessons, including both in-person and online classes that cover multiple unique subjects.
Graphic Design Summer Program NYC
Graphic Design Summer Program NYC covers Adobe applications, like InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Students in The Big Apple can attend the in-person class to work on real-world projects in a small class setting. They’ll learn how to retouch photos, combine images, prepare graphics, and integrate text. Anyone outside the New York area can take Graphic Summer Design Program Live to get the same lessons in a live, digital format for easier mastery.
Digital Design Summer Certificate NYC
Digital Design Summer Certificate NYC works well for teens fascinated by graphic design, as well as user interface and user experience (UI and UX) jobs. In this course, they’ll learn Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, as well as Figma. Figma lets teens prototype and workshop UI/UX designs in powerful ways. Those outside the NYC area can take Digital Design Summer Program Live Online and get many of the same types of fascinating benefits.
College Courses Related to Photoshop
While there is no specific AP exam for Photoshop, courses like AP Studio Art: 2-D Design can incorporate digital design elements, including Photoshop skills. Furthermore, there are many college and university-level programs that make mastering Photoshop easier. Success in these courses can help teenagers understand the scope of this software and improve their overall knowledge in fascinating ways. The benefits of taking these lessons also include:
- Enhance College Applications: Demonstrating advanced design skills can set a student apart in college admissions. For example, they might stand out compared to other students if they have prep courses on their application that prove their interests and abilities.
- Earn College Credit: Performing well in AP Studio Art can result in college credit, giving students a head start in their college careers. For example, they might skip those early and boring 101 classes and jump right into the most fascinating topics.
- Prepare for Professional Opportunities: Building a portfolio through AP courses can help secure internships and jobs in design-related fields. Sharing their best work can give teens a better chance of catching the eyes of recruiters and other employers.
Learning Photoshop not only fosters creativity and artistic expression but also provides students with practical skills applicable in various professional contexts. This makes it an invaluable tool for those looking to enter creative industries or enhance their technological fluency. As a result, it’s critical for high school students to take these programs and learn more about Photoshop and other Adobe software. The benefits are simply too high for them to ignore.