I'm planning on a trip where I hope I will see some bears and other large wildlife. I'm not anxious to get near these animals and wonder what lens I would need to get a decent shot. I have a Tamron 18-270mm lens and know that I can use that, but the image would be pretty small since I don't plan on getting that close. Do you think that in PP I can create a quality larger image, or is a longer lens going to be the solution? If so, what lens would you recommend, keeping in mind that my budget is not unlimited. Thanks for your help.

I went to your website and have to say....OMG the B&W of the bird with the reflection is so very beautiful!!

Is Smugmug reasonably priced? Why do you prefer it over GoDaddy? Can people purchase through Smugmug using Paypal?

Hi there. I am a novice and from over the years i have around 10,000 existing photos all loaded on a mac book pro and i would like to start organizing them and printing some too. the mac book pro where i initially copy the photos. this is where all 10K photos live. occasionally i back them up on a WD portable usb 2.0 drive. my questions are as follows:

1. if i want to have ample space on an external drive does any one have any rule of thumb to suggest what i buy?

2. when i owned a windows computer, i bought adobe elements 7 which i found to be very difficult to do basic stuff on. recently a friend suggestion lightroom as a way to organize and do basic stuff that would have better organizing and editing than i currently have on my mac book pro. Can anyone comment on this or any other photo management software?

fyi, i own a Nikon D90 and shoot my kid's sports, landscapes and anything else just for fun.

i am sure i left some information out above that might help you with giving me advice.

Thank you in advance for any advice or feedback.

Arnold, I would have to agree with English Wolf on most items. That said, to me the focus does not look completely sharp, could just be the small size posted here. As for the sky, when we view a bird positioned like this, against the sky, we see only the bird as our focal point - the sky is secondary. Your image with the blue sky and clouds have the clouds in focus and competing with the bird for our attention. Using a 500mm lens would not produce clouds that sharp in the background. If possible try using a blur filter on the sky image in photoshop before merging.

It's possible that people don't like the blue sky because the bird is sitting there in space with too much sky. The lack of any other object in the photo to create perspective and size in the mind makes the combination almost unrealistic.

Personally I like the sky version and agree with your preference. Since you can insert a sky that well you might consider adding some foliage of a tree, maybe as a natural frame up the left side, or under/behind the lower portion of the bird and up the left side a bit, to make it not be so stark and alone in the clouds.

Just a 2 cent opinion... Nice shot, by the way.

Since you have no qualms about adding things to your photos try adding a couple of catch lights to the eyes, that will bring them to life, instead of two black holes in its head. Great PP work I do like what you did.