Good afternoon, fellow Hedgehogians. On May 27, 2023, I posted a Topic entitled "Am I Too Old", requesting your thoughts on whether I should shoot RAW or JPEG (or both) on my upcoming trip to Brazil, and, whether I should, or could, learn Lightroom before my trip. I received so many positive and informative responses! I want to thank each of you who responded and offered advice and encouragement. I read them all, and decided, yes, I would attempt to start shooting RAW + JPEG, and would start to try to learn Lightroom for post-processing. So I got the firmware updated on my Nikon D500 (so I could use CFExpress cards), purchased a Lightroom Classic (LrC) plan, and set out on this rather daunting adventure. I have divided my time between working on camera skills and post-processing. With my camera, I am focusing on challenging light conditions and implementing some of the suggestions I received from you. With-post processing, I focused on setting up my first Catalog in Lightroom Classic, and importing the RAW "practice photos" I have taken these last few days. This morning I took some photos of birds that were fishing along the shore of our lake, and backlit against the morning sun (near my dock). It was time to take these photos and attempt to process them in the Develop module of LrC. When I was finished, the rather dim lightbulb in my head was shining a little brighter! Now I get it! Not in the technical sense-- I have barely scratched the surface and have a long road ahead before I am even minimally competent in Lightroom Classic. But now I completely understand why so many of you encouraged me to shoot in RAW, and use post-processing to address low light and exposure problems with my photos. Below are a couple of before and after examples from this morning. The first is a photo of an Egret that I took this morning. The second photo is the result of my very first attempt at post-processing. After working on the Egret photo, I pulled out hummingbird nest photo I took on May 29, 2023 and did a little post-processing with positive results. These are the third and fourth photos. So, I have a little over two months before I leave for Brazil, and I am so excited about the prospect of shooting RAW and post-processing the photos in LrC when I get back. I am so grateful for your generosity (sharing your experience and knowledge) and encouraging words...thank you again! Tom McCoppin, Lake McQueeney, Texas

Good afternoon, fellow Hedgehogians. On May 27, 2023, I posted a Topic entitled "Am I Too Old", requesting your thoughts on whether I should shoot RAW or JPEG (or both) on my upcoming trip to Brazil, and, whether I should, or could, learn Lightroom before my trip. I received so many positive and informative responses! I want to thank each of you who responded and offered advice and encouragement. I read them all, and decided, yes, I would attempt to start shooting RAW + JPEG, and would start to try to learn Lightroom for post-processing. So I got the firmware updated on my Nikon D500 (so I could use CFExpress cards), purchased a Lightroom Classic (LrC) plan, and set out on this rather daunting adventure. I have divided my time between working on camera skills and post-processing. With my camera, I am focusing on challenging light conditions and implementing some of the suggestions I received from you. With-post processing, I focused on setting up my first Catalog in Lightroom Classic, and importing the RAW "practice photos" I have taken these last few days. This morning I took some photos of birds that were fishing along the shore of our lake, and backlit against the morning sun (near my dock). It was time to take these photos and attempt to process them in the Develop module of LrC. When I was finished, the rather dim lightbulb in my head was shining a little brighter! Now I get it! Not in the technical sense-- I have barely scratched the surface and have a long road ahead before I am even minimally competent in Lightroom Classic. But now I completely understand why so many of you encouraged me to shoot in RAW, and use post-processing to address low light and exposure problems with my photos. Below are a couple of before and after examples from this morning. The first is a photo of an Egret that I took this morning. The second photo is the result of my very first attempt at post-processing. After working on the Egret photo, I pulled out hummingbird nest photo I took on May 29, 2023 and did a little post-processing with positive results. These are the third and fourth photos. So, I have a little over two months before I leave for Brazil, and I am so excited about the prospect of shooting RAW and post-processing the photos in LrC when I get back. I am so grateful for your generosity (sharing your experience and knowledge) and encouraging words...thank you again! Tom McCoppin, Lake McQueeney, Texas

