Hey, Jerryc41, all I can tell you is that aging is a variable that depends on how well you're occupied. It's unavoidable, but can be tolerable, so "Growing old is no more than a bad habit that a busy person has no time to form!"

The Rebel series can't be beat for simplicity, performance and price. I've got two T2i's with kit lenses and they've served me well, including making very good 11x17 enlargements.

Moxie, that captive smile in the fourth pose is PRICELESS! The others are great also!

Kevin, you're a lucky guy to get a gull to pose for you so casually. Are all NJ Gulls that friendly, or is it that you have an irresistible avian attraction?

I'm using 123inkjets.com for my PRO-100 printer with satisfactory results at half the price of OEM.

Ha, the same camera and lens that I use, and yes the 15-85mm is a good all around lens. A good alternative I've found is shooting aperture and shutter on manual and ISO on automatic. That arrangement has given me good exposures in all kinds of lighting, indoors and out, including the 580 II flash, mounted on off the camera bracket with extender cord.

Extremely well done; did you use fill light and tell us what lens and settings you used.

Good capture, but it could be lightened slightly and given a smidgen of contrast, two very basic functions of PS and PSE.

Marvelous classic mil replica , unique and unequaled, beautifully photographed!

Yes, it does make a difference,paulrph1. In the case of auto focus, which occurs with the lens at max aperture, the lens with the larger f stop will focus quicker over a lens with a smaller aperture, which might not be able to focus at all in low light conditions. So, if you're shooting in low ambient light conditions and are using auto focus, that one f stop could make a difference in getting the picture.

Case in point, I use the ST-E2 controller, mounted in the 60D hot shoe, to fire as many as three Canon flashes, set on slave. They can be set off remotely with the camera's "Drive Mode" set on the 2 sec delay and triggered with the hand held RC-5.
As an alternative, instead of using the ST-E2, either the 580 or the 600 flash can be mounted in the hot and set on "Master" to trigger other canon flashes set on "Slave", also using the RC-5.

BobT, I have the same camera and flash as you have mentioned, and have used it on similar occasions quite successfully. I set the camera on Program, aperture on f5.6, ISO 400 or 800 and shutter on 1/60. The reason for the relatively slow shutter is to give some exposure to the surroundings so that the subject is not isolated. The one major difference is that I mount the flash on an "L" bracket off the camera and I use a diffuser on the flash. That combination avoids harsh, high contrast lighting, thus producing more natural skin tones without red eye. The use of flash in that environment is necessary if you want realistic, natural looking images.

Yeah, yeah, "Black Rapid" for dual and "Quick Strap" for single to take the load off the neck and single shoulder - the economical way to go!

Great shots; what did you use to get such clarity, natural color and definition?

I prefer odd numbers, which have more character than run- of-the-mill even numbers!