Totally hopeless?

[Dferman]

Hello and thank you for reading. First if you do not have patience feel free to pass me by. Yelling at me and ranting will not be of any help. Believe me I have tried on other boards and been turned off quickly by insulting replies.
When it comes to computer things I generally struggle with the most basic of tasks. However I do love photography so I continue to fight to overcome my deficiencies in learning.

I have owned Paint Shop Pro 8 and After Shot Pro 2 for around a year now and still can't seem to get the hang of things. Previously I have tried Photoshop elements and CS2 as well as Capture NX2 and had varying results but have never been able to fully utilize the programs. I had come to try Corel with the hope that hings might be different, possibly more intuitive and easier to understand for a computer challenged person but they haven't.

So far I have watched the videos and heard how easy AS2 and PSP8 are to use and how many powerful tools they possess. Usually I have found a fast talking person with a interesting foreign accent breezing through the processes and making things look so simple. But when I try to do this myself every time I come up short trying to navigate things like saving. moving from file to file, understand just what I should be doing next etc. In short I'm always coming up just frustrated and lost.

I don't know where to turn to next for help so I thought I'd try here. I don't do this all the time and find if I lucky I get a few hours a week to devote to the problem so I work and operate very slowly. This coupled with my computer leaning issues makes for a long process. Also this is a hobby for me so I am trying to keep it fun and enjoyable. Hard to do when it becomes so frustrating that you end up with a headache.

At this point I'm hoping someone out there would be willing to supply me with some steps to help me get myself some kind of workflow that would work for me. I usually try to get everything right in camera and accept the results in JPEG and only recently have tried switching to RAW shooting with attempts follow up in ASP2. Now the stumbling block is getting my images converted and cataloged. Two things that are supposed to be so easy with ASP2. Well not for me unfortunately!

Thank you in advanced for any reasonable attempts to help.

[oeci]

First of all, print the manual and read it. I did that too and I'm very skilled when it comes to computers. But AfterShot is a complex program and you really have to understand what it does. Try to get started by reading the manual, then come back here with specific questions. Nobody will be able to guide you through the whole process of processing raw images in a forum, one could write a book and there would still be uncovered details.

[Dutchmm]

Better still, buy AFX's book (ASP Survival Guide). AFAIK it is still titled for ASP2, but believe me it deals with 99.8% of what anyone needs to know.

[hannes_hab]

yes : http://www.aftershotsurvivalguide.com/
and see:
http://forum.corel.com/EN/viewtopic.php?f=95&t=46386

[Dferman]

Thank you all so much. I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond.

1. oeci... I have gone the manual route already and still struggled to wrap my head around the process. If I can progress further I will be back with more questions I am sure. Thank you.

2. Dutchman... Good tip on the AFX book. I will try it. It can't hurt me any! Thanks.

3. Hannes... Thank You for the links. Especially the second one with the viewtopic thread. I'll be spending the next few days attempting to digest all of that thread, but it looks good.

[Dferman]

yes : http://www.aftershotsurvivalguide.com/
and see:

Sadly it would appear that this publication is no longer available as of Sept 2016. I will continue to look for a copy but so far it doesn't look good...

A day late and a dollar short again

[Voiceofexperience]

It tells you all you need to know about ASP that even its erstwhile biggest fanboy and forum attack dog, AFX, has abandoned it...