Who said every picture has to look "natural"? "Natural", to me, is sometimes equivalent to "boring". I much prefer the slightly over-saturated look of the second picture, possibly darkening the whites a little.

Thanks for the responses. Not sure if most of them are usable by me, however. I am a pretty good amateur photographer. I display my prints on the walls of my house and I win an acceptable number of blue and red ribbons in my photo club contests. I do not sell any photos , however, and do not intend to. I certainly can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on hardware and software for calibration simply for my own enjoyment and a little ego satisfaction. I would welcome any further "simple", inexpensive solutions to my problem.
daf40

I just upgraded my 7-yr. old Dell laptop with a new Dell laptop. The colors on the new screen seem to be considerably lighter in color (maybe about one or 1 1/2 stops lighter) than on the old computer. I looked at Color Management settings on both, and they are not exactly the same. The available choices do not appear to be the same on both computers. I would like to have the color management settings on the new computer be the same as the old. Alternatively, it might be even better to calibrate the new computer to my printer. I don't want to randomly start changing settings, however, without any knowledge of what I am doing. Any suggestions on how I should proceed?

Although I do share many of my images, I take photographs mostly for myself. I see the world differently when I am carrying a camera. If I go for a hike without my camera, the hike is mostly about physical excercise, comraderie, or reaching a particular destination. When I carry a camera, however, I experience my surroundings much more intensely. I look at the miniature world for opportunities to take close-up photos. I see panoramas and vistas with wide angle shots in mind. I see distant scenes or objects (such as birds) with the idea of capturing them with a telephoto. I see colors and shapes and textures that I would otherwise take for granted. Photography helps me to fully see and experience and enjoy the world around me.

Lone PIne:
ALabama Hills, Whitney Portal, Movie museum
BIshop:
MOuntain LIGHT GAllery, SOuth Lake, North Lake, Sabrina
En Route to Lee Vining:
Little Lakes Valley (turn @ Tom's Place)
Lee Vining:
Saddlebag Lake, South tufa preserve, Virginia Lakes, Lundy lake, half a dozen beautiful lakes in Mammoth Lakes (You really need 2 weeks in this area alone)

Thanks for the help. Maybe I can do this. I guess that I can stop biting my nails.

I am upgrading from a Windows 7 laptop to a new Windows 10 laptop. I am currently running Lightroom 4.4 on my Windows 7 computer. I plan to upgrade to Lightroom 6 on the new computer. What is the best way to transfer both my photographs and my Lightroom catalog to the new computer? Should I put them on an external hard drive first, and transfer from the hard drive to the new computer? Should I use a program like Acronis for the transfer, or just do a backup? Should I install Lightroom 6 on the new computer before transferring the photos and old Lightroom catalog? Will the catalog be able to find the photos on the external hard drive? On the new computer? I am terrified of losing all my editing in the existing catalog.

This is how we fry eggs in Arizona in the summer. (It was only 127.6 degrees in the sun when this picture was taken-- but then, it's only June. Wait until it gets hot!)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I may have to extend my trip. (I guess there's no rush getting back to 110 degree temperatures in Arizona!)

Next week I'll be staying in Roswell, traveling to Taos the following day, and will be spending 2-3 days in the Taos-Santa Fe area. What is the best (for photo ops) route from Roswell to Taos? What are some of the "don't miss" photo ops in the Taos-Santa Fe area? (I am particularly interested in landscape photos and photos of churches, pueblos and ruins, but am open to other subjects as well.

I have Lightroom 4.4, as well as Adobe's "Classroom in a Book" and Kelby's book, and can't find any reference to a dehaze filter. Is this something new, or is it called something else?

Is this "spaghetti eating crow" or "crow eating spaghetti"? (I was rather expecting to see, at least, a long strand of spaghetti wrapped around the crow's neck.)

I hike with a pack, plus a water bottle on each hip. Would prefer a waist-level camera bag that takes weight off my neck but doesn't impede arm swing or water bottle access. I didn't hear a suggestion that would accomplish all of these goals. Keep the ideas coming!

Take lots of film!!! (just kidding). Be sure you have a spare battery, and keep it charged. Get out of your car and hike. All the places suggested by DRG777 are recommended, and I can't add any further detail. Beautiful places, all!

There are many features on this camera that will have an effect on color. Many of the intelligent auto and superior auto modes will have a significant effect on color. Other possibilities are white balance, DRO, auto HDR, Vivid color settings, contrast settings, creative style, picture effect, color space. This is a great camera, but it is difficult to learn because there are so many options to set. You may want to look for a better manual, as the Sony documentation is pathetically incomplete. I use David Busch's Sony a6000/ILCE-6000 Digital Photography book. It is excellent, but it will take you a long time to slog through the book and learn about the versatility of the camera.