Hello from Pennsylvania-USA

<p >I am an “amateur enthusiast” in digital photography. I was attracted to Photo.Net by the informative tutorials and by the high quality of the images that I saw posted here. Some other photo sites that I have been involved with are either too big and impersonal, or too simplistic and “nicey”. </p>

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<p >I am looking for an intimate community of “serious” photographers who can offer me useful suggestions on how to improve my work, and I think that Photo.Net may be exactly that. I’m looking forward to getting to know you folks. </p>

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<p >This is a shot of me being a serious photograph. </p>

<p ><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/10780672-lg.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /></p>

<p>Hello, and welcome to Photo.net, John. I think you'll find this a great place to learn and get good information from many folks here. I know I have.</p>

<p>Welcome to Photo.net. This is a great site.</p>

<p>Hello, John - Ditto on the welcomes you've been getting. Now, you do own a flak jacket, don't you? ;-) </p>

<p>Tom M<br>

Washington, DC</p>

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<p>Thanks for the welcomes<br>

I have built some level of ego-calluses, and I don’t mind being told that I stink, because it is probably true. I am rather hoping to hear that from some really good photographers however, and to get some constructive suggestions on how to improve at the same time.<br>

Thanks<br>

JD</p>

<p>Hi John, actually, I was exaggerating for fun when I made the crack about flak jackets. Actually, most of the interactions on this forum are quite well-mannered, courteous and appropriate. In my experience, there are relatively few people active on photo.net whose aesthetic or technical points of view must not to be questioned. :-)</p>

<p>BTW, that was a great self-portrait that you posted. You are obviously not a newbie at things photographic. It seems like it took me forever just to figure out how to work around photo.net's automatic reblurring (...whoops, I meant re-sizing) algorithm, and you nailed it on your first posting. BTW, did you ever try that shot with a dark background?</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M.</p>

<p>...maybe something along these lines?</p>

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