OK first off let me say "Hi I'm Jake and I'm a professional detailer" Just to let everyone know where I'm kind of coming from. I used to use a Kodak point and shoot camera with ehh... ok results I guess. Now awhile back I bought me a Sony Alpha 300 DSLR camera. Started using it almost immediatly I could tell the difference in depth and clarity of my photo's. Then the big balck cloud day came (it's really all over other forums I frequent but long story short) I had the strap on my camera and when I picked it up to snap a couple of shots the strap caught the corner and yanked it out of my hands and with a loud *ThUd!* I thought my DSLR days were over for the moment. The good news is it still takes perfectly fine pics. The bad news it the LCD screen shattered. Now not really wanting to go plunk down another $600+ on something I really didn't even get the chance to learn how to use wasn't really appealing to me. But everyone I asked all basically told me the DSLR's of today are basically toss away items. Once the break it's more expensive to fix them than it is to replace them.

Well I contaced Sony. They can send me a new LCD screen for about $100. (much cheaper than a new camera) I have no idea how to actually fix it.. But I love to tinker and it really dosen't look at that difficult. Once I get that set (and I am always open to suggestions if anyone has actually done anything like this or know's anything about it) I have this wild hair up my butt to really learn basic professional photography. I see other peoples pics and some just absoultly amaze me to no end. The artisic approch is very inspiring. And I can see what I want in my head. How I wan the pic to look, feel, etc etc.. What I seem to lack is the knowledge on how to get that pic to be a reality. I have Photoshop CS-4 and all it's goodies. I'm pretty sure most people use this. What I would like to know if anyone could share is For my line of work (cars and up close and personal shots) what types of lenses I should look into. What types of programs I need (outside of PS) And where (online or local to Greenville SC) I can learn to do this? I feel like a sponge here just waiting to absorb a ton of good info. basically Anything. Some stuff I know (kind of) like Apeture settings and such. But I feel that even with the right tools my photo's should still be a lot better than they are.

Anyone want to teach an old guy some new tricks?