introducing myself

[Eric Matthes]

Hello everyone! I have been lurking and posting a little bit for the past month or so, and I thought I'd introduce myself a little more fully.
I began in photography when I was about 12 years old, living in New Hampshire. I took a lot of photos on a few camping trips, did some macro work for fun, and took a couple moon shots with my dad's 500mm lens, 2x converter, and 3x converter. Then I put down the camera for many years, except for a few pictures while I was traveling. I moved to Alaska last summer, and who can not pick up a camera in Alaska?! I started taking it more seriously, and this summer I invested in a Minolta DiMage scanner, and an Epson 1280. It still floors me to be able to print 13x19's in my home, that are sharper than the prints I used to get from a lab. I wrote my own website this summer, which will be up in the next two weeks or so.
I teach math and science at an alernative high school. I run, hike, bike, kayak, and do all kinds of other outdoor stuff.
I use Elements to clean up my photos for printing. I adjust the levels, saturate colors if necessary, and sharpen a little. I do no manipulation other than that. I am becoming much better at the work I do in Elements simply by reading the posts here. Thank you all for sharing your ideas and your time.
Eric

[Beth Haney]

Welcome Eric! And I love Alaska. We have at least one more regular who lives up there, and I think two.

I used to do the alternative school thing, too. Kudos to you!

[Mark Reibman]

Hi Eric,

Thanks for introducing yourself. When I first arrived at this forum about a year ago there was a "Who are We?' thread and several people here introduced themselves. You may be able to find it in the archive. It's great that you did just what others did then. Anyone else who has been lurking and posting recently should feel encouraged to do the same.

I do basically the same things with my photos that you mentioned. A little can go a long way in most cases. I'm always picking up new tips and tips for working on photos at this forum and others.

Do you have any of the 'curves' plug ins? You might find it useful.

[Eric Matthes]

Thank you both for the warm welcome. It's one of the things I like about this group, warmth and good technical advice! Mark, I don't have the curves plug ins yet. I'm going to wait until I can't do something without them, just like I'm using Elements until I can't do something that PS7 can. But from what I've read here, maybe I'll never upgrade!

[JodiFrye]

Hi Eric, sorry I didn't get here sooner. Welcome to the pack and hope you stick around. Alaska rocks !