SEBASTOPOL, Calif. -- Bestselling author Barbara Brundage, whose day job is playing the harp, didn't plan on becoming an authority on Elements, one the world's most popular photo-editing programs. Yet her newest publication -- Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual (O'Reilly, $39.99) -- clearly secures Barbara's position as the premier Elements' expert.

"I'm a lowly musician, but if I can learn Elements anyone can," insists Barbara, the author of three previous books about Elements 3, 4 and 5. A few years back in 2001, Barbara chose Elements to create graphics for her new Web site and promo materials. She soon discovered the nifty software program also made arranging and publishing her harp music a whole lot easier. Then she got hooked on digital photography and relied on Elements to improve and organize her images.

"Fortunately, the folks at Missing Manuals know that sometimes it's easier for someone who isn't from a technical background to explain things to people who don't have a lot of technical knowledge," says Barbara about her road to authorship.

Indeed Barbara's technical knowledge combined with her appealing, down-to-earth writing style made her a perfect addition to the Missing Manual roster of authors. Founded by New York Times technology columnist David Pogue, O'Reilly's Missing Manual series specializes in producing beautifully written manuals for popular consumer software and hardware products -- the book that should have been in the box.

Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual provides the best possible guidance to scrapbookers, photographers at every level, budding graphic artists -- anyone who wants to get the most out of the latest Elements upgrade. She clearly explains Photoshop Elements 6's exciting array of new features, including the new Quick Edit function, Windows Vista compatibility, improved Raw conversion, a handy Quick Selection Tool and more. Under Barbara's intelligent tutelage, readers learn how to:

Import organize and fix photos quickly and easily. Repair and restore old and damaged photos and retouch any image. Jazz up their pictures with dozens of filters, frames and special effects. Learn which tools the pros use -- and finally understand how layers work! Create collages and photo layout pages for greeting cards and other projects. Get downloadable practice images and try new tricks right away.

Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual progresses from simple to complex features. Those ready for the more sophisticated tools can easily jump around to learn specific techniques. As always, Barbara lets you know which Elements features work well, which don't and why -- all with a bit of wit and good humor. Adds Barbara: "Elements is wonderful software, but there's a lot going on there. I wanted to help people find their way around and to understand some of the great things they can do with the program."

Photoshop Elements 6: The Missing Manual is available through Imaging Resource's Amazon discount program for $26.39.