After reading the manual I go to You tube and video tips and tricks, and set ups. My favorite is Gary Fong videos.

You should be very happy with it. Watch some you tube videos on how to set it up menu wise and learn some tips and tricks. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Photography is an art form, it is in the eyes of the beholder and the artist.

Try angles of seldom seen details or add a model.

Its a wrong auto correction.

What type of photography? Rangefinder magazine offers contests all the time in different categories for both professional and armatures. Also look locally for photo clubs, county and state fairs, governor arts contests and other local community contests.

Depends on what your friend wants to do and where she wants to go in photography. Novice to one day professional or maybe they are not sure yet? Have them check out cameras in a camera store where they can hold them and play. One camera not to over look in the Sony a6000, great price right now, great lenses offered with it and it will grow with them as they grow in skills with photography.

Ck out the Sony a6000, a6300 or the a6500 with the 55-210 lens. Great for all purpose photos, light weight and easy to learn. But the big factor is that it will grow with you. I know award winning photographers who have shot weddings with these cameras and won major awards.

Think Tank has a SDcard holder that clips right on to your camera bag. Give them a look.

Use the viewfinder. For review I walk into the shade. But I can see the review in my viewfinder as well.

Depends on where you want to be a year or 2 from now. You can buy easy, very affordable software now, that does not grow with you but allows you to play and get good results, or you can buy something you really want to learn and continue to grow with. There are tons of free and relatively less expensive software out there that will allow you to play and be creative. If you want to go the professional route, I suggest starting out that way with On1, Photoshop, Lightroom, Alien SkinX2 or starting with the less expensive Photoshop Elements.

If you want, I can take a look at it. Tell me exactly what you are wanting done and I could tell you if its even possible to do, what it would take for you to do it and what it would cost if you had a professional editor do it.

It is hard to say without seeing the photo you call a snapshot. You need someone who is proficient in photo editing if you want this done right away. Depending on the photo, and what you are wanting done, this can be very expensive or it may not be able to be done at all.

If you are a newbie and want to learn yourself, you need to get a good editing program such as Photoshop and take as many classes as you can and practice, practice, practice. I have done a lot of photo editing and restoration form old photos.

Can you post the photo? I could then tell you if its even possible to do. Keep in mind that most likely it will not look like a professional portrait where the lighting, exposure and pose, etc, is controlled but you may be able to get a portrait of sorts out of it.

I have never seen red eye with a bounced ceiling light. There must be some ambient light hitting the pupil in relation to your lens from somewhere or there is light from the bounce reflecting light off some object directly into the eye, for you to be getting red eye. Even the bounce reflecting off something is extremely rare because of the softness of the light.

Rules of science can give you good exposure but always take into consideration creative lighting. Rules in photography can be broken for some very interesting effects.

What lens and exposures were you actually using? Daylight sounds like you were using an automatic setting of some kind or the sunny 16 rule.