Nikon D3, Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 w/1.4X extender, SB-800 flash. Cropped to about 1/3 frame in PhotoShop.

The only thing I've seen to assuage some of the negative rejections is to run portraits through Portrait Professional. It works wonders. I actually had one woman say it was the first photo of her that didn't make her cringe

Before


After Portrait Professional

Ok. Here goes.

Fall Cottonwoods in the High Desert


Rio Grande


Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta


LACMA at Dusk


Los angeles, Griffith Observatory


Rio Grande


Long Lake, Sierras


Los Angeles


Williams Lake, NM


Santa Fe Sunset Over the Jemez Mountains

Spectacular! All three. Thanks for sharing.

Rufous hummingbird

I agree with the other posts. Wear out what you've got. Spend your money elswhere.

I upgraded to a full frame several years ago, mainly as a beneficiary of a gift from my wife. I thank her every time I use it because of the ability to push the technical envelope much harder.

However ... I still yearn for my D70 with its 18 to 200 zoom that would take me anywhere I needed to go without lugging 20+ pounds around with me. Sure I put up with a little noise at higher ISOs, and found things falling apart when I needed to severely crop an image. But, those experiences have taught me to set up the camera properly and get the right shot in the viewfinder before I squeeze the shutter release.

Happy shooting!

I recently heard a discussion on a talk show where the host was interviewing the numero uno photographer for Israel. He asked him how to take pictures of women. The photog answered that he has never once taken a picture of a woman that they didn't hate. To a person, they all wanted the pictures destroyed.

Obviously this post is a little off subject, but beauty is most often in the eye of the beholder.

When I downloaded #2, I noticed there is some chromatic aberration especially noticable in the clouds. I don't know if you are shooting RAW. If so, this aberration is easily fixed in PhotoShop and many other programs. (Some programs may even work on formats other than RAW. I'll defer the answer to that to the more experienced on this forum.)

Of course you don't normally see this unless you're a few inches from a 16X20 print.

The extra black at the bottom, repetitive clouds at the top and too many trees detracted from an otherwise gorgeous photo.

Beautiful shot!

I stuck the copyright back in there to keep it safe ;-)

Find a park bench, lamp post, car roof, etc. Or, as was the case with these shots, stand very steadily, elbows to the chest, breathe in, hold, and gently squeeze the shutter release.

Beyond that use the magic of the digital darkroom to reduce noise or introduce other artifacts that will give your pictures new life.

Keep experimenting with the outer edges of the technical envelope.

Good luck, and post some of your creations.

Disney Concert Hall Nikon D3, ISO 800, 14mm, f2.8, 1/15 sec Handheld, Cleaned up in PhotoShop


L.A. Music Center, Nikon D3, ISO 800, 16mm, f2.8,, 1/15 sec, Handheld, a few corrections in PhotoShop

Nikon D3
14-24 f2.8
24-70 f2.8
70-200 f2.8, 1.4X ext.
Circular polarizer
SB-800 flash (w/extra batteries), w/Coiled extension cable
Carson Lens Pen
Giotto Squeeze blower
Lens tissue and cleaning fluid
penlight
Trigger release cable
Lightweight carbon tripod
Quick release plate

I haven't yet gotten the mule to carry all this for me. ;-)

(I surely miss my D70 with the 18-200 lens. Great all-in-one package)

There are probably several settings within the computer that may need to be set up. Eye One 2 is not that great in giving step-by-step instructions on installation, but eventually you will get there.

To bypass Autorun, look at Start>My Computer and then right click on the CD/DVD Drive. On the next menu, click Explore. Then double click on the AutoRun folder. Next double click on the AutoRun.exe icon. That should get you started down the right path.

Beyond that I'm not an expert, but with the help of some nerdy friends, I have fumbled my way to setting up my monitors to where I get some consistency in my color workflow.

Good luck!

I'm new here, so I don't know if this topic has been exhausted.

I shot a time lapse sequence of a sunset-moonrise ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMecv2tr_M8 ). Since I didn't know exactly where the moon was going to rise, I shot it a little wide.

The next night was to be a full harvest moon, and I wanted to reshoot it with a longer lens. I lucked out in that the moon was right in a perfect spot. Unfortunately, the sky had darkened too much to keep the drama of the previous night's sequence.

I've since come across The Photographer's Ephemeris which I am quickly finding to be an invaluable tool. It can be found for free at this link: http://stephentrainor.com/tools

Sunset-Moonrise over the Sangre se Cristo range

I'll take the one on top.

In regards to monitors. Monitor calibration is always the first step in color control.

Nice work!

D70 can work great with proper software. Here is a handheld picture with available light shot at ISO 1600. Plenty of noise. I took it into PhotoShop with a noise reducing program (Noise Ninja from PictureCode). It did a remarkable job without any manual manipulation.

I wish I had the foresight to shoot in RAW when I originally took the picture. I could have coaxed more out of the final result.

Original with auto contrast processing


Processed with noise reduction and sharpening