buzz wrote: 
Can I afford it?

no.

Am I going to buy it anyway?

no. yes. no. yes.

no.
yes. shit.

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
dont drool on the camera

 buzz wrote: 
you are making my mouth water...

 NoEnzLefttoSplit wrote: 
DPReview
 
if you are my Giftor, i would take that instead of the chocolate covered chocolate with chocolate filling 

I need a successor to my D40 which hasn't survived the last waterfall excursion too well. (battery drains in about 4 hours... any ideas anyone?)..

currently eyeing the D7000... anyone have any news/feedback on it?

 hippiechick wrote: 
I got to see Kelby back in the fall. He was great.

 buzz wrote: 
Every once in awhile he comes through Chi, and I always try to catch him. $99 workshop, a real bargain!

I would like to see that Linda person (can't remember her whole name) or also the one that is a photo restoration expert.

Any basic photography book that talks about exposures and cropping and contrast, stuff like that. Figure out where you want to go, then find the tool that does it.

The "curves" that Al Chemist talked about earlier——a direct relation in function and presentation to the film photography concept of sensitometry curves. That is, they could have given us tools that did what the "curves" adjustment does... but us film people were already familiar with curves... Every roll of Kodak film gave a set of curves for different scenarios and developer chemistry setup (Dektol? Temp? Time?). So even a photography book from the 50s has good information that you can still use today. Once you look at a photo and say, "I want to crop this like so and boost the midtone contrast," then you have an idea of what tools you need to look for in your software.
 

 buzz wrote: 
Hey buzz, did I tell you that I have an autographed box set of Scott's "Digital Photography" series?

 buzz wrote: 
I would like to second, third and fourth that! Also Deke McClelland, He might only cover Photoshop, though.

 Danimal174 wrote: 
Scott Kelby's books are very good.

 Danimal174 wrote: 


You can ask, but that doesn't mean I can remember the answer! Seems as if the most useful one was maybe on of David Pogue's "Missing Manual" things? Remind me again when I'm not so lazy and I'll get up and check the bookshelves. . . .

 Xeric wrote: 

Mind if I ask what book(s) you liked best concerning Photoshop Elements? I have this program at home and have played with it a little, but I'm still very much a novice on what all it can do.

 katzendogs wrote: 
Take just one chapter at a time. Don't sit and read the book. Sit in front of the computer and read Chapter One and follow along on your computer.

The next night, do chapter one again, until you understand how the function works. Then go on to Chapter 2. After doing this for a couple chapters, you should be able to start getting the hang of what each function does.

And of course, just like your mother used to tell you, practice makes perfect.

 katzendogs wrote: 
I'd recommend searching for online tutorials.  I see Corel has some here.  There may be others as well - Google around.

Things like cropping and resizing are probably pretty self-explanatory.  Other important features would be adjusting contrast and color balance - poke around and see what options you have (probably multiple).  For instance, PhotoShop has a command called "curves" which is an extremely powerful way to adjust contrast by creating a curve that represents how you want to treat the dark and light regions of your photo independently.  Once you find some of these controls, mess around with them to see the effect.

 

 katzendogs wrote: 
It's not a novel. Don't think you have to read it like one.

Read one or 2 sections. Practice with the tools they explain. Ask questions. When you understand, move on to the next section or two. Take your time and just learn the tools you need. 

If you don't read it for a while, no biggie. You won't forget the plot.

Even if no one here uses that particular program, a lot of the tools work the same way in other programs. I'm sure you can get lots of help here.

 hippiechick wrote: 
I have the book for the program. Next question. how to find the time to read it! Thanks all. Like all else, Make Time.

 hippiechick wrote: 
The first rule of Fighting With Fotographs Club...

Katz...as you get to know your software, think "non-destructive editing"....

 katzendogs wrote: 
You can prolly find a book that will give you tutorials on how to use all the tools.

You can also just take an image that you don't care about (or save a copy) and just play. That is the best way to learn how each tool works.

 katzendogs wrote: 
For me, the answer to that was "At the bookstore."  However, I was looking for clues on the far-more-common Photoshop Elements.  I know there are on-line tutorials for just about everything—maybe somebody here can point you to one of those, Jay.  Good luck!