Good luck in whatever is next, Danny. You will certainly be missed here. I, too, hope you will continue to post.

Wow, so many great photos in this week's selections. I'm honored to be included. Congratulations to everyone.

Dennis

Here's an interesting no-nonsense article from Shutterfreaks.com.
http://www.shutterfreaks.com/Tips/FileFormats.html

Personally, I think raw gives me more flexibility, and it's worth the extra time it takes to upload and process. YMMV

Dennis

I use a tripod for almost all of my shots, Sue. For my waterfalls it's essential, especially since they're typically shot in portrait mode, which makes a beanbag or a monopod virtually useless. Because I spend so much time hiking, I got a Gitzo Traveller, which is both light and small. It folds up to 15.4" (39 cm) and weighs only 2 lbs (0.9 kg), not much more than a bottle of water.

And of course I agree with everything Danny says, especially the last paragraph. The heavier your equipment, the harder it is to handhold, and vice versa.

Dennis

I organize by place, then time, as in

Columbia Gorge
    Multnomah Falls
         07-05-01
             PSD (For anything that gets postworked)
    Wahkeenah Falls
        07-06-05

The photo drive is 500 GB and mirrored and backed up.

If I'm looking for a photo on the drive, I'll be asking myself "where is that shot of Multnomah Falls" not "where is the shot I took on July 1 of this year" so this system works for me. Organize your stuff in the way that will make it easiest for you to find it.

I'm 100% digital, i.e. I don't have a film camera any more.

It looks like you've already gotten lots of good technical advice. Let me just add that my system is very close to what you have. I had 1 GB of RAM, and a while ago I added two more. Believe me, it made a world of difference in PhotoShop. Also, because there is now so much less swapping to disk, my disk will last longer, too.

Go for it.
Dennis

I put my waterfalls in either Landscape or Scenic. I'd love to see a Waterfalls genre, but I know it's too specific. They would mostly fit in a Rivers genre.

Hi, Maria,

I have the 24-105 L and I love it. Before I got it I was using a Canon 28-200, and I was disappointed with how soft it was. The difference between it and the L is like night and day.

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/ has very good reviews and lots of info about Canon lenses.

Dennis

Alex,

I Googled "photography glossary" and found this, among other sites:

http://www.nikonians.org/glossary.html

Since you're looking at a VR lens, I thought a Nikon site would be useful for you.

Dennis

Let me just add one more detail. Be sure to meter on the water itself. It's easy to slow down the shutter speed by pointing the camera at a dark part of the scene, but if you do that the waterfall will be way overexposed. Been there, done that. :-)

Good luck; I'll be looking forward to the results.

My avatar is me, doing what I do. It was taken at a local garden.

As far as the username, I've been Cosine since Trigonometry class in ninth or tenth grade of high school. I think Trig is still my favorite math subject.

Not me. Intel has a major presence there, and I haven't even looked.

Dennis

Thanks to Ilona and all of the staff for such a great job putting this together. I'm honored to have one of mine among such a superb group of photos.  Congratulations to all who were selected this week.