Asa, you are absolutely correct. The way folks were talking about .RAW it seemed as if it was the holy grail we all should seek for. Perhaps it is for some people who will buy a camera that will shoot .RAW for them, but I think even if our budget could allow that, we wouldn't do it.
I also have a small sideline of note cards that we sell to monastery guests: I use pictures I've taken of the plants and flowers as well as the animals here at the monastery with the message from Psalm 104 : "How manifold are Your works, O Lord! In wisdom have you made them all!" And for that, I want the best photos I can take and the best printing from them our printer will give (we invested in a commercial printer awhile back and it has allowed us to produce our own books, as well as giving me the inspiration for these note cards. I do have to play with the photos to get them to print out looking at all like the original, however...).
And every year we try to exhibit the best we can, including framed photography, at the local County Fair as a way of being part of the local neighborhood. Cooperstown is our county seat and with 2 colleges in nearby Oneonta there is a surprising amount of "arts and crafts" competition... I've managed to bag some ribbons without knowing a whole lot about how to use our cameras; just taking pictures of what I like...
So now I'm tempted to see if I can't do better. Since I've just joined flickr maybe I'll look into their options for printing photos.
All the best that photoshop, printers and presses can, we do still need good images to start with! So I am going to be working at both ends of this. I'm truly grateful for the feedback!
MR
