Here are a few of my photos and I live in very rural Mississippi and every photo here I took in and around my yard, wooded property and garden.

Great to hear from everyone and your views on the subject and the many different and varied approaches to post processing. For several years I really did enjoy editing very much and will again but the computer hard drive crash was a learning experience and thankfully I was organized and did back-up regularly so when I bought a new one, I was able to recover everything. Then, I worked on the broken one and was able to wipe it clean and then I had to re-install every program, etc. that I was using and get new codes and license numbers for some.. But, it works good as new now. Thanks guys.

No kidding. With all the downloads, updates, bugs and crashes from Adobe LR and PS and similar problems with other editing programs, plug-ins, presets, etc., that was created or compounded with a computer hard drive crash and all the hassles of dealing with that, I now just almost completely and totally despise having to do any editing at all. I used to really enjoy it and will again soon, I hope, but I am just completely fried, right now. Does anyone else feel this way or do most of you still enjoy editing photos? I am now tremendously motivated more than ever on "getting it right" in the camera. So, editing burn-out may just actually help me to become a better photographer as I now am much more focused on my camera and the fundamentals of photography, composition, lighting, techniques, etc.. I think I had fallen into the "too much darn software" trap! I would love to hear from anyone else that may also feel this way or just what your opinion is on this topic. And, this is just my hobby!

Thanks guys, Oh yeah, Even though it was a beautiful and colorful fall day I intentionally over-saturated it while I was just playing around with different edit versions, software, etc.. It's really way over done but that was what I was trying to do. I get bored easily while editing photos!

Boat house at hunt club lake

Thank you for your input because I thought most of my photos are usually much darker than most other peoples photos so I guess I either just prefer them darker or I need to have my eyes or computer checked. Yes, I know what you mean about most of the MLS listed photos and a lot of photographers can't get it right anyway but I really like the technique done properly and applied to a large Cathedral or some other unique form of architecture. Good luck with your house hunting and hope you find just what you want!

Actually, my shots mostly aren't just blown completely out as bad as I describe them probably but I have somewhat struggled with what I think is rather overexposed shots since I bought my first Nikon D60 about 5 years ago, then a D90 and now a D7100. I usually set shutter speed the same as lens range or higher for birding and now I do tend to shot a little underexposed as a means to correct the much brighter shots that I was getting and use exposure compensation if shooting in the harsh bright midday sun. Yes, I have used bracketing some recently and am just now learning HDR with NIK HDR Pro and Photomatix 5 but my background is real estate investing and architecture so I was instantly interested in learning Exposure blending and Fusion blending, or whichever it's called because of the incredible results when shooting architecture and real estate photography and interiors also. Like you, I like the heavier HDR techniques when applied to old or historic abandoned properties or an old rusty tractor and have fun with it but for real estate photography I want to get the Enfuse plugin and already have tried the merge to 32 bit plug in but I haven't quite mastered either just yet as I only just started about a month ago. I did learn to read and view my histogram, usually after each shot, so I could get better at exposure and have read several articles about ETTR but it just seemed rather confusing because I knew you could not salvage much once the photo was blown out. Maybe I just like the look of a darker photo for whatever reason?? You have been a tremendous help and have convinced me to continue to learn more about ETTR as I continue to improve my photography skills and I just might figure it out one day.

Do these shots look to dark or underexposed?

Thank you very much

well said Jerry!

yep, that's an easy way too! But this is usually actually moving your photos and storing them on an external hard drive to free up space on your computer. It is now very popular because now you can also store your lightroom catalog on your external too and carry it with you.

Thank you for this info. because I usually do think that my shot is blown out because of the way it looks in camera and so I could never continue to use and learn this. I do shoot raw and I do still have a lot of blown out highlights while editing in lightroom, especially my skies. I have a Nikon D90 and now a Nikon D7100 that is my primary camera but I almost always have my 70-300 mm lens on while hiking and shooting birds, butterflies and such, so I use BBF, AF-c and spot metering settings that I rarely change. So, I shoot manual with shutter setting of at least 320 for the lens, lowest ISO I can use which usually means that I always shoot with the lens wide open for close ups and this usually creates wonderful Bokeh at times and I also need the longer lens because I am usually shooting at birds, deer and other wildlife. So, do you think that with the aperture always wide open, when I do compose a landscape shot, this could be a factor with my blown out shots? With this shutter speed and low ISO, I usually have to shoot with my aperture wide open to capture enough light and a 70-300 is not the ideal lens for landscapes. I also have the 18-200 lens which would be better, I suppose, but for my shots, I need the longer range so I rarely use it. Thanks again for sharing your experience and valuable knowledge..

Yes, I read that and it is great that you reminded me.

Yes, that's what I read and they suggested to send it to Nikon anyway if one is not very good with certain technology. I am sure I can install without any problem, I hope, it's just that I have never downloaded any info. onto a memory card, only flash drives and such. Thanks again.

I picked up photography after every last one of my various hobbies and interest that I used to enjoy became more than I could do. Gardening, sports, weight lifting, etc.. Photography was the only thing I could tolerate and it took over my body and soul, consuming me to all I wanted to do was to learn, improve and go out shooting everyday with complete excitement and joy to have decided one day, on a whim, to buy a used camera. I enjoy the editing software as well and how much there is to learn. My only and greatest complaint and challenge is that I fell in love with such a darn expensive hobby! Take care.

Thank you very much!