New camera, could use some photography advice

[ScottyB]

Thanks for the comments Scotty, I think I got a little crop happy when I tried editing these things so I might have to back off a little bit from that. These settings help pull some of the excess light off of a sunny photo or any photo in general? I really know nothing about photoshop except for being able to move sliders around for levels/contrast

np, i would say for pulling excess light off, you're best option is just plain old brightness/contrast (image -> adjustments). this is of course after the fact that you've shot it....if you can, reshoot with different camera settings.

unsharp mask is better for the opposite IMO...accentuating low light areas. again, play with the sliders to find what you like because i really think it's a very useful tool.

i taught myself photoshop with some tutoring from other friends when i was bored my freshman year....all i did was literally go into every menu and screw around with stuff until i did something i liked! just play with the program. some great stuff out there if you take some time to google the features you're curious about.

as for layering, it's hard to describe over teh internets but essentially just think of each layer as a see-through canvas. by putting certain items on certain layers you can place them in front/behind each other, change their oppacity to get nice fading effects or strictly for organizing multiple objects if you please. in many cases you cannot do certain things unless something is strictly confined to it's own layer, like making a drop-shadow for instance.