Yes, I too am a long time PSP user and have Ult-x3. Until 30th it is 30 direct from Corel. That includes shipping. Have you found much change in the X-4? d/p

Dirty David, your 49/50 Ford is a beauty indeed, I had a 50 Convertible. My last ford was a 66 Fairlane, bought when it was 17 y/o sold 14 years later, a dream car.... aaaah yes, this is a photography forum,,, loved my cars,,, more reliable than other loves in my life !!! and yes, not a marriage forum either.

David, you fail to realize that Photo-shop is a Badge of Prestige, and to many a religion. It is Sunday, show respect to them while they worship their CS-5.5. Yes, there may be special things that CS-5.5 does that you and I can not do with our Corel programs, but I really do not know what they are, nor will we ever really need them.

In toto, I can get by quite well with my PS TZ3 and Corel X-3 and Adjust 4. Those are the core items, $80 investment in software. Simple crop, clone, print I do with a very old simplistic MGI Photosuite 4. Advantage, easy, simple basic menu, and great results. Dave, keep shoot'n and enjoying that flat-head of yours,,, the V-8 one. d/p

Well, here goes as you asked; just one man's opinion. Perhaps not exactly, I belong to TBCC, www.mytbcc.com and each month we submit theme photos for evaluation and get points. The judges expert critiques of each photo is a great learning experience. So I have learned to look for what areas could be improved. My monthly points have improved by self critique.
#1 This is a "Yes, so what" photo, a documentation that 10 years hence will be cute to remember what he looks like at this age. Elbow too close to edge. This is not a share with the world photo. Last thought, water and tile are B/W so work with B/W as an experiment.
#2 Compelling an award winner. Blot the drop on the nose. Very minor point. Those eyes, wow.
#3 Gal is great; motion is great. Use Clone Brush to get rid shadows, round thing on wall, and the chair. There is a washout on right (as viewed) side of skirt, white rag on bed, edge of bed head shows. Washouts on face arms and feet may adjust away with exposure/contrast adjust.

On #3 Retake the flying-girl photo many times after moving the chair and rag, cover the exposed bed head. I have never known a child who would not bounce till the bed broke,, so the model will be happy for multi-poses, multi-angles, multi-lighting; then pick the best to share. Also she will get more wired and face will get even more expressive. A slave flash for the back ground would help the shadow problem. Adjust the exposure to - value, and/or put tissue over flash to soften. And, yes, I make the same mistakes, especially the only taking one photo when I could take many. The TBCC theme for September is water, I took photos yesterday and critiqued myself. I will do a retake today with a plan based on what was lacking, and title that came to me while viewing; "Not All Water Flows" -- yep, the subject is a swamp water area.

I hope this conversation helps. Be free to critique my critique; after two years in the camera club, my skin is leather!

JTDX, great closeup photos. Taken with??

All you must remember is keep the center line outside the drivers window and it is an easy transition. I drove 2500 miles in Australia, Land of Oz, with 300' to train my self before leaving the parking lot and entering rush hour Sidney traffic!!! Just remember to back up the hills.

With regard to foto programs: The two photos Before / After were taken in Argentina with Panasonic TZ3. Before was as taken, After was basic changes with PSP and spice with Topaz Adjust.

Before


After with Topaz Adjust

Brad and Sinatraman Kudos for your comments: The position of (Expert?) reviewers of Corel is an interesting one. I have read reviews of Word Processing and Corel is equal or superior to MS Word right down to the end conclusion and ooops, going with the flow the conclusion is Word is the only way to go?!?!?!? Unfortunately the same goes for comparison Foto Programs. I have X-3 and it has tons of power that I have yet to use. So suggesting 85% or 110% of CS-5's power is moot; all have more than most use.
Until 8-30 Corel is selling it (ULTRA) for $30 shipping free! Also Frys.com has a special on United Kingdom's (England to most) Serif PhotoPlus X-4 for full rebate $0. (Warning, your colors end up as colours, but you can not see the difference.) You can not beat the price, even comparing price to PS-Elements. Both of these programs are plugin enabled and work well.
My advice to all is to get the low cost, yet strong, foto processing scaffolding and add TopazLabs "Adjust" for $50. That combo is Power my friends. $$ are also a big problem for me, but regardless, my decision would be the same. Download trial of Corel X-3 and trial of Topaz Adjust and soar like Superman,,,, ooops Superperson.

Thank you Sinatraman and Others for petting the cat. Be aware Frys.com has Serif Photoplus X-4 for $0 after rebate it works well and will take PS Plugins. Photoplus has good reviews and you can not beat that price for a program having features that PSE does not have.

Indeed, Critters has been and continues to be a very popular topic. It is so great to share our photos and intellect drawing on history, movies, imagination,,,, keep brain active avoid senility and voting for those who would kill social security, medicare and grandma.

OK ALL, I shall add one Demon photo, a breed of cat that has been formed in the fires of hell and lost all fur. The rare Phynix cat:
http://www.showcats.com/users/ShowResults.aspx?id=958997
This cat has been enrolled in "hair club for Men" that we see on TV, but of no use, still not a strand of hair. Now I know where the chamois that is used for drying show cars comes from!!!
Don,,,, member Tampabay Camera Club www.mytbcc.com

Loving Cat


Same Cat Full Moon

Indeed hard to see glued to the hip, in fact, screens are not good at all in the sunny out of doors. The Fuji and Kodak both have eye view as well as screen. If I were to design a digital camera, I would keep the screen only for menu. The ideal would be like the basic 35mm I had; focus ring, ring for f and a knob for speed and ISO, needle for amount of light ,,, like the old Pentax K-1000. What do you think?

Phyllis, Loved your pix's. The spider really comes to life, careful it does not bite, with some post-processing with Topazlabs Adjust plugin (works in PSP, PSE, and other programs that use PS plugins.) Download a trial copy and see what you do not see in the simple JPG image. Topaz Adjust is an exciting $50 investment. (look around and get 15% off.) Check out their Webinars free training.

Adjust will bring out the details of the faint colors in background, details of spikes on legs, enhance the color of the body. Keep up the good work

One of the "uglyhedgehog" supporting ads above is quite a good source of information on filters. Check it out.
http://www.singh-ray.com

Well, I am not alone in liking the world of filters;glad to see that. I standardized on 58mm for my Fuji-9000, Kodak z15-10 (hot glued a ring to the lens body ) and even adapted filters, and additional lenses to my Panasonic (glued to my hip) TZ-3. Oops, for got to mention my Canon G-2 that I converted to IR. E-Bay filter prices are right (low) and delivery from China has been fast and usually free !!!

I agree that each glass detracts, but how much, for most takes, not much.

The question asked was an IF I, THEN WHICH question. It appears that the writer wants to protect his lens.

I personally, and probably Henri, would much rather wipe off dirt, or lens coating etching baby spit finger print, in the field from a filter than chance my lens -- once the D-80 lens is damaged then ouch $ tragic,,, if filter is damaged then throw it over your left shoulder and put on a new one.

Your Bees are fantastic. Are you a "Bee Whisperer" ???
Great Macros.