New to Atahualpa...used to the free wordpress themes where I didn't need to know "code" to change headers and menus.

I have specific look in mind and I've seen it on blogs I follow but I have no clue how to get mine to look that way.

I can't even figure out how to get my "title" so to speak to show let alone change the background color...I'm truly frustrated with all of this.

Is anyone willing to take me step by step how to set it up right? Right now I have the default header pics but no horizontal line of tabs on the top or bottom around the header like it is on the BytesForAll blog page http://wordpress.bytesforall.com/

I'm using version 3.7.7 and I would like it to look like Mia's. http://www.onthewingphotography.com/wings/
I've asked for her help but I know she is real busy and may not understand what I'm asking. Of course I don't want it to look exactly like I just want to know how to get the basics of it so that I can tweak it to my own personality and needs.

The example you gave is fairly straight forward and looks like one of the included styles was used as the starting point.

The place to start would be importing the ata-default.txt style. If you download the zip file for the theme and unzip it there id a folder called styles. In that there are several styles. Open the previously mention style file in notepad or other text editor and copy all of the text. The go to your installed version of the theme and go to the Export/Import setting in the theme options and follow the instructions.

Be aware this will overwrite any changes you have made to your settings. Then you need to look through the various theme options to make other changes.

The only real step by step in my opinion is taking the time to learn the theme options. Knowing CSS is also important if you want to style in a particular way. Many of the themes out there claim to require no coding knowledge but I have always found them limited in what they can do. Atahualpa is very flexible and there isn't much I haven't been able to accomplish.

you already lost me....where do I find the zip file to download all I did was search for it in Wordpress and "activated" it.

never mind I found my download and the zip file however I can't unzip it....so frustrating

I apologize for all of these little posts....Ok, I got the zip again and was able to do as you said....and it worked however, all my images disappeared; they still show in the post just not on the site?

To troubleshoot many issues with websites it is necessary to at least see the site and in some cases login. There are many things that may be happening in your situation such as which pictures you are talking about. How they are being accessed, the file names, and even the way they are encrypted.

it was a permalink issue...I do need to get back and make some earlier pics that were posted smaller as they are kinda overlapping the site now...is there a way to have all pics post the same way automatically?
www.catboxphotography.com

In Settings>Media you can set the max sizes. I also at times make sure the images are cropped to the same size.

Also your images are not optimized for the web and the file sizes are VERY large and take a long time to load. You can use Photoshop, Picassa, or a tool like Fotosizer to optimize. Learning how to optimize images is real important and I see non optimized images all the time because of unfamiliarity with what needs to be done.