Not knowing what type of camera gear you have leaves open various editing app from manufacturers as well. I started with Nikon's VIew NX. Also you did not mention your system for editing.

Be sure when browsing all of the choices that you check the minimum system requirements. Do download trials. Photoscape X comes to mind as it is fairly easy to learn and there is a free version. GIMP while a great free editor ii has a fairly steep learning curve. Neither require a constant on-line connection.

Good luck. Let us know. There are many choices.

There is a manual for the WTU that I found useful. It does work with my Z6. My desktop is ethernet and I can send images to it via the "connect to PC" menu selection.

I am retired IT and I did this just to see how it works. I prefer to use a card reader too.

I will be using snapbridge soon to use my phone to transfer jpg shots to a shared folder in dropbox.

I am shooting for a Gala and have set it up to have the guests download via QR code. Just trying to save processing time if possible.

Have you tried exporting the image as a Tiff file and using the NIK app in standalone. I gave up on Adobe in 2019. I now use DXO and Affinity Photo.

I have not had any issues with MS updates on 3 different systems. But I have been using Nikon transfer app since 2008 as well as the Nikon Codec. It allows you to change the file name with the copy to the destination. It is free from Nikon. It is part of the Nikon studio. Which I keep up to date but preferred processing is DXO PL4 or ON1 2022 with Affinity Photo for special edits. Hope you have been successful.

As a retired IT Pro may I also recommend Sea World San Diego. The Zoo and Sea world sell each others tickets. The Zoo also has a wild animal park outside of the city.
I visited Balboa Park just last year for the first time. Was never able to make the time on multiple visits. I would also recommend Old Town section. I used to work for the Sea world and Busch Grds parks. Have a great time! Do check out the beaches if so inclined.

You did not tell us in this message what camera you are using. A RAW image will look dull compared to JPG because you are seeing the data only. JPG is a finished image, yes it can be modified abit.

RAW is what your camera's sensor sees. It does require processing via an application to bring out the colors so our eyes can see them. In camera you are looking at the JPG representation of the RAW image.

I shoot RAW due to the low light environment I am in 90% of the time. I shoot dancers during performances.
I have boxes of prints from over 20 years ago. Now I have Terabytes of images that I can share.

Sounds like you mainly shoot family. Good on you! Keep it fun and hopefully you get at least 50% good shots. Keep shooting, ask questions.

Since you did not mention the OS you are using it is possible that both Google drive and One drive have drive letters assigned on your system. Just be certain that you are aware of where you are sourcing your images as well as saving your work to.

On Windows systems you can stop
/start those services when you see fit. I only login to them when required.

I have both of these cloud based services available to my systems as well as dropbox. I do use them but for sharing purposes only. I have a local NAS that I use for backups and remote access while out of the house.

I usually process my images on the local drive. When finished I store them on my 8TB NAS.

Robert,
I just happen to have my camera bag on this FL trip. But my camera on trips is a Nikon coolpix S630 that I purchased in 2008 or my Samsung phone.
In my bag is a Z6 with FTZ and 18-105 Nikkor with a D3100 backup and Nikkor 50. We just came from a ballroom dance comp shoot. My travel partner has her D5500 with an 18-200 Tamron. I usually adhere to "the best camera is the one in your hand". Do have fun.

Welcome to the forum Maureen. Since you have experience with point and shoot and phone cameras you probably have favorite subjects already in mind. I have downloaded the manuals for my Nikons to my phone to keep them close. As others have stated practice shots and referring to the manual is the way to get comfortable with your new gear. I suspect that you have not thought about Nikon's RAW format yet. That is a whole other conversion. So you may want to stick with JPG for now. No rush, get to know your Z6ii. Shoot and shoot more. Use the screen, use the viewfinder. Find what works for you. Download Nikon's NXStudio to process and adjust you images. You have a professional level camera however the best camera is the one in your hand. We all know that. Have a blast.

I agree with single point focus. I shoot dancers in action. My friend was having issues with focus being off on a D5500 and after testing how it was set AF-C with multipoint and then changed to Single point it resolved up to 95% of the issues. The rest is of course SS. Since we shoot Zoom lens the f is usually above 5. We normally shoot manual a d RAW.

I had the opportunity to restore one for a friend a few months ago. Her Mom had passed away and I was presented with many old photos, slides & negatives. Always learning. Thanks for sharing.

I have tried scanning slides and found the it was better to reshoot the negative using a smart phone as a backlight. Then used AP(Affinity photo) to edit. However, kudos to all that have worked on the image.

When using NIK HDR I am working with a single image.

This has been an interesting to read. 90% of my images are dancers in action so bracketing is not even on my mind. Just getting the shot. I do shoot RAW as the conditions are low light and flash is a no go.
I have used NIK collection HDR efex at times to experiment and find that I have to be careful as it can push the image into the abstract area.
You given me food for thought as I have been reviewing some shots from 5 to 10 years back.

There is a plugin called G'MIC that I use that has over 500 filters that can do similar effects. It's free. https://gmic.eu/download.html. I used it 10 ago with GIMP. Now I use AP.