Print with out editing on semi gloss or hi gloss at your printers max resolution.
You will probably have to sharpen about 10 percent as the scan will be a little soft
You may be outside the color gamut. Check the colorspace.
The color is off because you didn'use their color profile.
Theoretically if the camera is isolated with 2-3 inches of foam it should OK. But what about the lenses? The only reasonably safe method is in your backpack. To test this, put about 20 aspirin in a bottle and ride around for about a week then check them for damage. I rode a HD in law enforcement for years and the only reasonably safe bike was a Kawasaki or the BMW.
Be careful. They usually want a fairly good number of images per month, and won't pay much. Lotta work.
Contact WD. They have a software tool to diagnose the drive and help recover files.
To understand white balance, it helps to remember what this was in film. Film only had two white balances, tungsten and daylight. If you wanted to shoot tungsten film outside or daylight film inside, you corrected with a specific color filter.
Enter the digital age, and now you have an infinite range of white balances. If you obtain a color meter, you can determine the color of light in the shade, open shade, bright sun and everything in between. The human eye can see all color ranges of visible light. If you shoot in RAW the chip will capture everything and then using selective masking, you can color correct shade, open sun etc. The question is "do you want to". So if you are shooting a red car at night and there is a red signal reflecting on the car, if you selectively mask the color of the signal could be made more red, by changing the color of the light. Do you want to?
The simplest way to understand it is compare the old wedding photographers. Wedding photographers almost always shot negative film. Outdoor and architect shooter use transparency (slide) film.
Negative film is grainy, BUT if your shot is over or under exposed by up 2 stops., you can still get a great print. Transparency film must within 1/2 stop; otherwise you lose the shot.
Shooting in RAW is like shooting with a negative. YOU can be off by up to 2.5 stops +-, and still get the shot
Obtain a MacBeth certified color chart. Take a picture of it in 5500 degree K light. the color chart comes with a grid that tells the RGB numerical values for each square. Load the picture you took into Photoshop and put your cursor on each grid and it will tell you the numerical values. Compare these to the chart that came with the color chart. That will tell you if the monitor or camera chip are off and by how much.
I have a SIGMA 50-500 that I loaned to a good friend. When it came back it would not auto-focus. Friend said it got "bumped". I think they meant it got dropped.
That is probably partially true, a lot of motherboards have some graphics capability. But if the motherboard has expansion slots available, especially graphics slots, you can still buy a card, and install it. Make sure you have room inside your computer for a new graphics card, and that things like the power supply and hard drives are not in the way. Also, a lot of graphics cards these days have a special power cord connection. Make sure your power supply supports it. The card will have connections for your monitor.
Epson Stylus Pro series. They are becoming less expensive. I think the 4000 series is a pretty good printer. The print heads in the 4000 series and up, are made more precise and have a finer resolution, and better color rendering. Each ink is separate, therefore more expensive, but a better result on a wide selection of papers.
Just went through this. Do a lot of research, depending on what airline you use, and don't just rely on websites, CALL, and things can change after you buy your ticket. So check again a week or so before you leave. After January 1, many airlines are changing the rules for carry on luggage, limiting it, in some cases trying to eliminate carry on luggage because it slows everyone down. Also, depending on time of year and where you are flying there may be a luggage embargo, limiting the number of bags period.
If you check your equipment, I put mine in a big Lowe Pro Super Treker camera backpack (two big bodies, 6 lenses, three strobes, light meter, color meter, various accessories batteries, etc., then put that into a large rigid plastic case like a NANUK, and secure it with two TSA approved locks to prevent theft. TSA locks are combination locks that have a key the TSA agent will have in case he needs to open the box. The locks are not very big, and you can buy them is most hardware stores. Make sure they say TSA approved. The combination of all this weighs just under 70 pounds, the max for 1st Class for American or Delta, or it will cost you more if you fly coach.