If you've not checked out the Canon SX-50 HS, I suggest you do so. I have a SX-40 HS, and I'm very satisfied with it.

As I've noted before, my objective in taking pix is basically to reproduce what my eyes saw, no more, no less. If others want to enhance a photo beyond reality, that is fine. There is room for both objectives.

I'm with you. I take most of my pix in order to have a memory of some scene or object I like. If what shows when I download a given pic doesn't seem to reflect accurately what I remember, I alter it by cropping, lightening, darkening, sharpening, etc., to reflect what my eyes saw, as best I can recall.

My only concern is that the pic I recall is a bit more brighter and/or colorful in my mind than what I really saw, such that I end up, for example, with a fall foliage leaf a bit brighter or more red than what was actually there.

EstherP[/quote]>>>Speaking strictly for myself, I like my photos to look as close to what I saw when I pressed the shutter button.
OTOH, I have seen some photos that *I* would consider over-processed, but that looked absolutely fantastic.
I've seen others that I would have liked to tear up, but that's a bit difficult when it is on a monitor AND belongs to someone else :-)
EstherP[/quote]

Thank you. And if anyone should ask, that pic was directly out of my camera, i.e., no PP except for my usual SX-40 / PSE 8 cropping and sharpening. The brilliant orange of the pic was just as I remembered it.

Yes, the closer you take the pic to the moon rise the better. The above one was 28 minutes after moon rise. I live within a ten minute walk of a park with a vantage point some distance from the eastern horizon so I get to see the moon soon after it rises.

I know what you mean about taking the pic quickly and leaving. I had taken maybe a half dozen pix when my little dog, who'd been patiently waiting for me to finish, started jumping up on me. I never did see or hear anything, but figured her senses were better than my eyes and ears, so like you, beat a hasty retreat home!

I got an SX-40 just about a year ago and have been quite satisfied with it. Yet I'm hearing lots of good words about the SX-50, especially features that the SX-40 doesn't have, such as a port for a cable shutter release and being able to compose an HDR photo in the camera itself. Anyone has thoughts on possibly trading in my SX-40 for an SX-50? Thanks.

I took this last night just after moon rise in order to get that deep orange color.

similar moon, at moon rise

Re the electric zoom perhaps using a lot of power. I wonder why the zoom is powered electrically? I would be quite happy zooming manually by hand, as I used to do with my old film camera. Two reasons, one less power use, and two, more control, i.e., by hand I could find tune the zoom easier, as opposed to the electric zoom where it zooms in spurts, meaning I have to go back and forth to get just the composition I want.

Thanks, maybe I can succeed after all with HDR! Don't worry about giving away your age. When I started working many years ago, I had to take computer tapes to another building by bus to have them processed overnight, and then go back and get them the next morning!

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure I'm up to the learning curve - it looks a bit daunting, plus it may be even more so since my editing software is just PSE 8. But I'll give it a try and we'll see!

Where in Africa were these pix taken? Thanx.

Thanks. Then it would seem that using HDR is not overly complex, given it took you less than ten minutes to transform your three images into the final product.

Now, my question is: do I need additional software to use HDR similarly? I have Photoshop (Elements 8.) I have not tried HDR yet, and don't know how to go about doing what you did.

Do you, or anyone else, know if I can do that with what I have available in my Photoshop software, or do I need to buy additional software?

Very nice pix, but I have to ask, did you apply any HDR resolution to them, or were they right out of your camera, which would seem to be the case based on the ten minute span between taking them and posting them? Thanks.

Well, PA, is scenic indeed. I spent lots of time in south central PA in years past, and really enjoyed the countryside there, the rolling hills and all, especially.

I'm the photographer for a group I belong to, charged with getting some group pix during their events. Since the group often is conducting business while I'm taking pix, I like to be as inconspicuous as possible while doing so, as to not be a distraction. The silent shutter on my camera is a big plus that way.