Oregon coast!

Google 'Bridge Cameras'

There's a relatively new class of camera, referred to as a 'bridge' camera.
It's a 'bridge' because it bridges the gap between the P&S and DSLR. They feature a single monster lens and many functions of a DSLR. They are larger than a P&S and lighter than a DSLR. It does not provide for interchangeable lenses -- just a single wonder lens.

My first love was the Nikon P7000 which served as a travel substitute for the D700. (It was stolen right out of my bedroom. Sob!)

Here is a sample of what the Panasonic Lumix FZ150 can do at 600mm zoom. Note the saturation, contrast and clarity of its Leica lens. And get this!!! This zoom shot was taken at 600mm, HAND HELD by some old geezer in his mid 80's!

(OK to do whatever you like with or to these shots.)

A 18mm 400 1/320 f8.3


A 600mm 400 1/250 f8.3


A 600mm 400 1/125 f8.3

Add a copyright!

Let me see, Pat. . . .
Won't he do well to use SLOW (REAR) flash to stop the action?
Then he can set exposure manually to expose for the ambient light?
The action will be 'shot' at about 1/2000sec.

Willy, terrific response!
Informative and inspirational.
Youse my hero of the moment!

Speaking for Photoshop, almost any version back to PS7 ....

You can +/- contrast/brightness of any color
You can +/- the saturation of any color
You can modify any color on its own layer and further control it by varying the mode and opacity of that layer.
You can move portions of your image about within the image.
You can merge portions of disparate images into one image.

Oh my! What else? PS has some 500 menu items. Hurts my head.

I have not seen a graphic arts effect that cannot be duplicated in Photoshop CS5. (But I don't do graphic arts so I'm fuzzy here.)

If you are intrigued, you can do a great many manipulations in PhotoShop Elements 10 which goes for some $73 now at Amazon.com

A world of fantasy and creation waits you!
Good luck!

Incisive points, Rocco! (Incidentally, I haven't read a post of yours that was not incisive!}

As a matter of curiosity: There is a theory in cognitive psychology that once you know and understand the vocabulary of a new discipline, you understand 85% of its content.

I define "know" as the ability to meaningfully explain the subject to an innocent in the discipline. "To know a thing is to be able to speak it." -- Aristotle.

. . . . patrick
patw28@hvc.rr.com desktop
patw28@gmail.com iPad

If you did not get a satisfactory answer to your first question, did you ask a more specific question as a followup?

What? They tell you what and not how?
Well, there are two methods of teaching and learning: Instructional and Exploratative. I'll guarantee you that every one of the 'big boys' on this list mastered more through exploration than through instruction.

Frustration is a strong contributing response to the learning process.
Welcome it! Deal with it! Grapple with it! It's a glorious adventure! It's trying to work for you. It's trying to give you the impetus to slog through a difficult problem on your own. Seek it out! Rejoice in your ignorance and glory in the opportunity and challenge of dispelling it.

You will seldom be more alive in life than in the throws of discovery.

Great! Are you sure you were not summoned?

I prefer to get the .pdf or ebook version if it is available. That way, I can display it on the second monitor in still mode while I follow its instructions on my editing monitor.

You don't need a fancy monitor for this. You're only using it for text. $20 for a used one should do the trick. Even an old VGA job would do the job.

Almost all computers now include a second monitor output as standard.

*****************
I understand that you are just playing around with the HDR function here but when you get serious, be aware of how easily HDR can produce a garish effect. Easy does it!

EVERY HDR example that has been uploaded here has appeared excessively garish to my taste -- yes, admittidly 'to my taste'. It may well be what you are after -- but WATCH IT! :wink:

No, the lens hood is peculiar to the individual lens, not to the camera body.
By the time you get down to 28mm and below the lens hood is going to be quite narrow to avoid vignetting, hence less effective as a hood.

If I spot a problem light in the viewfinder, I try to get someone to hold a piece of blocking paper or something in front of it.

In this case, however, I agree it is a bogey coming in through the viewfinder. Easy to determine. Hold your thumb over the view finder to see if that solves the problem.

An interesting photo.
Good luck!

On a camera such as the Nikon D700, can't we trust the in-focus indicator in the viewfinder? After all, we've got a well lit, static subject. Why would the meter not be every bit as good as our eyeball? (especially with glaucoma in the picture?)

And I think the photo is truly beautiful.
No, no, I mean the photo she submitted, not the avatar!

(Not that it is any less beautiful. . . .
I mean. . . . that is . . . .
Oh rats! We're not going there!)

What should really give one pause is the emphasis put on pixel count by ALL parties in the food chain. I think the greatest generation on the Nickonians forum have it right: "It's the glass, Stupid, the glass!"


;-)

Here's the idea . . . .

If you have a 3x2 (six square of something) sensor and you want to double it, you think 6x4 (24 square of the same thing).

But that's a factor of 4, not 2.

But, as Humpty-Dumpty said, "I'd rather see that in writing"