I use Carbonite backup for my online backup, and use external 3tb for in-house backup. Carbonite is about $50.00/year and is unlimited.

I have a PC. Mac is not very intuitive to learn. They use a lot of picture(icon) guided interface. If you don't or can't read, Mac will be great. Both are excellent systems. I have been using both Mac and PC since the late 80's. Macs are much more expensive and I have never had a virus on my PC, so I can't complain.

Either one you choose, you will adapt to the interface. Buy the fastest system you can afford and a good large monitor. Larger monitors are so helpful when you have a lot of images to sift through, or have multiple windows open.

On the way out there that day, the Canon reps had a gig going on to advertize their photography equipment. Visitors could play with all of the expensive lenses they will never get to own unless they sell their children and home. Unfortunately I have all Nikon gear, so I didn't stop. It did look like fun though.

Mag ratios were much more important in the past. They were very beneficial for factoring light loss for flash and available light readings. With all of the technologies thrown into cameras nowadays, everything is calculated TTL. With that being said, when I am shooting biological specimens, this provides the end user with information about size for ID purposes, etc., if they do not have a specimen of their own or something for scale in the image.

One other thing to be aware of when stacking filters. Do not tighten them down to snugly or you won't be able to get them apart very easily. This is sometimes more of a concern when the weather during the day is very different than the temp at night. They can be little bears to get apart.

Companies used to make small, what they referred to as "filter wrenches". They were very light weight plastic rings that wrapped around the filter to provide a better grip. I have one in my bag. It doesn't even weigh an oz., but it provides a ton of frustration relief when needed.

Use plenty of the Johnnie Walker. And when you are done, you could put some of it on the tripod head as well. :lol:

It was a nice sunny day, but it was cold. Since they are exothermic like the lizard (body temp is regulated by the outside temp), their core temp was not high enough to allow them to move very much.

And let everyone know if it worked for you.

I stepped out of the kayak for these, though they were hand-held.

We were out geocaching via kayaks and I grabbed a few shots along the way. the Sandhill cranes hadn't left for their northern nesting ares yet. The sunset that evening was very cooperative.

Cosumnes River Preserve


Cosumnes River Preserve


Cosumnes River Preserve

I was out geocaching with my wife a few weeks ago and ran across this. It is a Western Fence Swift (Blue Belly Lizard) inside a hole in a telephone pole.
It was also the site that wintering Ladybird beetles had chosen. Since I could only hand-hold the exposure, I took two shots and blended them together to obtain the depth of field.

First shot - foreground focus
Second shot - background focus
Third shot - blended

Has anyone here used the focus blending feature in CS5? I was curious. First time for me. The jury is still out for this technique, although it seemed to work for this shot. Time hasn't been available for me to test this on any other shots yet.

Forground


Background


Blended

Very nice.

I am not sure, but with the dslrs you can either delete the photos or format the disk. If the technology on the point and shoot uses a formatting process to delete the images, probably not. If it just deletes the queing data for retrieving the photos, you may be able to get them.

Lexar, the manufacturer of cards and memory disks has a program that can retrieve images from some disks that have gone bad. I am sure there are other companies that make such programs, I just don't know what they are. A friend of mine had a disk go bad from a wedding he shot (2000) images. They were all retrieved.

Like I say, I am not sure it will work for deleted images, but it is sure worth a try.

Thanks for the welcome. I often find that many people overlook some of the more common flora and fauna. Glad you enjoyed it. Even though it is one of the more common birds of this area, they are not noted for being gregarious as sparrows and finches seem to be. They are a bit more secretive as well. Here are a couple of other common, but not sought after because they aren't exceptionally colorful, birds.

White Crowned Sparrow


Oak Titmous


Hermit Thrush

I am new to this site. I live in California and have a degree in Biological Photography. I have been in and out of photography for years- since the early 1970's. I was surfing the net the other day and happened to run across you guys. After perusing the site, it appears there are a wide variety of skill levels. I am pleased to see this mix, since many of the PRO sites seem to collect very narrow mindsets when it comes to photography and what it should be.

I have taught photography from the elementary school level through college - and even adult classes and workshops. My emphasis and preferences are slanted towards the natural history viewpoint, but I have done advertising, portrait, wedding, and other commercial stuff as well. I design exhibits that deal with natural and cultural history, so I seem to have drifted more into the illustrating end more than photography the past decade.

I have a lot of knowledge that I enjoy sharing with others, and I have not learned it all, so any feedback I receive from others is welcomed. As a matter of fact, I am more interested in what individual don't like as opposed to what they do about my work.

I hope I can get the time to spend more of it on this site. I will attach a few of my recent shots. I hope you enjoy them.

Brown Towhee


Great Egret

A) Anhinga
B)Great Blue Heron
C) Great Blue Heron
D) Tricolored Heron -Adult