I think that is a wonderful idea. By the way I have seen some of your tutorials and they are great.
PhotoLiz

I think that is a wonderful idea and a good way to learn. By the way, I have looked at some of your tutorials and they are great.
PhotoLiz

Dria
I am just getting around to viewing Ugly Hedgehog for Sept. I have been on vacation. Your bride picture is beautiful. I hope you liked what I did to it. I used CS5 and made a selection of women to remove. I refined the selection edge and used the Gaussian blur filter and blurred her out. I also used the light effect filter to lighten face.
Lastly, I did a little sharpen with the Unsharp mask filter.
Pat

I hope you don't mind, I took a try at your wedding picture.
I used CS5. I made a selection of all skin areas and adjusted for underexposure. I then sharpened with the Unsharp Mask. Next, I applied the High Pass filter. I also applied a gradient to tone down the over exposed sky. After manipulating an image as much as I did this one, I don't what kind of print it will make. Pat

I am interesting in digital painting and have been taking on line courses from LVS Online. The courses are cheap in price, but loaded with information. I like portrait painting. I use Painter X. There is a learning curve, but it is a lot of fun to take one of your photos and paint over. Following is a digital painting that I did of my grand daughter.
Pat

This is my funny animal picture.

This is Pat. I stitched 7 photos using CS5. It is very easy to do with CS5. I used a canon lens -17-44 mmL and a fast shutter speed. I did some post processing in CS5: increased brightness and added curves.

My panarama of Columbia River in Oregon. Canon camera, shutter speed 1/500, ISO 800, focal length 40 mm, hand held, manual mode. Comments appreciated. Pat

This is my panarama of Columbia River in Oregon. I combined 7 images in CS5. Unable to print on my printer because of size. Wolfe Camera & Image also unable to print.
Canon camera: Shutter speed 1/500, F/16, ISO 800, Focal length 40 mm, hand held. Comments appreciated. Pat

Hello, I'm Pat. I have been trying to learn photography for two years, since I retired. I really enjoy Ugly Hedgehog and have learned a lot. This is my favorite animal picture and was taken at a petting zoo.
Sutter speed 1/30, F/4, ISO 1000, Focal Length 40mm, Lens 17-40, Canon camera. Comments appreciated.

I'm a new member and have been trying to learn photography for three years. I have three hummingbird pictures and would like comments. I took about 200 pictures over four sessions. I have a Canon camera and following are my final settings:
Tripod and flash, shutter speed 1/1500, f/5.6, ISO 2500, focal length 300mm, spot metering, manual focus.
Close crop in PS with minor adjustments.
Thanks, PhotoLiz

Mary, I liked both your pictures especially the colors. I have been trying to learn photography for three years and I am a member of a camera club. Many of the members have been taking pictures for 20 - 30 years. They all dislike images that are manipulated beyond minor adjustments in exposure, contrast, and sharpening. Maybe the judges had this belief.
Personally, I manipulated all my pictures. I have taken on-line course in PSCS3, PSCS4, PSCS5 and Corel Painter X at LVS Online and have learned a lot.
My advice is to keep on with your photography because your pictures are great. PhotoLiz

I enjoyed your hummingbird pictures. It is very hard to get a picture without the wings appearing blurred. I tried four days and 200 tries before I got these pictures. Following are my camera setting technique:
Tripod
camera flash (flash helps freeze wing motion)
Canon 5D Mark 11
Shutter priority, shutter speed 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 2500, focal length 300mm
I cropped in PS and no other adjustments. One picture was taking at 7:30 AM and is backlighted by sun and other pictures was taken at 6:30 PM.
PhotoLiz