National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) – Behind the Scenes (Cash Discount)

People ask me all the time if my NAPP membership is really worth it. When I did my recent article on web hosting sites where I showed what is behind the scenes, one of my readers asked if I could give them a Behind the scenes look at NAPP. This article is a response to that request. I highly recommend that anyone serious about improving their skills in Photoshop consider joining NAPP. It’s membership fee is a little more than you might want to spend, but I think I’ll prove in this article that you’ll have a net gain after only a year of membership as I’ve quickly discovered.

Home Page

The Home Page is where you land after logging in and it usually features What’s New, a word from the director and general news. It also features a portfolio each week, so if you are lucky your portfolio could be featured for all NAPP members to see!

Tutorials

The Tutorials are what finally pushed me into joining. I had seen a friend working on a photo and he couldn’t remember how to do something, so he did a quick search of NAPP’s 1075 tutorials and found exactly what he was looking for (and it was even a video that show exactly how some hard to describe in words things worked). This was so cool, and I’ve found myself staying up WAY too late at nights sometimes enjoying the very cool tutorials here which will likely teach you how to do all your favorite Photoshop concepts.

Magazine

To me the part of my NAPP membership that has helped me the most is my subscription to Photoshop User magazine. This magazine is VERY good because it features step by step tutorials on some of the latest Photoshop techniques from industry greats like Scott Kelby, Vincent Versace, Matt Kloskowski and much more. If you want to stay on the bleeding edge of what’s cool in the Photoshop world, and learn how to do it months (or even a year in some cases) before the technique shows up in a Scott Kelby book, then this is the magazine for you. There’s been so many times where I’ve learned a really cool technique from the magazine and immediately found myself using it as part of my regular digital workflow.

The Magazine section the NAPP site gives you digital access to samples files for the magazine as well as access to back issues.

Portfolios

Want to see how great the readers of NAPP are? Check out the cool Portfolios section and prepared to be humbled. Remember, these people have probably been reading Photoshop User longer than you and have gone through a lot of the tutorials, so their portfolios rock. The level of talent amazes me on this site, and people are very good about providing feedback in a constructive way on your photos.

Help Center

Have a question about the latest gear? Want to know what Scott Kelby used for something (as I did once)? No problem – these people are great, and in fact I’ve had Laurie Excell answering my questions instantly at 2:00 AM in the morning! It was awesome! When I have a question, this is where a go so my secret is now out! 

Forums

Remember those cool portfolios I was talking about above? Well, the people who did those are also hanging out on the Forums to answer your questions. This is a great resource because I find that the quality of talent here is way better than you’d get on sites like FredMiranda.com where people seem to think they know more than they actually do. Here it is the real deal, so you can trust that you’ll get a good answer.

Training

Another place where you’ll save money as a NAPP member is when Scott Kelby and gang come to your city (even international classes offered) and you get a nice discount on admission. I attended the Maximum Photoshop Tour with Dave Cross for only $79 for an ALL day class!!! That’s less than $10 an hour to get training and ask questions of someone with mad Photoshop skills. It even included a great summary booklet to go with it, and I got a screaming deal on The Photoshop Channels book that I reviewed on my blog. This class was excellent and a fantastic value.

Jobs

Times are tough right now in this modern day “Great Depression” we are in. Everyone is losing their job left and right, so people are scrambling to either get a new job or at least some side job to help pay the bills. There are resources on the NAPP site to help you network and search for Photoshop jobs, and people in the industry know this is the place to come find highly skilled Photoshop talent. Want get paid to do Photoshop work? Start here FIRST!

Conclusion

I highly recommend you joining NAPP. I’ve never once regretted my membership. Between the discounts and the money you can save in the tutorials (versus other services) you’ll find that your membership investment is a wise one. If fact, it’s time for me to renew now so I better stop writing and go renew now. To learn more about why I like NAPP, you can also see my old article about NAPP here:

http://ronmartblog.com/2008/06/how-to-improve-your-photoshop-skills.html

Special Offer

See my article entitled Exclusive NAPP Cash Discount to learn how you can save money on a NAPP membership! Visit the discount coupon code page for the latest details if you discover any problems with the codes, or for other offers.

Disclosure

While I have been a member of NAPP for quite some time, I did let my membership lapse due to procrastination. As part of my review of KelbyTraining.com I was given a free membership renewal to NAPP. I also may get a commission if you join NAPP here using my code.