[saracenandy]

first pic, and the only one left on my pc hard drive - all the others have been transferred to an external drive to free up space - still, hope you like it

[Rob Barron]

Wow, Sandy in Bedfordshire, that brings back long memories! Used to go down to the RSPB sanctuary there three decades ago!

Sorry, I'll get back to the picture! Well done for getting your first picture up and letting us see it. Although I'd like a little less foreground, I love the muted almost pastel effect that the lighting has given you here. It's a little bit flat, would be better if the FG was stronger to provide greater contrast, but still a very pleasant picture.

Good on you for getting your pics over onto an external. I went and bought a 320Gb external in a sale just before Christmas and am delighted with it. Anyway, welcome to Pixalo, great to see you and I hope we'll see a lot more in the future.

Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

What Rob said, except for the memories.

I would have liked to see just a tad more contrast, but you are on the right track.

Keep snapping, and welcome.

But watch out for Rob, he is at the outskirts of the bellcurve

Naw, I am kidding. Rob has perhaps the best comments on the site, is knowledgeable, erudite and takes pride in the art of photography. Listen to him and you shall learn.

skip

[stepheno]

As they said plus good on you for posting your first shot.....always the most nerve-wracking, I think. members will be able to give much better feedback if you can show your shots at an optimum size - this one is a bit small. Have a look at the Rules for Posting Images.

[Soupdragon]

I like it very much indeed and I am guessing the full size image is even more impressive.

[Rob Barron]

Originally Posted by skipper954

Naw, I am kidding. Rob has perhaps the best comments on the site, is knowledgeable, erudite and takes pride in the art of photography. Listen to him and you shall learn.

skip

Wow, I'm touched! Thanks Skip, the cheque is in the post

[jonnynation]

Love the subject!

I must say though, with reference to an external hard drive, get another to go with your current one and also copy to CD or DVD! I know this sounds over the top, however, I work in IT and I have seen many a hard drive crash and die for no reason!

In fact, just the other month, I went out and bought a Western Digital external hard drive and copied all of my pictures to it. I then put in in a safe, dustless place until I next needed it. Two months later, I plugged it in and 'lo and behold...the beggar did not work! @ all! I took it back from whence it came, but they said they had to send it to Western Digital, not being able to get it going themselves. Turns out it was completely dead! Luckliy, I had not deleted the pictures on my laptop! So, I have replaced the original external drive with a passport size external drive. It is BRILLIANT and very easy to carry around. I am saving for a second to keep in the back of a drawer upstairs as back up to this drive and my laptop! Believe me...after so long in IT I have seen many, MANY drives die for no apparent reason.

Finally, copy everything to CD or DVD. If you then tuck them away, you are guarenteed safe back ups! However, I have found th@ CD's lose their 'integrity' after about three years, even if only stored with images or music on them, so redo them after a few years!

Yes, I know this all sounds very extreme, but the day you lose your pictures, you'll be kicking yourself, big time!

Final word...the guys who sold me the hard drives told me they may be able to retrieve the data on the original, external hard drive, but @ £5 for every 5MB!!!!!!! OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!! So, back it up, guyz and galz! J

[skipper954]

I shall take what jonny said a step farther. If you shoot RAW, after you download them and before you touch them for processing, back up to a different hard drive and a dvd. Then you have 3 copies.

Then do the same thing with post processed psd's or jpegs.

It is a pain to be sure, but your hard drives WILL fail. Hopefully not all at the same time.

skip

[P-E]

Very nice first shot

[RichW]

Great to see your first shot, here's to many more

Oh and another IT guy here -- back up, back up, back up and oh yeah BACK UP!