I find myself wondering sometimes why we make, take, create photos. For family, for income, for memories, for art, for fame, to put on a disk and forget, or to investigate the world around us?
Sometimes I catch myself wondering why or what caught my attention for a shot and then remembering it was the light on the edge of the leaf, but the light has changed by then and the shot is gone. Perhaps better to wonder after the shot.
Anyway, was just curious as what other photographers think.
mariak

I am new to Lightroom 5
1. Just purchased LR5 and I am asking for anybodys opinion on how to "ORGANIZE THE FOLDERS", Before I jump right into using Lightroom we must first organize the files. Any suggestions on what yall do, so I can get an idea.
2.Also any tips on using the program would be helpful. I am trying to learn and I have some photos I am anxious to edit. Any help or links to help me learn this program would be greatly appreciated. From the Very Beginning with NO experience whatsoever.
3. I am looking for a mentor, somebody who has the knowledge of Lightroom 5 and takes professional pictures with whom I can chat with and share emails and possibly talk to once a week on the phone. Thank you so much in Advance. Jenny

I am new to Lightroom 5
1. Just purchased LR5 and I am asking for anybodys opinion on how to "ORGANIZE THE FOLDERS", Before I jump right into using Lightroom we must first organize the files. Any suggestions on what yall do, so I can get an idea.
2.Also any tips on using the program would be helpful. I am trying to learn and I have some photos I am anxious to edit. Any help or links to help me learn this program would be greatly appreciated. From the Very Beginning with NO experience whatsoever.
3. I am looking for a mentor, somebody who has the knowledge of Lightroom 5 and takes professional pictures with whom I can chat with and share emails and possibly talk to once a week on the phone. Thank you so much in Advance. Jenny

You have brought out in your hilarious post many of the problems facing those who for the first time and without any training in wedding photography want to do so. I have participated in some of the discussions elsewhere and believe it or not my advise has not been well accepted not only by the person who wanted to shoot the wedding but by others in the forums.
A wedding is a serious matter. When a photographer takes the responsibility of shooting a wedding he or she must understand that for the couple that is a very important day and that they expect the best from the photographer. After all, those would be the memories they will eventually show to their children, perhaps also to their grandchildren.
A wedding is no ordinary photography. While there is some photojournalist style involved there are going to be casual shots and portraits as well. Posing and lighting can make or brake a wedding and professionals are very aware of that.
There are some portraits that will sell well and the photographer needs to know which will be the ones and how to pose them. Altar returns are very important shots and lighting and posing can make them or brake them as I said before. Easily those portraits could be the most important of the wedding!
I do not want to make this long but experience and expertise are important factors in a photographer shooting a wedding and both come after a good preparation and training in wedding photography. A good place to start is offering oneself voluntarily to help other experienced wedding photographers in their work.
The selection of lenses in my humble opinion is not that important but keep in mind a wide angle and a tele zoom like the 70-200 are usually the lenses we will see more often in use. The combination of a 24-70 and the 70-200 is what I have seen more often in use.
A wedding is no place for only one flash. Off camera flash and how to use several units is of paramount importance, especially during the reception. Most modern cameras can do an excellent job shooting in low light but the contrast and beautiful lighting of flash, when properly used, is simply awesome.

Hi Everyone. I have been using ViewNX to view my RAW images from my Nikon camera and have had no problems until today. The program kept crashing, so I uninstalled it and decided to download the latest version. I received an error message saying that the program was no longer supported by Windows XP! I called Nikon and they confirmed that it would no longer work with XP.

My question-Is there any free program that will allow you view NEF files from Nikon cameras. I tried GIMP, but it does't work.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My "One Reason For Taking Up Photography"....

I was always an artistic child. I liked to paint and draw. At age 12 a began to "take" photographs. That was with a "Brownie Hawkeye". At age 16 I was a High School photographer for the school newspaper and yearbook. At age 17 I bought my first 35mm camera - a used Argus C-3 - (That took almost my whole weekly paycheck = $15.00)..

I took up Photography because I was able to "draw quickly" and better with it.

:-)