You have a Nikon so I would recomend using the cloudy setting for white balance as I find the colors are most accurate and kind to faces. I shoot in the snow a lot and bracketing is key to get the exposure you want as apposed to what the sensor thinks you need. I like the soft reflections of snow on an overcast day as it gets rid of a lot of shadows on faces. Have fun.

Also get different people to look at your photographs, the ones that do not say wow that is great, the ones who will tell you what they do or do not like. You do not have to follow that advice but it enables you to see through other eyes and get a different perspective that you may incorperate into your work. I have had a lot of fun reading all of the advice, it is very informative and I may have actually learned something :) I love digitial becouse it gives me lots of freedom to take many images and find the best, but I also miss film becouse it made me slow down and put thought in my images. But it do not miss shooting a whole roll than is improperly loaded bummer.

I have been out in extream cold -10 for hours at a time, shooting dog mushing. I keep my camera under my coat when not shooting to keep it from getting too cold. I hold it under my coat when going inside but usually it is not very warm in the warming huts :) . I purchesed a storm jacket this year it has openings for lens and hands I used that to shoot fireworks in -15 for 20 minutes that was great my hands stayed much warmer than usual. The only problem is you are stuck with your hands in the cover but I hope to use this at the race this year to keep both hands and camera warmer. The big trick it to have a battery charger handy becouse after about 8 hours is the cold it is pretty drained!

The higher the ISO the faster shutter speed is available but there is more noise or grain (film) in the print or image. You only want to use the faster ISO when you are unable to make adjustments in shutter speed or f-stop i.e. the larger the f-stop (smaller number) the faster shutter speed you will be able to use. I have lots of fun playing with ISO, shot a photo hand held in a poorly lit lava tube ISO 3200 at 1/10 sec just to see what the camera can do (D90). So experement around shoot at different ISO with different setting to see what kind of results you get. Good Luck

IF you wait they will send you 1/2 off deals. I finally did sign up for the couse at the discounted price. It is very detailed starts with basic camera knowlage, much of what I did know but lots of good refresher info and some info I did not know or had forgotten that I did know. There are assignments with each lesson and feed back from an instructor (via e-mail) that is helpful. This has made me slow down a little and be more thoughtful with my portrait work. I have had comments from people that have noticed improvements in my work. THe most help has been info on working with digital formats. I took photography classes 25 years ago, all film, and I have been trying to figure out digital all by myself so I really did get some useful information about the digital format. I have definatly found it cost effective (at 1/2 price) :)

I bought the book Picture yourself learning Corell PaintShop Pro 4x on Amazon, it would work with an earlier version as they do many of the same thing. And I have quickly learned how do do new things as the directions are step by step and easy to follow. I did have a basic working knowlage of the program before I purchased the book so this enabled me to delve into more option that I had not been utilizing, good luck

I bought the book Picture yourself learning Corell PaintShop Pro 4x on Amazon, it would work with an earlier version as they do many of the same thing. And I have quickly learned how do do new things as the directions are step by step and easy to follow. I did have a basic working knowlage of the program before I purchased the book so this enabled me to delve into more option that I had not been utilizing, good luck

I use Corel Paint Shop Pro all the time. It is user freindly and easy to use right out of the box. I have tried to use photoshop, I do not think I had the correct version becouse I could not even figure out how to import photos into the program. I have been super happy with the results and recomend it to anyone who is just starting out becouse for the cost about 40 bucks you can do a lot. I know there are a lot of photoshop users and more power to them. It has baffeled me every time and I do not have the patients or $$ to spend time on something I may or may not be able to work with. I hope someday when I am not working full time and am able to spend more time on editing I can finally explore photoshop but until now I am happly using Paint shop. I recomend getting a book becouse I quickly was able to do new things that I had not been able to figure out before (working with layers). Good luck.

Working with layers in Paint shop pro


Using the poster effect on Paint shop pro


Edited on paint shop pro

Thanks for the advice. I will follow up on this.

I have a SB 600, that I used in extreem cold -20 worked fine. Did not use for a while, now it does not flash. All the other light and screens work. Says it is ready, acts like it flashes but no flash. I am not a big flash user. Is this something that can be fixed any ideas. IT is nice to have this flash for extra light but right now it is just a paper weight. thanks for any help. I am in Alaska so I would have to send it anywhere for repair and I do not want to do this if it is not worth my trouble.

I would stick with the 18-55 on one body, a small wedding in a home, it sounds like. The space will be limited, the longer lens is nice for some close ups without getting close but you may never need it. If you have a chance to meet with them before the wedding at the location you can have someone stand where the party will be standing, take some practice shots to see how the angles, lighting etc turn out. Set the two different cameras on different iso's if you want to make sure you get all shots with and without flash. Just a few thoughts. Weddings are always a work out.