If you have ever read the 3 book set on photography by Ansel Adams, you realize that darkroom work was just as big a part of his photography as cameras and taking pictures. This is still how it is and should be, and anyone who is not paying attention to this part of the game is severely restricted. Remember that Adams did things like dodging and burning, contrast adjustment, cropping, and so forth in the darkroom. Using a tool like photoshop provides for many more possibilities (including the potential for things that ought not to be done). People were doing things that ought not to be done back in film days too don't forget, with double exposures, and solarization, and other kinds of manipulation, so this all cannot be blamed on the digital era.
It has been pointed out to me that you can spend as much or more than you spent on photoshop, buying books about photoshop. There do seem to be some good ones out there, here are some suggestions:
Rob Sheppard has cranked out a number of books (of which I have two). He has a style and approach that I find I can quickly agree with.
Scott Kelby is a noted photoshop author and has written a pile of photoshop books. I looked at one of his books, and decided that it seemed like a collection of his favorite methods and tricks, rather than a basic photoshop book, and wasn't what I was ready for starting out. This book was: Adobe Photoshop CS3 for the Digital Photographer, for $28.00
The book: The art of Raw Conversion, by Uwe Steinmuller And Juergen Gulbins, is said to be "probably the best book on how to shoot in the raw format, managing color space and image work flow." I found a used copy on Amazon for $5.99 and just ordered it!!
Bruce Fraser (who recently died of lung cancer), wrote (or co-authored) two highly recommended books:
Adventures in Computing / tom@mmto.org