If you use Photoshop or Lightroom and install them on your new laptop, they automatically update for any new cameras that come out, so that would cover you. If you specifically want the Nikon software, you can download it from the Nikon website, but you may get charged for it.

I live in Florida and have used my equipment out in the sun during the summer photographing sports car races and rodeos, that lasted several hours. I also have had my camera in my black backpack while hiking across Myakka Preserve (south of SR 72) where it is mostly palm scrub with no shade for a few hours with no problems (other than I came home thoroughly used up). Part of it may be if you were using an inexpensive body. Other than that, I have never had a problem with a camera that stopped working (other than being stepped on by an angry bull at a rodeo). My bodies are lower end pro cameras (Canon 7D II right now), but I use pro lenses. Some times these kinds of things are hit or miss. I NEVER leave camera bodies in a hot car. I will take some liberties with lenses that have metal barrels, but never ones with composite barrels and never a camera body.

Most of the big stores (B&H, Adorama) will buy good used equipment. If your equipment is not "pro series", you won't get a lot because there is so much of it out there, but if you have pro series equipment in "very good" to "like new" condition, you will get a reasonable amount. If you are buying equipment from them, they will generally give you a little more if you are "trading up". I used to use KEH quite a bit, but since they were bought a couple of years ago, they have become slow at paying for equipment (30 days). They used to pay in two weeks, and their prices were better. I miss the old owners and managers.

I would suggest getting several cards so that if you lose one card you still have a few others that have images from your trip. Since I don't know how long your trip is or how may mega pixels your camera is (or how large a file a typical image is) I cannot help you with any specifics, but if it was a week long trip, I would say to have at least one or two cards to use per day. That way, if you lose a card you haven't lost too much. If you are taking a laptop, you could also get a potable digital drive to upload images to as a backup.

Right with you. I do the same thing.

I live in Bradenton, Florida (just south of Tampa Bay) and spring comes early. It is a wonderful time to shoot because of relatively low humidity and reasonable temperatures. Lots of rain early this year, so things started happening earlier than normal. The last photo is obviously manipulated, a three-shot HDR photo using Photomatix. It was taken in the Rose Garden at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. The white hibiscus was taken at Joan Durante Park on Longboat Key and I kept waiting for a couple of weeks until the background was in dark shadows to get the look I wanted. The yellow flowers were taken at Myakka River State Park and they are there just for a short time in the early Spring before the rains come and flood that area. The red flowers were taken at the Sarasota Garden Club's butterfly garden (I purposely wanted a soft look to that photograph). I am lucky to live in Florida where flowers abound and that is how Florida got its name. All of the photos were taken with a Canon 7D II and a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS. I love that lens because I can really shallow up the depth-of-field when I want to. The red flowers were taken with that lens with a 2X teleconverter to shallow up the depth-of-field even more.

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You can buy a factory refurbished 100-400 II for 1759.99 directly from Canon. Comes with all the same stuff as new ones do. I cannot remember what the warranty is, but I don't worry about that stuff. As much as I have abused my "L" series lenses shooting rodeos (getting banged around a bit by angry bulls and bareback and saddle bronc horses), I have never ever had to repair any lens. I did lose a camera body under the foot of a bull, though. Not repairable, almost broken in half. I had just removed the lens and was reaching into my bag for a shorter lens for the next event. Anyway, I would buy the refurb. in a New York minute. Now I only do nature stuff and, again, I have never had an issue with any "L" series lens. I also shoot in the rain. But, I do try my best to take care of things (cleaning, inspecting and always keeping them in one of my camera bags in a weather-controlled place). The refurbs are not always available, but if you have some patience, they will come back in stock. Most of them have been used as "demo" lenses, loaners to prominent event photographers and/or at shows. Some are returns, but they have been gone through and they make sure things are all up to spec. Every lens in my bag is used or a refurb.

Been using Photoshop CC in all its incarnations since they first came out with it and I keep all my photographs on "local" external hard drives (4 of them, two are duplicates), plus two internal "working" drives. Never have had a problem. Am I just lucky?

Circular polarizers are very, very useful in many situations. When I shoot collector car shows, I use them to cut down on unwanted reflections. But you can only get them to work at certain angles to the sun and they will not do squat on a cloudy day. You can also use them to intensify the white clouds and the richness of a blue sky and other colors, again only when the sunlight is coming from a certain direction from the direction your camera is aimed. Their effect is intensified on shorter lenses. If you put one on a 400mm lens the effect will be much less than on a 24mm lens. I used to have one for every filter diameter that my lenses took, but now, luckily, all of my lenses take a 77mm filter, so I only need one. They will do a lot for your photography especially if you shoot highly reflective objects outdoors or if you are doing nature photography. They will also hide things underwater if you want or they will allow you to see things underwater better because it will cut down on reflections. Since you can rotate the filter after you put it on your lens, you can rotate it until you get the saturation you want or get the reflective qualities you want. I never leave home without mine and it is on whatever lens I am using. The downside is that you will lose one f-stop of light.

