Borrow or rent the correct lens. With your lens extended you're probably at f5.6, so either your shutter speed will not be fast enough or your iso will be too high for a grainless image. I wouldn't use anything less than a 70-200 f2.8. Stun them with a quality shot that they can't do with their Costco Kit. Maybe you'll fall in love with this great telephoto lens and fork out the money to own it yourself.

2 examples of how people look at stuff when you have money and like me, you don't. A neighbor bought a new Masserati Quatroporte and every day I would go by and drool at it. He parked it outside under the oak trees in his yard for the oak to drip on and the birds to crap on. I could not understand his lack of caring for this beautiful machine. I thought to myself that if this were my car, it would always be parked under cover and wrapped in a soft blanket. Another instance, I remember seeing a Nikon D3, when it had just come out, sitting in the back window of a BMW or some such car in the heat of the day. I considered breaking a window and rescuing this wonderful camera, alas I did not, poor thing. There is no IQ test to have money.

Is there anything that could possibly take your eye away of what I want my viewer to look at? For instance, some people have said to me, 'I love that shot, the red is great'. At that point I consider taking out the red! No one element should override the entire image.

Here's the deal. I love MWACs image photo! Every time I see it, it makes me smile. Gaped teeth and all. And in that lack of "perfection" it is perfect. I believe that as the artist you have to just look at what you are doing and decide if adding or taking something away will help the viewer to see what you are saying with the photo. There are no rules, as artists, do what you want and you decide if it works.

Will any of these devices read/display RAW files?

Have you had your lens focus fine tuned to your camera? This is not a common thing to do for most non pro photographers because they do not use a lens with as narrow a focus field (DoF) as the 50 1.4. This is relatively easy to do, take it to the camera store where you bought the lens/camera and they will do it for you. Otherwise you can buy a tool to do it yourself or pay to have it done. Once you do this you may find that all of your lens' have been slightly our of perfect and you'll adjust them all.

You're correct I used PC's for 20 years but gave up on them probably 5 years ago. Just wish Apple would get this slave labor @@#% figured out before I buy the next one.

I've had both PC and Mac and there is no comparison. Apple all the way. But if you are doing photo processing, a desk top MAC with a large screen is also necessary, as even the Macbook pro doesn't compare.

This is a topic that I could talk for a long time,here are a few thoughts, if the subject is a portrait I want the background to go away. The worst comment would be 'I loved your picture the sunset was beautiful' or look at that blue, but what about the girl!? Make the background simple or even blank. Make the viewer look at the person by getting rid of distractions.

Use Aperture priority and set your aperture wide open. A portrait lens usually has a very fast f/stop such as f1.8 or better giving a very narrow DoF blurring the background.Like your portrait with the forest in the background only more so.

A dark background, or deep shadow will make the background be a frame not a subject.

She's a very pretty girl that you capture well, but I find all your backgrounds distract from what you want to achieve.

She's a very pretty girl that you capture well, but I find all your backgrounds distract from what you want to achieve.

We all love to talk equipment! Not being sarcastic it's who we are! I loved my old D70. Great camera but with the leaps that have come in the industry, it is antique. If you are comfortable with basic Nikon parlance stay with Nikon. If you have more than one lens, you might want to stay with Nikon.

If you don't shoot RAW ever (mistake but I understand) the new iPhone might be a choice! (again not being sarcastic I'm being a realist) I once had a $25 pawnshop Argus camera that was wonderful. The reasoning here is that the best camera is the one you have with you. The learning curve on many of the new higher end DSLR's assumes you have understandings that go far beyond basic photography. The earlier suggestions were good, I would suggest buying from a real camera shop so you have someone to ask questions. That's is worth the extra bucks you will spend.

Most say a slight telephoto is the perfect portrait lens because of facial distortion caused by a wide angle, but this depends on what you are trying to do in your photo. I like a wide angle, fast lens, so my primary lens is a 17-50 f2.8. This lens allows me to bring in more of the scene into the image and yet have a tight shot. The lens is also fast at f2.8 which will allow a very narrow DOF, a critical quality in a portrait lens.

I love some photos taken with HDR, I love some taken in B&W, some with film, some with digital, with infrared etc. who cares, the point is do you like the result? I could just as easily say the opposite.
I do like photocat's HDR interior shot, in my mind you are doing something that HDR can do well.

Merle and RJN great info and tips. Anyway that Canon would do a firmware update with enough lobbying?

This has been very helpful. I'm excited to get into the field and try this out.