Thank you. I'm still on the fence but it's good to hear from someone who has used both. I have been so happy with Apple Photo Books, I'm a bit hesitant to change.

I have made several photo books using iPhoto. They have been excellent quality.

I have received several photo books using other printers and the quality has been marginal at best.

Now that I am using Lightroom, I wonder how the photo books from Adobe's printing partner compare to Apple's photo books.

Can anyone provide a comparison between Apple's photo book product and Adobe's photo book product.

One thing to consider, do you want the fact that the ship is in water to be part of the impact of the photo, or do you want the emphasize the look of the sky or other elements of the background? If you want to emphasize the water, the ship should be on the upper part of the frame, if you want to emphasize the the sky or other elements of the background then the ship should be on the bottom of the photo.

In landscape photography, you place the horizon on one of the horizontal thirds depending on what you are trying to emphasize.

Depends on what you want to do. PSE has more editing capability than Lightroom. BUT, Lightroom is a cataloging and organizing program first, and an editing program second. It should also work flawlessly with PSE 10.

So, since you take "lots of pictures," consider Lightroom as a catalogue and organizing program. If you use it properly, it can make it easy to find that one photo your looking for. It does have a learning curve.

If you do get Lightroom, you will discover that you will have less need for PSE but, for certain things it will still be necessary.

Same here, I bought it in the 60s.

After reading through some of the responses to the OP, I down loaded Merlin to my iPhone. My first thought was that it only had about 400 or so birds in its database, National Geographic Birds has about 900 and so does iBird Pro. After trying several birds using Merlyn to identify them, I am very impressed. This is certainly a great app for begining or intermediate birders.

Your welcome. Yes, we are full time RVers and have been since 2001 when we retired. Although our actually physical address is in Texas, we spend time all over the place. I've been a photographer for about 60 years, I started digital photography essentially when I retired. I've had several digital cameras since then. However, when we volunteered for the Salton Sea Recreation Area in California, my bridge camera was not good enough so I purchased a Nikon D5200 kit from Costco. WOW, what a difference, In the past 24 months, I have taken over 10,000 photos, not all are great but at least some are.

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This is the answer you should follow exactly. The quality of different DSLRs is not the question, the best one is the one that feels the best to you and is in your budget.

WOW! You asked a great question and have received some great responses. I'm not quoting any of the responses because there are too many good ones.

I can identify with your issue. I have been interested in photography for about 60 years, always as an amateur, never as a professional. I used to have my own B&W darkroom, first in a bathroom, then in a walk-in closet, and finally a real one I built in a garage.

Frankly, it took me a long time to get interested in digital photography. I purchased a point and shoot digital in about 2000. I have gone through several "Bridge Cameras." Finally, I spent the Winter at a location that had fantastic photo opportunities (this was the Winter of 2012-2013 and it was at the Salton Sea in Califorina). After shooting for several weeks with my Konica-Minolta Bridge camera, I purchase a "prosumer" DSLR at Costco, a Nikon 5100. Wow, what a difference! I now had a camera that was somewhat similar to my old SLR cameras, but with so many choices (opportunities) in settings I was overwhelmed!

Using a DSLR for photography can be overwhelming, but still fun, as long as you like to learn. Post Processing is not necessarily a requirement. However, it can be used to turn a good photograph into a great photograph. Being able to adjust exposure, light balance, enhance shadows, reduce glare, eliminate power poles and power lines, and some other effects is really amazing.

I can't say that I like using post processing to substantially change a photo because I don't. However, I do like being able to adjust some factor of a photo to make it better is exciting and worthwhile. My goal is always to make a good photo better, not to create something that was not there. Please remember, this is no different than what I did in the darkroom with black and white, except I have more tools and can use them in color as well.

The answer is yes for all your questions. ASA refers to the American Standards Association, ISO refers to the International Standards Organization. The requirements are well documented in the appropriate standards.

Having said that, you might find other differences in characteristics other than light sensitivity. Like grain (or noise). However, in short the f/16 rule still applies, that is the proper exposure in direct sunlight is f/16 at a shutter speed of 1/ISO seconds (e.g. in bright sunlight, with an ISO (or ASA) of 100, your exposure should be f/16 at 1/100 second.

Your first three are easy, it only takes money. Your fourth one could take a lifetime. I bet lots of new photographers don't even know what the first three are!

I have attempted to use Birdsnap. The idea behind it is great but I've had issues with the results. It could be a great app but it's accuracy is questionable and the photo that you have to use would be difficult to get on a smart phone.

I agree about the National Geographic Society BIRDS. It was recommended to me by a Birder. I find it is organized extremely well and is easy to use. In fact, much easier than Petersons, and easier than Shibleys.

I also have an app on my iPhone called iBird. It is really helpful.

I updated my MacBook Pro a couple of weeks ago. I have not had any problem and it appears to run faster than with Maverick.