[quote=birdsnapper;26855]I have been wondering why you two feel obliged to subject buildings and landscapes to treatments no one would dream of applying to, say, birds or dragonflies - also whether the thread had gone way off topic.

I conclude that whereas at the start I was alleging that CS3 was just unecessarily expensive and complicated, I would now go further. PS was a product of the marketing industry and thus instrumental in trying to apply to real objects magical additional properties which they do not have. My first digital camera, bought for building site record shots, immediately revealed to me that it was a revolutionary aid in observing and learning about the world around me. Soon after, that it provided a way of sharing the joys of this process that was often appreciated by others.

DSLRs are still not able to capture the wind, scent and sound that go with a particular landscape or nature study, so I am happy to be learning how composition and a degree of PP can provide mood in the same way that competent landscape artists always have done. For this a programme like NX produced like a glove for the camera by the manufacturer who designed the sensor and conversion firmware seems perfectly adequate. "Snaps" and totally unoriginal and unartistic if you wish to think of them that way.

This really is my last post here & I look forward with interest to see how my "snaps" of two of yesterday's particular joys go down in the gallery. If it is like lead balloons, I will know to go elsewhere.