Canon seems to over saturate the red channel pretty poorly. I have a 40D and have a lot of trouble with that. If you put your picture style setting on either neutral or faithful that may help. You also have to be careful trying to expose for Christmas lights. Remember, you're photographing lights. The exposure isn't going to be as long as you may first think. Also, all the darkness around the lights is going to throw the exposure off if you're shooting at night.

The ef-s lenses are cheaper because the glass elements are smaller. Because they are made for the smaller image sensor, the glass pieces can therefor be smaller. That's why they don't work on full frame cameras. They will seriously vignette on full frames.

I have had that pop up a few times on my pc when I put my card in the card reader. I just ignore it and proceed to download my pictures. It should let you download the pictures without formating. I think it does this because the card was formatted by a Canon and not a windows pc. I always format my card in my camera when I do it.

Here is a web site that has a great tutorial on how to make a paint brush of your signature. I use it on some of my photos and it works great.
http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/brush/cbrush7.htm

I don't known if they are listed, but one site I use to check out potential retailers is resellerratings.com I started using them for assessing online stores that sell computer equipment, but they have other retailers that they rate also. Pretty good site as I remember. I haven't used it in several years. I pretty much stick with B&H, Adorama and a couple others. One is ephotocraft.com out of the DC area.

I think by "no ambient light" MS means that there will be no natural light coming in the windows. That's how I understood it in it's context. Lots of great ideas here. If not shooting in raw, be careful about your white balance. As has already been said but can't be stressed enough; get to know your new camera well before this event! Have fun.

Not nice. Loved it anyway.

My question is, when will they be able to help my memory?

Here is a link to a great PS tutorial. http://www.myjanee.com/tuts/brush/cbrush7.htm

I didn't read all the posts so forgive me if I'm repeating. I agree that it is a bad call, but certainly not the worst. I think the famous "tuck rule" call when Brady obviously fumbled and it was given back to the Patriots was definitely worse! I am admittedly bias as I am a Raider fan, but that was crazy and happened in the playoffs.

Here are two websites that have good explanations of how polarized filters work. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/polarizing-filters.htm http://improvephotography.com/333/tips-photography-circular-polarizer/
And here is one that shows how rotating your filter the right way can enhance the rainbow or make it disappear. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hH-Qw-wv1wU
Sorry it's a little off the subject of the original post. I agree with using the natural light and walking around the snake and taking several shots. It really is all about the angle of the light hitting the snakes skin in relationship to where you are standing. So moving the snake is also an option. I get the idea it's a pet and you are obviously not afraid of it. Hope these links and my opinion are helpful.

I agree with seeker. I wouldn't do inkjet prints. If you use a good printing company, they print on photo sensitive paper like the old film days. Some are not very expensive and it's much better than the hassle of messing around with inks and papers (IMHO). I use either Bayphoto or WHCC. With WHCC you have to have an account, I'm not sure you need one with Bayphoto. Another good printer on the web is EZPrints. I don't know if they use inkjet or not though.

Irfanview and Faststone are programs that view the images. They don't actually convert raw files to jpegs or tiffs. Many of the photo programs from Adobe have the raw converter built in, but they're not free. I'm sure there are other photo programs that do have the converters, like GIMP, Paint Shop Pro, etc.

I use Spyder 3. I found it wasn't quite correct after talking with a friend. He suggested using Color Eyes Display Pro. It is software you use with your other hardware. I use it with my Spyder colorimeter and it works great! I highly recommend Color Eyes Display Pro. I think it is excellent software and it has a lot of options. Some I understand, some I don't. It gives you the option of checking your current calibration and then tells you where it's at using Delta E values.

I think the problem is the fact that you aimed the camera too high. There is too much space at the top and not enough on the bottom of the image. It's a good high key image otherwise.