Hi Lisa,
I too am a Hoosier and like you consider myself a self taught novice. I find sites like this and there are plenty of others on the Web, very helpful, but what gave me the most insight at one time in a more orderly fashion was reading books from my local library. Between the two I felt as though I was able to bring myself up to speed fairly quickly. And of course everything you read you should try and replicate with your own equipment, that helps make it all stick. Good Luck. dda53
P.S. Take these people's advice there is a lot of knowledge here for the asking.

Lisa,

Lisa,

Thanks for your advise and encouragement. I don't have the watercolor tool that you spoke about, but I'll look around on the Web to see if there might be a free download program that does have the feature. I found Picasa for free on the Web and it is very nice; for beginners especially. Thanks again from Indy. I'll also look at cropping the shot like you said. The pic was taken before I discovered the "rule of thirds"

dda53

Thanks for responding to my enquiry about your equipment. Your answers have cleared my confusion. I too am new to photography and consider myself a bit more of a novice than you having only been involved for about nine months. As you have suggested I have been studying on-line via "Digital Photography School" and "Secret of Digital Photography by David Peterson". Both have been very helpful. I have also read nearly everything on the self on the topic at the local Library. I have also posted several pics on the stock photo site called Can Stock.com, but with no sales to date. The camera was a birthday gift and I have been very satisfied and amazed with it's capabilities. The more I have learned the more I realize how little I know. But it sounds as if I am doing pretty much the same things as you suggested and based on what I have seen of your work, it makes me confident I'm on the right course. Thanks for everything, and I look forward to your future postings. Good Luck with the photography and so long from the Hoosier State.

Heron in my backyard (abstract and a early effort)

Yooper,
As I mentioned I love the shots you have posted and they are exactly the type of pics I would like to be able to produce, but I'm not there yet. I just started taking serious pics about a year ago with a birthday gift camera ( Canon SX30 IS) which is a "bridge camera". Not a true DSLR but not a 'point & shoot' either. It comes with a fixed telephoto lens 35x optical and 14.2M pixels. It has helped me learn a alot about digital pics. You mentioned that you were using a Canon HDR and that this type camera allows you to take these superb photos. Can you tell me a little more about your camera please?

Outstanding pics. You certainly have the "eye" and the "touch" for photography. But as fantastic as your techniques are, your subject matter is equally outstanding!