If you bought old ink cartridges they may clog, OEM or aftermarket. Dealers are supposed to check stock for out-of-date, but they don't always do that. If they were stored in a hot warehouse, that can contribute to clogging after they are sold, too. I always by from a well respected source (I won't name names, because I am not hear to promote one business over another) and have never gotten an out-of-date cartridge or one that gave me trouble. My printer is eight years old and going strong.

I've been using third party batteries for well over a decade with no problems, similar # of shots per charge as OEM batteries in five different Canon digital cameras since 2002 (Watson, ProMaster and OEM for the 7D, 7D II, and eFilm, Watson and OEM for the 20D). I don't touch OEM inks and never explored the idea. Just don't want to take the chance of messing up a $1700 Epson printer. I've tried "off-brand" lenses, but they didn't stand up to the quality, sharpness and durability of Canon's "L" series. I am not rich, by any means. I just make an investment in the absolute best I can get, new, used, or refurbished. None of the lenses in my bag were bought new, but, again, they are "L" series and a couple of them are pushing ten years old, still work smoothly and give me sharp shots (17-40 f4, 70-200 f2.8 IS, 24-105 f4 IS, 2x TC, 1.4X TC and 12mm and 25mm extension tubes). Currently saving up for a refurb 100-400 L II. I figure that will be my last lens (I am 72). Camera is Canon 7D II along with original 7D and an old 20D that isn't worth selling. I bought one $150 tripod and head and quickly found out that you get what you pay for. Saved up for a year and bought a good tripod and head that will support 37 lbs and it's rock solid. I now only use the old one to support an off-camera flash with a 25' cable. I say, you save money where it doesn't affect picture quality or print quality, and for the stuff that will directly affect quality, you buy the absolute best you can afford. That's my ten cents.

KEH was sold about a year or two ago and it hasn't been the same since. I shoot with Canon and I also go to their website for refurbished gear and I found that more than once I could get a "refurb" lens from Canon for less than an "excellent +" lens from KEH. Case in point, a Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6L IS II refurb lens was $1789 from Canon and an "excellent +" version from KEH was over $1800. Guess who I am buying the lens from? The refurb from Canon comes with all the stuff that a new lens comes with (hood, caps, case). It probably comes with the manual, but I am not sure. That isn't always the case with stuff from KEH, although they will tell you on their website what is included with a particular lens. B&H and Adorama also deal in used equipment (buying and selling, or trading in to upgrade). They are both very reliable companies.

I used to shoot high school rodeos, and yes, there are rodeos for middle school and high-school-age kids (National High School Rodeo Association) all over the country with a National High School Finals Rodeo so the top contestants from each state (top 4 in each event from each state) can compete for a national championship for individuals and a state team national championship. I was shooting film, about 20 - 36 shot rolls per weekend of Fuji 800 print film (expensive!). I switched over to digital as soon as Canon came out with the Digital Rebel (6MP). It paid for itself in five rodeos. But, I basically shot the same way. For each event (calf-roping, bull riding, barrel racing, etc.) I positioned myself in the position that experience taught me was the best place to be for each event. The only difference was that I didn't have to wait until they were in the perfect place (which was hit-or-miss with film). Now I could shoot 3 quick shots in rapid succession to get the right shot with horse and rider and calf or barrel or whatever in the right position. You could not do that with film because the camera could not react fast enough. I knew exactly what I was looking for, the position of the horse's feet (at a full gallop), the position of the rider, the position of everything else, the depth-of-field, exactly what to focus on, and where that big light bulb in the sky was. After I went digital, I would do a three-shot-burst at each perfect place of each contestant in each event. If that takes me out of the "artist" category, then so be it. But if you talk with any of the great nature photographers like "Artie (Arthur) Morris, who was good enough to be on Canon's payroll as one of their "Explorers of Light", you would discover that he would lay down in the mud for days at the Jamaica Bay Preserve (near JFK airport in NY) taking shots until he got the "perfect one". Then he would do it again for a week or two until he got the next "perfect one". I think the artistry is when you know what the "perfect shot" is, what it should look like - the exposure, the background, the composition, the way the subject is lit, etc. Painters don't just go and paint a painting. They struggle with it, redoing this part or that part, even throwing the whole thing away and starting over, because it "just doesn't look right". They learn what is right about this part or that part and they repeat those parts in the "new" piece, and do the other parts differently until they like the whole thing. I used to do picture framing for artists. I knew the "angst" they went through to get that award-winner. So, I think you are an artist if you have an idea in your head of how you want that photo to look like and you keep shooting, changing this or that, until it all works. If you just point and hold the shutter down for a bunch of shots, that is not artistry, that is luck.

