Suggestions for the future.

At the first sign of any trouble with a SD card/similar or a computer drive, stop whatever else and back up that card/drive immediately. If you have a second bad experience, stop using that card/drive and have it checked by the "pros" or sent to a place that can verify if your storage is safe to use.... Or throw it away and replace it ASAP.

And for your most important images (or all of them), always have your images stored on at least 2 different drives or forms. I still use CD/DVDs for a second backup of all important images. - You can't risk the possibility that your images, this part of your life, could suddenly be lost!

Hope you find a 'taker'.

I wasn't aware of Jobo copying the essence of my Color by Beseler drums and motor drives. I'm not surprised. Being the originator doesn't give you a lot of longevity as older technologies like silver halide imaging expire.

I, too, will have to offer up some of my 'mothballed' darkroom equipment at sometime in the recent future. Many modern 'solutions' are better or appear so. But, Ansel's sepia B/W gain of 1 stop plus in shadow detail with his printing techniques don't seem to be surpassed by anything more current.

Hope you find a home for them. I might offer some photo books and other items at a similar 'shipping cost' basis.

Great pictures. Very well done!

If these are the choices, I'd submit the 1st and the 3rd. The second is a good photo - - - but static. This makes it a bit boring - no/not enough detail in the center stream leading up to ??? It doesn't encourage asking questions and seeking an answer that doesn't seem visible.

Layers can be a good solution.

Guess I'm getting old enough to finally be part of the "old school". Hard drive space is very low in cost.

I can save the original and multiple copies of the original on my portable HD at a very, very low cost to me.

From what I am most comfortable doing, I make changes to the original and save a copy including the changes. It's a bit like the silver halide days of imaging. I can make all the changes I want, keeping the un-touched original as well as the edited copy.

Doesn't seem like much or a discussion to me. If there isn't any real "advantage" to something, why do it???

Whatever floats your boat!

Expand your horizons!

Think of your entire life. You have the ability and opportunity to 'create' and 'share'. What you do may be appreciated. Or not. - But, what we do in our lifetime is also almost 'rental' in another way. We may feel we are creative. But, our best is only the best for that moment in time. Later in time, it will be a 'dated' ideal or even an idea.

I strive to encourage and help others to see more than they saw, to grow, to enjoy the other colors of the rainbow. But, my 'life work' may be good or great within that moment in time. It is probably dated and surpassed by newer and more advanced technology, inventions that didn't exist when that work was done.

But, it does not discourage me to push myself ahead, inch-by-inch, step-by-step to try to better myself. Sometimes, technology helps make the newer work more successful. But, it doesn't limit my efforts to grow what is and always has been me.

Wood ducks are certainly my favorites. You've done a great job!

I could count on seeing at least the female wood duck and a following of as many as 10 chicks growing up in a N. GA. water source each spring. As the days and weeks passed, the number of chicks would usually shrink to 2, 3 or 4. Nature has a price for maturity. - Don't know why they haven't appeared in my usual photo haunts these last few years?

Beautiful little birds. Wonderfully captured. Congrats.

I wanted to read the other replies before responding. A lot depends upon what you do and how you want to do it. To handle/convert the most recent RAW formats, you will need software that is regularly updated to support the cameras you own or plan to own (Once a RAW image is converted to a PDF file, it can be further edited with many different software packages.)

I am not a big fan of "sliders" - I prefer being able to selectively spot adjust lighten/darken, sharpen/blur, etc. where it is helpful for the image.

I've expressed my unanswered poor service problems with a Photoshop subscription. I purchased a licensed copy of Photoshop CS6 and still use it almost daily for all my selective editing of images. CS6 was the last version you could buy with a CD that you own.

Excellent profile - pose and picture. Very well done. Congrats.

The sun is a most fascinating magnet to hold us within its grasp and also bewitch us with it's constantly changing natural beauty. Thanks for sharing.

Your talent level is consistently on 'High' intensity. Thanks for sharing this inspiring and beautiful image with us.

The first obstacle is not so difficult. I bought a Celestron CPC800. It's the rest of the gear that I'm struggling with. And getting to a 'dark sky' area while living in the Southeast. Plus, in my '70's, I'm beginning to wish I had a less than full time day job.

I think it's called the "wheel of fortune" - fortunate if the wind blows and creates some free electricity. Unfortunate, if it is a calm day!

I wonder how Tesla will respond to some other electric cars with pre-release announcements that they will guarantee their batteries to last "X" number of miles or months???

I can never forget 911. I was in the train station below the Twin Towers before they had been built. I was out of college, looking for a job in NYC. And, my father-in-law sold the swimming pool built beneath the entry steps to the Pentagon, a constant landmark then seen from the road when travelling from No. VA to D.C.

Because I grew up with so many military and civil servant parents of my peers, all of the attacks felt very personal. I didn't know these people that were killed or injured. But, I grew up with their sons and daughters.