Hi grow happy,

Congratulations on your new camera! I also have a Nikon coolpix. I just love that camera! As you already know it takes excellent pictures. Those are fantastic pictures that you took in the conservatory. I really like the one of the opuntias.

The only problem with automatic cameras such as the Nikon coolpix is that the pictures can turn out rather dark if the subject is in front of a bright window. One picture in particular that I'm thinking of is the one of the appleblossom amaryllis. This is not criticism. I couldn't take that picture with my camera either without the amaryllis turning out dark. That is why I wanted to bring up the subject of picture editors. If you have something like Photoshop, you can do wonderful things to brighten up that picture. If you don't have Photoshop, there is a freeware out on the Internet called gimp that you can download. It is really a good program! I definitely recommend it.

I took the liberty of processing your picture through gimp and brightened it up a bit so that you can see what is possible. If I have your permission I could post it on this thread or I could send you a copy of what I did. Just let me know.

Again, I'm really thrilled that you have such a nice camera to play with! You are going to have so much fun with that camera!

Larry

Hey Larry,

I haven't seen you in a while, it's good to hear from you! Yes, by all means, please post your gussied up pic of the amaryllis! I can't wait to see it!

I've been playing around with some of those features tonight. Brightening dark pics, zooming in on ALL of them, sharpening others...e.t.c, with the Picture Project software that came with the camera. It's a great tool and I'm having fun learning all the techniques!

Thanks Larry,

GH

Congrats GrowHappy.

I love the feeling of having a new camera. It's been a while for me but I remember it fondly. Taking pictures of anything that stood still long enough and even those that didn't. You got some cool pics of some nice plants. I agree with Larry if you can shell out the money get Photoshop you don't even have to get the latest one you can get 7 and do so much. You'll go crazy with all the possibilities.

Hi GH and Mr. BT,

If you don't have access to Photoshop I would really in courage you to get gimp. It is part of the gnu project and is really a good substitute for Photoshop. It has brightness/contrast along with curves and levels. I used it exclusively for working on this picture. Anyway, here is what I did:

Before:

{{gwi:63635}}

After:

{{gwi:63637}}

Hi Larry,

Pretty good job with it. And if anyone reading this gets GIMP look for the version that was recently hacked to look like Photoshop 7. I found GIMPS interface to be kinda confusing until they made it look like PS7.

Hi GH! Congratulations! Nice work on the photos, and thanks for sharing them with us. That was a fun tour!