Good afternoon, fellow Hedgehogians. On May 27, 2023, I posted a Topic entitled "Am I Too Old", requesting your thoughts on whether I should shoot RAW or JPEG (or both) on my upcoming trip to Brazil, and, whether I should, or could, learn Lightroom before my trip. I received so many positive and informative responses! I want to thank each of you who responded and offered advice and encouragement. I read them all, and decided, yes, I would attempt to start shooting RAW + JPEG, and would start to try to learn Lightroom for post-processing. So I got the firmware updated on my Nikon D500 (so I could use CFExpress cards), purchased a Lightroom Classic (LrC) plan, and set out on this rather daunting adventure. I have divided my time between working on camera skills and post-processing. With my camera, I am focusing on challenging light conditions and implementing some of the suggestions I received from you. With-post processing, I focused on setting up my first Catalog in Lightroom Classic, and importing the RAW "practice photos" I have taken these last few days. This morning I took some photos of birds that were fishing along the shore of our lake, and backlit against the morning sun (near my dock). It was time to take these photos and attempt to process them in the Develop module of LrC. When I was finished, the rather dim lightbulb in my head was shining a little brighter! Now I get it! Not in the technical sense-- I have barely scratched the surface and have a long road ahead before I am even minimally competent in Lightroom Classic. But now I completely understand why so many of you encouraged me to shoot in RAW, and use post-processing to address low light and exposure problems with my photos. Below are a couple of before and after examples from this morning. The first is a photo of an Egret that I took this morning. The second photo is the result of my very first attempt at post-processing. After working on the Egret photo, I pulled out hummingbird nest photo I took on May 29, 2023 and did a little post-processing with positive results. These are the third and fourth photos. So, I have a little over two months before I leave for Brazil, and I am so excited about the prospect of shooting RAW and post-processing the photos in LrC when I get back. I am so grateful for your generosity (sharing your experience and knowledge) and encouraging words...thank you again! Tom McCoppin, Lake McQueeney, Texas

Good afternoon, fellow Hedgehogians. On May 27, 2023, I posted a Topic entitled "Am I Too Old", requesting your thoughts on whether I should shoot RAW or JPEG (or both) on my upcoming trip to Brazil, and, whether I should, or could, learn Lightroom before my trip. I received so many positive and informative responses! I want to thank each of you who responded and offered advice and encouragement. I read them all, and decided, yes, I would attempt to start shooting RAW + JPEG, and would start to try to learn Lightroom for post-processing. So I got the firmware updated on my Nikon D500 (so I could use CFExpress cards), purchased a Lightroom Classic (LrC) plan, and set out on this rather daunting adventure. I have divided my time between working on camera skills and post-processing. With my camera, I am focusing on challenging light conditions and implementing some of the suggestions I received from you. With-post processing, I focused on setting up my first Catalog in Lightroom Classic, and importing the RAW "practice photos" I have taken these last few days. This morning I took some photos of birds that were fishing along the shore of our lake, and backlit against the morning sun (near my dock). It was time to take these photos and attempt to process them in the Develop module of LrC. When I was finished, the rather dim lightbulb in my head was shining a little brighter! Now I get it! Not in the technical sense-- I have barely scratched the surface and have a long road ahead before I am even minimally competent in Lightroom Classic. But now I completely understand why so many of you encouraged me to shoot in RAW, and use post-processing to address low light and exposure problems with my photos. Below are a couple of before and after examples from this morning. The first is a photo of an Egret that I took this morning. The second photo is the result of my very first attempt at post-processing. After working on the Egret photo, I pulled out hummingbird nest photo I took on May 29, 2023 and did a little post-processing with positive results. These are the third and fourth photos. So, I have a little over two months before I leave for Brazil, and I am so excited about the prospect of shooting RAW and post-processing the photos in LrC when I get back. I am so grateful for your generosity (sharing your experience and knowledge) and encouraging words...thank you again! Tom McCoppin, Lake McQueeney, Texas