When/how To Harvest??

I'm coming up on my first harvest, and I don't really know what I'm doing. First of all, when should I harvest? The female (which is growing outside) has its top pistils turning brown-ish, but the rest are mostly white. How do I know when to harvest for sure?

Also, I have to be honest since I'm new to growing, but how should I harvest? I've heard of the old "cutting the whole thing down" way, but I kind of want to salvage the plant, see if it will grow pot again. Is this dumb? If I could salvage it, how should I go about removing the bud? Obviously I'm going to have to remove branches and leaves, but it seems the most growth is covering the main stem. Can I just pull most of it off?

This is the worst part, but I really don't even fully understand what the "bud" looks like. Are buds mostly just made up of dense leaves and pistils, or are they real "buds" like on other plants? I've only seen dry buds, so I really don't know exactly what I'm looking for while its still on the plants. Any help would be sweet.

This is a bud

These are buds drying

if you make it that far the rest should be obvious.

Elvis has left the building.