Looks like a great weekend for the airshow. Planning to be there early Sat. morning. I have done a lot of shooting but, this will be my first Air Show. Looking forward to it and I am doing as much reading about shooting one as I can find. See you there.... :)

When I got back into photography a few years ago and began to get serious about learning composition I found Steve Gustafson. I took several classes with him and was really impressed with his ability to explain composition and his knowledge. His blog is worth the read.... Points in a Frame... http://www.stevenmgus.com/ It will not be a waste of your time...

I have worked with computers since I got my first Apple ][ computer in 1982 and I can tell you from all those years HD will fail at some point. Basically not "if" but, "When". I know of a case where the photographer's internal and external HDs failed on the same day. I have gone to a reputable on-line back-up. They back-up the two internal and one external HD (5GB total) for $5.00 a month. It took several week to get all of the data backed-up but, now I don't worry as much. I still do local backup of my photos but, having peace of mind that when one drive goes down I can get what I need back.

I shoot with a T2i and use the Sigma 18 - 250. When they say it is not good in low light they are right. I purchase the lens as a general walk around lens and it has worked well for me. Below is a shot I made a few weeks back where I needed a high SS to stop the action but, I had to sacrifice ISO for the shot under the trees. I used LR 5 CC to remove some of the noise and it would be an OK print.

1/800 F4.5 @ ISO 4000

Here is a link to my public album on FB of all of the cars.

https://www.facebook.com/srware/media_set?set=a.10203144683043207.1073741880.1391104140&type=3

Spent the day walking the 6 miles of trails through the woods. http://www.oldcarcityusa.com

Just a wild guess but, are the files .jpg or .jpeg. My Mac will not see a .jpg file.

I have simply gone to the cloud. I had multiple HDs and I would take one off site but, after a while I would get lazy and not take the off site one to work. I read an article about a wedding photographer who had both her local HD and her external HD crash the same day and lost all of her photos. So, my cloud backs up once a day, it took several days to first upload my 1.2tb of photos but, now it is very quick and pops up a report when it is finished. I use JustCloud but their are several out there.

I just purchased the Manfrotto MK294C3-A0RC2 3 Section Carbon Fiber Tripod Kit with Quick Release Ball Head (Black) from Amazon for $279.88 w/free shipping. Have not had a chance to use it but, headed out this Tuesday and looking forward to giving it a try.

I like you had the same fear. I have over a TB of images that I would hate to lose so, I purchased a 3TB external HD and backed up my files. Then, a few week later I read this article (http://digital-photography-school.com/cloud-storage-why-an-external-hard-drive-is-not-enough) and figured if it could happen, it would happen to me. So, I purchase an account with JustCloud to back up my photographs and data. It is worth the few dollars a month to know that they will be backed up and accessible anywhere.

I am a long time user of PSE and I spend a lot of time teaching teachers how to do photo editing for the classroom. It is my go to program and what is what I recommend to my teachers just starting out in photography. With all of the support offered by YouTube and Adobe you can't go wrong. Plus the Photoshop Elements Techniques website (http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com)and magazine is very helpful.

Saying all of that leads me to Photography CC from Adobe for $10.00 a month is the best deal going. If you get it Scott Kelby's Lightroom 5 is a great book to learn the ins and outs of LR5 CC. I just purchased the book and I am working my way through the book.

Every program has a learning curve and in photography.... most of them are high.

Photography for me started in college. I have been an amateur at it for over 42 years and still need help. I find the more I look the more I find I don't know. I have been using PSE for several years and am now in the process of moving to the Adobe CC for Photography and I am looking for help with Lightroom CC as well as photography in general. I would also like to get some feed back on some of my photographs. I attend the local photography club but, sometimes I get something out of it and sometimes it is a waste of time.

I am a retired middle school teacher and now work at Dalton State College teaching instructional technology to the pre-service students and running a program call Livetext for all of the education majors.

I am looking forward to getting to know many of you and interacting here at UHH.