kslonaker

<p>I love Photoshop and use it frequently. I shoot for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and "fixing" bruising, skin peeling, and other damage caused by death is extremely important. I couldn't do it without PS. That said, you cannot "fix" a bad image. I look at PS as a tool, not my main piece of equipment. If your image is out of focus, poorly composed, etc., no amount of PS is going to rescue it. It's like putting makeup on (if you're female, or maybe even if you're not!); it enhances the original, but doesn't replace it.</p>

<p>It's keeping me logged in today, Josh. On the weekend, it made me log in each time. I didn't do anything different; just didn't have time to come back and check here for the solution. But this a.m., it had kept my info. </p>

<p>I'm finding it will not keep my password; I have to re-enter it each time I sign on. Is that intentional?</p>

<p>You sound depressed, actually. Not sure it's associated with your camera equipment. :) I, for one, embraced the digital age! I used to love developing my own prints, but when digital came along, it allowed me to be really creative. I always wished I could paint, but I couldn't with a paintbrush. I can now with the computer, using my own vision to start with. I love it! My equipment isn't super-fancy, but it's better than what I've had in prior years. Really doesn't matter; I just love taking/making pictures. The computer part of it is as equally enjoyable as taking the picture in the first place. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoy taking 'pure' images, too - with very little editing.</p>

<p>I am actually close to you as I live in Corpus Christi. If you are interested, email me and I'll send you a link to Facebook, where I have pictures posted of my in-home studio. I LOVE studio work and started with nature photography, too. </p>

<p>I bought a mannequin to help me learn studio lighting. She never complains and poses endlessly. My cat also loves to have his picture taken, so I have two sources to try new things out on. You can also attend functions in your community and take pictures there, like a jazz festival, etc. A real challenge can be to just go out in your neighborhood and force yourself to look for images - you might be amazed at what you'll find if you stop to look around.</p>

<p>I shoot a lot of birds and a monopod is a must for my "big lens" as I'm not strong enough to constantly hand-hold and shoot with it on. A tripod is impractical, imo, for bird photography unless they stay in one place. I LOVE my monopod, also a Manfrotto.</p>

<p>I recommend you get very comfortable with a flash, but try using a softbox to bounce the lighting off the ceiling - gives a very natural effect. I used to hate flash when my kids were little and I avoided it as much as possible, but now with grandkids, I DO use the flash. There are going to be times there just isn't enough light and there might be a great photo opportunity. I'll attach a shot I did with a bounced flash (experiment with a doll).</p><div></div>

Mine is the same...

Welcome, David. If you take the time to give honest critiques, you will get some back on your images over time and learn a lot from this site. You'll need a thick skin at times, but take every comment at face value and try to learn what works and what doesn't.

I learned the hard way that external hard drives fail. Luckily for me, I had become diligent about making back-up's on DVDs and really didn't lose anything. I need a better filing system, but at least I have all the data. You can't have too many back-up's, imo. I have the external drive AND always back up on DVD, too. I've had corrupt disks, too, so anything really important gets at least two disks.

Go into the Favorites folder from your workspace and select "show details". It will give you the option to remove any of the photos you've added to favorites.

I always print lots of my pictures. I have some in a gallery for sale (these are matted). Many photos I make into my own notecards as thank-you's, birthday cards, etc. These notecards also make nice gifts for people who have everything when packaged as a set of 6 or 8. I print 4x6's to share with friends at work of photos they would appreciate (birds for the nature lovers, cats for the cat fans, etc.). I have several framed prints around my home and my sons have asked for specific prints they have hanging in their homes. Printing is half the fun of photography, imo. I have an Epson R380 for printing 8x10's and notecards and an Epson 2200 for bigger prints. I love my printers! It's important to calibrate your monitor so the prints match.

My favorites are the ones on using Photoshop, like Photoshop Creative. I also like the magazines that focus on individual photographers, so I can see different styles. The best place to learn has to be PN, though. Many times, if you ask a photographer how they achieved that effect, or what their settings were, they will answer and you can learn. The critiques help, too, when people actually leave a comment for you with suggestions for improvement.

I'm hoping to retire to Washington State someday! You're already where I want to be. We travel twice a year to Canada, where I'm from, and Washington State is close by many scenic areas, including British Columbia, Oregon, Montana, etc. I live in South Texas and just don't find all that many photo landscape opportunities here.

Good advice from Cheryl. To me, a couple of the dog shots could go (there are a couple near the end of the folder that are much better than the first ones you see). It's important to only keep the high-quality, professional images and remove anything that isn't quite as strong. Cheryl was right on with her quality vs. quantity statement. Good luck with your photography venture!

I use a monopod all the time with my bird shots - I find a tripod is too cumbersome and limiting when you are trying to focus on moving animals. I use a Nikon D200 and a Sigma 50-500 - both quite heavy and no issues with using a monopod. It's very portable and easy to pack along. I can't easily handhold my Nikon with the Sigma lens on it, so the monopod is a lifesaver for me. Mine is a Manfrotto, too.

FIrst Sarah Underhill and now Yuri Bonder - what a huge loss! So sorry to hear this.

Some of the color has left the world...

To me, comments are more valuable than ratings, so why not give a detailed critique on those images you value highly and go back later if you truly want to rate it? I just don't set much store by ratings any more and hardly ever go look at those on my own images.

 

I look forward to seeing what kind of change will be made, although I really don't know how they will do something "better" because you just can't please all of the photographers, all of the time.

I like the new look, although I do NOT like the Amazon ad in the middle of comments on MY photos! If that continues, I believe you will lose some subscribers, including myself. While I love Amazon and purchase many items from there, I resent being forced to have a large ad in the middle of critiques of my photos. I'm sure there is a better place to put this ad and make it smaller! Otherwise, I'm sure over the next few days there will be more improvements to the new look and we'll all get used to it as we always do. Change is hard for people, but I do know that I personally will not adjust to the Amazon ad where it is now. Thanks for listening.

I'm getting error messages when rating photos - "connection timed out" and also a lot of red "x's" in various areas and I have to right-click and select "show picture". We just upgraded to satellite (Wildblue) from ISDN (we're in the boonies!) and every other web site is very fast, but not Photonet.

Thanks for the response, Brian! I look forward to seeing the upcoming changes.

Colin, it's every two weeks. I think with a featured portfolio, one week probably isn't enough, but two should be good. I look forward to seeing something new in that area, but it just isn't happening lately, but thanks to Walter's explanation, I can understand why.

I wonder why the Featured Portfolio is not changed a little more often? This

is a great way to discover new photographers we may not have seen before.

Sometimes I come across someone really good or someone who makes me think

(also a good thing) and I wonder why I didn't discover them sooner. I'm sure

with all the great photographers on PN, you could change the Featured

Portfolio even biweekly and give many more portfolios exposure to the world.

 

I hope I'm not repeating an old topic; I searched in as many ways as I could

think of and this topic didn't come up.