This is what I did, it helped with the stuff that you don't really find on web tutorials, once you get the basics then just keep working and never stop learning new things.
hours and hours of trial and error, I almost shot my computer once for getting so frustrated. But after 1 week I got the hang of it and 4 years later i am a pro
I bought PS, installed it and started messing around... At first look at the software I was like Blah! but after few months, I started to visit pixel2life.com and started to learn PS tricks. Now I'm a Pro at Photoshop
Learned it by hanging out in some "signature forums" and making signatures, following tuts and stuff. Also it required a whole lot of experementing from my own
I learned on my own as well. Exploring PS on my own made me want to learn more, and just as important, it helped me retain more for the time I put in. If your learning PS on your own through trial and error I think you are more likely to retain what you are learning. It is very different to be guided through material step by step being bored at times or not engaged. Learning something like PS on your own (with references of course) forces you to pull it apart and enjoy the critical thinking process...
Learned on the job and on my own, but also went through Photoshop Classroom in a Book to satisfy the "manual reader" in me. Then many years of trial and error. I second whoever said make sure to make a copy or a layer before you start messing around with a photo. Being able to go back to the original after you've thoroughly screwed it up is priceless!
I've taught myself photoshop through good-tutorials.com and a lot of playing around with different tools/brushes in the program.
Got the trial messed with it, bought the thing.. I started off making fourm tags got pretty good at that but i wanted to start making money from it so i came here ^_^
If you are an absolute beginner, then I recommend "Classroom in a Book" series published by Adobe Press and after being familiar with basic photoshop, try various tutorials, specially Video Tutorials.
Some great site's here I will have to visit these. I am just glad that I am not the only one in the same situation. I can't thank you all enough for you help on these threads
I just played with and and used the included tutorials. When there is something I don't know how to do, I just google it up and learn that way.
Videos help, unless you can just memeroize everything you see on the screen. I would try and just play around with it making shapes or funny face/background to learn it.
I learnt it iat the univ (studied Graphic Design) and later studied a couple of web tutorials to get to know more about the effects that could be achieved. A pretty good combination as I can say I use it quite well