I don't think Photoshop necessarily leads to experimenting with extreme image manipulation! It's a tool that you can be as subtle or as blatant with as you wish. I just do a bit of dodging and burning, cropping and straightening (:blush etc.

I have also tried Lightroom, but find I prefer PSE for the ease with which you can create layers, which gives a greater degree of control IMO.

I think I've barely scratched the surface of Photoshop, yet it's very easy to use, as long as you take it steady and work at your own pace. For instance, i have just begun to discover layer modes, which has opened up a lot of new possibilities.

My advice is to use PSE6 for both RAW converting and then any further PP work. Especially as you already have it!

Photoshop will always be the 'standard' program, and for that reason alone, well worth learning. The Elements version is easy to pick up, but very powerful.

Ended at £130, so not bad. Was tempted but didn't fancy having to deal with all the peripheral items. All those ghastly Hoya special effects filters!

Still, someone got a real bargain...

I like #1 a lot. Just perhaps a crop off the bottom, just below the hand? So that the tops of the cups fall along the bottom third.

For me, you've gone too far with the 'blur effect' in #2. The blurred area would be more realistic if it faded in and out gradually.

#6 would have been excellent if you'd included all the feet in shot (moved back a bit) and got the sofa lined up really symmetrically. I really like the casual poses and the gritty tones/lighting.

The dog shot's nice, but a bit tilted?

Great to see some fresh new shots on the forum!

'Spotted' is my pick. I hope you don't mind me doing a quick(ish) mod Tim. I like the sharpness and DOF the lens is giving you, but I have damped down the brightness in the background (using a 'multiply' layer, through which I erased the monkey) and cropped into the shot to remove the space to the left of the tree trunk.

It doesn't affect the RAW files, so have a play. For me the top two settings are too 'smudging' of detail (on the K200d) - and I shoot RAW if noise is going to be an issue in any case.

Oh my god Gwyn that was truly funny!

I was already chuckling by "Ken - By Request Only" (thank goodness for small mercies, Ken....) but splitting my sides at the sinister "Julies Sixteenth Birthday" - in which a middle aged man is clearly depicted 'grooming' an understandably taciturn girl who has just turned 'legal'.

There's a time limit on editing posts, unfortunately! Just write an 'Update' on whats still available

Tim I like the third most, but want see those textures and folds fill the shot even more. There's more interest in close ups of the skin than there is in the animal as a whole imho.

I think the flash control is accessed via the fn button on the back. You can download a manual from Pentax's website!

Welcome to the forum btw!