The Blue Ridge Parkway is a couple of miles from downtown. If you want to shoot a sunset, you can go north to Craggy Gardens, park, take the trail to left of parking area about 150 yards and at shelter take trail to left 50 yards and you will be on a bald and look west to see mountains and sunset (weather permitting). Also, there are paperback photography books and waterfall books of the area that are inexpensive that show waterfalls, location, distance to hike once get there, etc. There are easy to access waterfalls at DuPont Forest, west of Asheville and an hour west is the Great Smokey Mountain National Forest. Asheville is a beer “Capital” of USA in case you like. Have fun!

Using Lightroom, I have an external drive to save my originals and I know that it is supposed to be backed up and a copy kept off site. I am trying to simplify things so I can spend more time with camera in hand. I read an article in PC Magazine about backup services and idrive was their top choice. I spoke to a company representative who happens to use Lightroom and he said that many people use their service for backups, their service is reliable, etc. Am I in left field or is this a reasonable approach to simplify a task? Thanks for comments.

All good, #2 is wonderful! Thanks for sharing.

What about focus...I’m ona trip and just have iphone...is focus sharp?

Could u share how you took those pictures. They really pop!

I have a D300 years and years and as a veterinarian took great pet photos, kid indoor and outdoor photos and close-up of flowers. I am 68 and wanting a lighter camera, upgraded to Nikon D750. WOW! I feel like I wasted part of my photography life. The ISO range with reasonable noise is dramatic. Shot a friend’s outdoor and indoor wedding that went late into the night with great active dancing shots with no flash. Now I am convinced that dynamic range and high ISO trumps everything. I am considering switching to Sony Mirrorless. The problem with the 70-200/2.8 is that it is so big that I feel I looked weird at kid’s sports games. With higher ISO you can zoom up to 300 with a 4.5 and capture great action shots for a fraction of the weight and cost. What you save in lens cost you can spend on a body with ISO.

I keep wondering about Sony Mirrorless and look forward to your experiences and inputs.

I keep wondering about Sony Mirrorless and look forward to your experiences and inputs.

I shot film photos of my kid’s soccer team and wife and l did not have to take a turn at being the team manager, or the treasurer or making arrangements for motels when traveling, deciding on group eating to maintain team morale, etc. That was prior to digital. If I got a “good” picture of a kid, I would give a 4”x6” to the family. There were instances where a family might be single parent, or a divorce or “hard times” and those of us who could would secretly finance small expenses for a kid. There were two reasons: 1- We didn’t want a kid to have to leave the team as a “victim of circumstances” or the kid was a skilled athlete and none of us wanted to lose him or, 2 - It just seemed like the thing to do. When we did have a professional photographer come to shoot the high school team and photoshopped an absent kid into the picture and had the high school as a backdrop, there was about a $15 charge for an 8x10 and again, “the high school coach” made shire that any kid unable to purchase a picture received one. Sometimes these efforts seemed totally morally appropriate and sometimes it was less clear and the hidden donner just accepted it.

That is captivating! Good job.

Can u give us the lens and settings? Beautiful and thanks for sharing.

That is beautiful! Right now I’m in a mod hotel in DC, that artwork would be perfect...better than what they have.

I seldom printed photos and then my favorite hiking dog died and I was sad and became depressed and my kids urged me to have an album professionally printed. A week of work with Shutterfly arrived 2 weeks later and I was amazed at how beautiful pictures in print are and it told a story about me and our family and love (him to us and us to him) and it is so easy to look at, and so personal and so therapeutic and when friends pick it up off the coffee table many are speechless or cry...yes it is pictures but it is a 13 year story. It spurred me to pull out albums from my parents youth and my youth, one or two pictures a year, not Nikon or Cannon quality BUT they tell a story and there is love and sacrifice and some relatives I never knew but they are fascinating and the hand written notes are part of the story and I am certain that they will survive. When I go to a waterfall or a monument or a vista, I love the science and the are, but a little voice in my head says, “Thousands of pictures have been taken right here, statistically mine is not the best, but I enjoy the hobby.” I believe an album with a story will beat out the hard drives, etc.

I'm 68 yr old since we are all sharing. I have a new Nikon D750 and recently was a backup photographer for a friends wedding saw a utube video and shot in auto ISO with a speed of 200 and ISO range of 100 to 12,500 and even at the high range the photos are not noisy or grainy...so different from my previous D300.

If you want really simple, Google Photos is the "upgrade" from Picassa. The upload is easy then you can merge it with a previous folder you have created or choose a new name. Loads fast, can scroll thru all pictures quickly, pictures are easy to crop and modify but not as powerful as Lightroom with keywords. Also Google Photos is available anywhere on any device. I am converting to Lightroom and must say that I have found it challenging but I see its wealth of capabilities as highly desirable but I hired a LR expert to straighten out my files for $400 and now I am hopeful the I and my two 300 page books will keep me out of trouble.