If you are doing "close-up" shots and you are letting the camera do the settings for you (the dreaded green square on the control dial), then it may not be the lens that is giving you images that are a little "soft". It might be camera/lens settings. If you are letting the camera pick which autofocus point is "active" (the point where the camera is actually focusing), it may be choosing a part of the flower that is not the part that you want to focus on. To get the most out of your camera/lens combination, you need to take control of your camera settings. To do the type of photography you want to do, set that round dial on the top of the camera to "Ap". Ap means "aperture priority". The aperture doesn't only control the diameter of the opening that lets the light in to your camera sensor, but it also controls what is known as "depth of field". Depth-of-field is the distance from the front to the back of your subject matter that is in sharp focus. The smaller the aperture number, the shallower the depth-of-field is, that is the shorter the distance, from front to back, that your subject will be in focus. So, if you focus on the part of the flower that is closest to you AND you have your lens zoomed all the way out to 135mm, and you have it at its maximum aperture, in your case f5.6, your depth-of-field will be pretty shallow, especially if you are very close to the flower. How close to the subject matter you are, also effects the depth-of-field. My suggestion is to set up a flower to photograph and shoot that photo several different times, changing the aperture in a progression fro f5.6 to f16. Then look at how the "in focus" part of the photo changes. Make sure that the sensitivity (ISO) is set to a high enough number that the camera can achieve proper exposure at the slower shutter speeds that the camera will automatically work towards as you take your photos at smaller and smaller sized apertures. Now here is the kicker - smaller aperture numbers mean larger openings. A setting of F5.6 is a larger opening than F16. I want to find the person who came up with this system and just slap him up the side of the head. But, try this series of photos and they will teach you more in five minutes than ten minutes of my babbling ever will. Then do it at different focal lengths, but physically move the camera forwards or backwards to keep the subject the same size in the viewfinder. Do not change the aperture at all while you are doing this last series of photos. Only change the lens focal length by zooming the lens in or out to fill the view finder. You should notice that using a longer focal length makes the depth-of-field shorter (or "shallower") from front to back. I know, it sounds confusing. It sounded confusing to me in 1962, but I got the hang of it pretty quickly, and so will you. After you understand that a shorter focal length and a small aperture (with that larger number, say, f16), will give you a sharper image, you may discover that it is not the lens that is the cause of not-sharp-enough photos, but it is your camera settings and your distance from the subject that is causing the softness in your photos. I hope my post makes some sense. It will if you set the camera and a flower up and go through the steps I outlined. For the longer wildlife stuff, a Canon 70-300 IS lens is a good choice unless you have a couple thousand dollars laying around and you want to spring for Canon's 100-400, f4.5 - 5.6 IS II L series zoom, but that would be a bit of overkill on your current camera. You may have a little trouble with fast-enough autofocus with birds in flight, but with birds on a branch or wading or nesting, you should be okay. If you are shooting birds in flight you will probably need to set the ISO at an absolute minimum of 400 on a typical sunny day get shots don't have motion blur. There are a couple of ways to upgrade to a telephoto "on the cheap". One is to go to KEH on the internet. They are the largest retailer of used camera equipment in the world. They also have knowledgeable people who can help you make reasonable choices within your budget and they stand behind their products. B&H photo and Adorama Photo in New York have a large online presence , too. They sell both new and used equipment and sometimes they will have refurbished equipment. Refurbished equipment is used equipment that is brought up to the original new specs. I have dealt with all of these businesses and have never had a problem with any of them. And, just to let you know, every lens and teleconverter in my bag has been bought either refurbished or used. Canon also sells refurbished camera bodies and lenses on the Canon website. Just look under "deals". Good luck and happy shooting.

Since you are already an artist, then you probably know all the "rules" about composition and moving the viewer's eye across the image. My suggestion is to see if there is a local camera club and attend a meeting or two to see if you feel comfortable there. Don't feel bad that you are a "newbie". We all started out knowing squat. Most clubs are warm and welcoming to new people. Camera clubs are wonderful ways to learn about many different aspects of photography and also to learn the "quirks" about your particular camera quickly from someone who is a regular user of the camera you have. Getting into a group environment with photographers is almost always fun. You may even want to have a speaker or two come to your class from the club (if that is allowed at your school). The members of the club can give you suggestions of good places to go for particular subjects for members of your class. Good luck and keep an open mind.