So beautiful! How did you choose between sharp focus on the back petals or the center of the flower? I never know, but I know I like a thin depth of field like your shot.

You may think that djtravels is giving you sort of a non-answer, but he/she is right. PhotoShop Elements 12, 13, and 14 have a workspace that is so much friendlier and better organized than previous versions, that it's worth the money to switch. In Quick, Guided, or Expert modes, there's always an icon for the photo bin in the lower left corner of the workspace. Click on the icon and the bin goes away; click on it, and the bin comes back. No trolling around in the pulldown menus for photo bin and a lot of other functions.
And the tool box never disappears and has to be called back from the Windows pulldown menu. And I also use the lower right menus that lead to a host of things like effects and actions. It might be time to change, especially since Amazon has Elements and Elements Premiere on sale.

Maybe, or maybe someone at the government level just gets a little itchy that so many dollars are slipping through the IRS's sticky fingers. Every time I put money into my local community foundation for the benefit of the local library, it's going into a similar fund -- sitting there, gathering interest which is occasionally disbursed to the library for a project or for books and materials. I want it there "for good, forever," as the local community foundation advertises. Maybe that's not getting to the charities fast enough, but who are they to tell me where to put my money????
Every time I see an article like this from someone at an established Eastern university, I think, "Is someone in the Clinton campaign sending up a trial balloon for changes it wants to make to wrestle more money from those they perceive as the wealthy?" (anyone who has a dollar left at the end of the year) And how much is in the Boston College endowments? Isn't that the granddaddy of donor-advised funds?
And what an unfortunate name for the law professor -- but apparently no relation to Bernie Madoff of Ponzi scheme fame. Sounds like a government Ponzi scheme to me.

I opened PhotoShop and went to PhotoShop Elements > Preferences > General and made sure that the "allow floating documents in Expert Mode" was not clicked. If it's clicked, they can move all over the place.
I think now is when I should tell you to "Read Your Manual!" like some people do in this forum, but I don't have my panties in a twist enough to do that yet. Hope this helps.

We had some perfectly marvelous 78 albums of Broadway songs when I was a kid. Listening to them gave me hours of pleasure as a kid and a life-long love of those great songs. Thanks for that added bit of info!

1. Find a local camera club and ask for castoffs.
2. Ask the local arts council to broadcast the need in a newsletter.
3. Ask the photographer you see at a local football game (after he/she is done shooting) if he or she knows anyone who might have some to give away.
4. Broadcast the need in an article in your local newspaper.
5. Put a flyer up in your local library asking for donations. Camera folk tend to be readers as well.
An astounding number of people "buy and move up" every year. Those midrange DSLRs are out there sitting on shelves unused. And don't be snooty about just wanting DSLRs. Most bridge cameras have rudimentary Manual settings that can show students how to adjust the aperture and shutter.

It drives me crazy when people don't answer questions about what camera or lens to purchase. Yes, there are unlimited choices and a lot of variables, but give the woman a real idea! Here's my real idea:
Canon T5 ($399 at amazon.com)
Canon 85mm 1.8 lens ($369 at amazon.com or less if you go used.)
It's a great light-weight little camera, and the lens will give you a lovely creamy background. And, it's in your budget.
I teach in a school that has orange as one of its school colors. We struggle with strange face tints every time we take a photo in the gym, and I've learned to set and reset the white balance depending on time of day and year and what the other team is wearing. You'll just learn to check the WB. Hope this helps.

With the price of corn these days, you'd better slip into a neighbor's field tonight and harvest a little extra.

I didn't mention that I am also a digital scrapbooker who puts my pictures on a 12 by 12 inch format so that I can print out scrapbook pages but also end up with jpgs that I share with my siblings. We are hoping to pool our family history knowledge, so when I have posted a scrapbook page with pictures of our grandmother and her siblings, my brother and sisters can send me little tidbits they know about the people in the picture and I can add this info to my scrapbook page. It would have been better to ask my grandmother for HER information, but she died in 1971, and we are doing the best we can.
I agree with you that Lightroom has some beautiful editing tools, but I need the layers.

Did you learn a lot from the replies? I didn't. That my beef about the Photoshop vs Photoshop Elements debate: no one can provide a list of 10 features that they regularly use in Photoshop CS6 that aren't available in Photoshop Elements. They just tell you to explore the features for yourself or trail off on the 8-bit vs 16-bit argument.
Well I have both Photoshop CS6 and Photoshop Elements 12, and the Elements version is so much friendlier and better organized. Also, a lot of us are using some marvelous plug-ins that provide us the features and convenience we want for our photos. Photoshop and Photoshop Elements are just the platforms. But, as with many debates on this form, people have shelled out money for something and then feel compelled to defend what they have bought, be it software or cameras. I actually bought the PhotoShop Elements 12 to add to my work-provided CS6 because I loved the way the pasteboard was organized, so I am just like everyone else.

I have a D7000 but for little trips, I sometimes "borrow" a D3200 from work. It's so light and fits my hands well, and price is right. I will take photos longer with a lighter camera, I find. If you are going to move up eventually, why not try a cheaper camera and throw in a 50mm lens so that you can start experimenting with bokeh?

How hard would it be to put a little button on the pasteboard to bring the Toolbox back? It disappears mysteriously and then I'm pulling the Windows menu down -- maybe 5 times a day -- to get the Toolbox back. Everything else on PhotoShop Elements 12 and 13 has been so thoughtfully designed. Does Adobe ever ask the ordinary photographer for suggestions about improving the PhotoShop products?

I have PhotoShop Elements 10, 12, and 13 in a school lab. Both 12 and 13 have been upgraded to be far more user friendly. The pasteboard is really easy to use, and the 3 levels of expertise are nice for my students. With PSE 13 selling for $60 on Amazon, it's a nice present for yourself. In a quick check, I see that Amazon has jacked the price to $69. You can wait until it goes back down by $10 if that matters. It fluctuates.

I've printed 100s with my Selphy 900. The larger packs are very convenient, about 108 photos, and the color cartridge is so easy to change out.

Last night I was getting some great images with my 35 mm lens on my D7000. I just always stand under the basket and let the game come to me. The shorter lens lets in so much more light.