Mary Ann's Photo Gallery and Tips

Gene teased me about never getting past page 38 in my Canon Manual.  Well, I decided when I got my new Nikon D5000 that I wasn't going to let that be the case.  In the 1st few days the complete manual was covered and highlighted in yellow.  Proof that I had made it all the way through.  Did I understand it all....of course not but I must admit Nikon has a better way of designing their manual. Each area starts at the beginning so you can easily see the steps in walking thro...

On September 1, I ordered a new Camera from B & H Photos in New York.  It is my favorite camera store.  The over the phone service is outstanding.  Thier representatives are extremely knowledgeable and the prices are very competitive if not better than most. 

I ordered a Nikon D5000.  After being a Canon user since the early 70's I thought as if I was being a traitor.  Canon was one of the few that did not come out with a flip out LCD on th...

Thanks Edna for the Blog Award...my 1st!

I'm not sure how to post this so will set it here for now.

I suppose I better come up with a great tip for all you Photoshop users.  Today I went out and shot my 1st HDR so maybe it sh...

Somewhere along the line I lost hundreds of photos.  After I installed the new version of Lightroom 2, I decided to use it for the photos that I wanted to keep only. These were mostly for my entries in the La Crosse Camera Club or because they were good family, nature, and a...

I like everyone else loves a shortcut but thought it would be difficult to create an action.  Actually with clear cut language and descriptions I hope you will see creating an action is in fact very easy and you will find yourself making them for many of the photo manipulations that you do often.  Some of these may be lik...

Last Sunday was the closure of the La Crosse Interstate Fair.  It is our local county fair which has an open class of photography for anyone to enter.  There were about 70 different categories divided between color and black and white.  Most of the prints had to be in the small 4 by 6 inches with a few categories could only be 5 by 7 inch sizing.  This is done to keep the cost of printing to a minimum and with over 900 entries they only had ...

For years I have tried to take some photos of the Fireworks.  I never was successful.  This year between some guidence from a friend and photographer, Roger Plesha and my new 50 mm f1.4 lens I had plenty of wonderful shots to choose from.

What a beautiful evening to be out on the river.  Ryan archored the boat right at the mouth of the Black River where it joins the La Crosse and mighty Mississippi River.  Riverfest was going on throughout Riverside Park ...

Last week we had the privilege of visiting with Maureen in Kansas City as she was there as a adviser teacher of SKILLS, USA for her students from Foothills High School in Henderson, NV.  W...

I never thought of using Camera Raw to straighten a photo but it is very easy.  This tip came from NAPP the National Association of Photoshop Professionals:

Quickly Straighten Images in Camera Raw

While Camera Raw can do amazing things with the WhiteBalance menu, Exposure sliders, and other adjustments to get the best out ofyour images, there's one tool I use all the time: the Straighten tool. Justclick on the Straighten tool at the top of the window (or press A,...