Thanks! Of course I'd like to try it! And I'm excited about learning another software program. Not! But this is an opportunity too good to pass up.

Did Rocky scare the squirrel? The "free" kitten the neighbors gave me is chasing chickens and rabbits. And ambushing the tom cat that passes through here but apparently is now staying. The first time I saw her do that I held my breath waiting for him to put her in her place. Nothing happened and now she does it all the time. She moves in on the food dish and the cat bed and the other cats hiss at her but she doesn't care. She's in the terrible 2s I guess.

I downloaded it yesterday too. I'll try it out in the next couple of weeks. I know very little about post processing so I'll have to learn a lot!

I think you'll have fun with it, Casey. We all will!

ImHappy, the squirrel ran for his life (literally), but was back to his old tricks very quickly. Your kitten sounds like an alpha female. Rocky's playmate, Scruffy, is like that. She's half his size, but she rules the roost.

Alisande...how does it compare to Lightroom?

Apples and oranges, Nicole. I don't have Lightroom, but it has been described to me as similar in ways to Photoshop plus image organizing tools. I really can't speak for the Nik programs as I haven't used them yet, but they're similar to the Topaz collection, if you're familiar with that. With both programs, the plugins are accessed through the Photoshop filters menu, if that tells you anything. They enable enhancements and effects.

I've never used Topaz. I'll have free time in a week. I'll download it and have time to play with it then. Thank you!!!!

You're very welcome! Looking forward to seeing the results.

Thanks. It looks very interesting. I have mainly used Photoshop since 1991, version 2.0. I tried others but always came back to PS. I haven't updated it in years though. I will have to try this one out.

Here's an example of the sort of thing that can be done with it. In the first picture, choosing to give the sky reasonable lighting ended up darkening the barn to the point where the image was delete-worthy. But Silver Efex Pro not only salvaged it, but created a dramatic image that I like a lot.

Other than color removal, the only change was to the lighting.

In Photoshop I merge the two images, the light one and the dark one. It's called layer masking. Sooooooooooo.......I would have kept the blue in the sky....

I know, and you can also take a bunch at different exposures and do HDR that way. But this is quicker. :-) Plus I have a thing for B&W.

Edited to say I just realized the method I referred to is pretty much the same one you mentioned, Nicole. lol

That's a very difficult photo. The background is a bright sky with dark side foreground objects. The tonal range is huge and when the sky is not burned out, the dark sides of the foreground objects looses detail.

That's why I used it as an example, Jem. I could have gone any number of different ways with it.

My old friend Sigi. Man! She could photoshop!

http://www.art.com/products/p29775641414-sa-i8731266/by-sigi-kolbe-baby-elephant.htm?sOrig=CAT&sOrigID=1976&dimVals=1976&ui=71C2AE29545048DFA779F7E7D97C9FE9&SSK=elephant

I used the software to enhance my shot in the link below. The clouds really look a lot better than they do in my original raw image. deadwood tree

Nicole, your friend is very talented!

Debby, I love that shot. I've found the Topaz and Nik programs especially effective with skies.

I need to find my Topaz disc again. I love using that too.