so, I've always been kinda weird about the digital manipulation being all thrown in with the standard photography.
I feel like they are seperate skills and seperate arts.
I once entered this photo contest that I had done well at in the past, and though I still did ok that year, I didn't do as well..... and it was the same year that they mixed the categories together and all the awards went to digitally manipulated stuff and it just bugged me.
The computer I am using has a program for photo editing, the bare bones type of stuff, but I have never used any of the fancy effect thingers, because I feel like I should be striving to make the image as dynamic and interesting as possible on film, sans computer.
Like the texture effect thinger, I've been shooting through fabric to get that same type of effect for years before I found out that someone else, could just click a button and do it that easily, what took me time to set up and light correctly and blah blah.
So I was always sort of old school and stayed away from that stuff.
I mean, part of me feels like even autofocus is cheating.

but tonight I was messing with the fancy effect thingers, and ok, I have to admit it's cool and fun, and if this is just the bare bones of the effects I can only imagine how fun the other programs are.