Just a note before we begin. I'm an artist, not a photographer. I will work on a picture, post processing it, until I'm happy with the image. It may not be 100% accurate from a photographic standpoint, but my goal is producing art, not photographs. That said, I still want a camera that will produce images that help me in achieving this goal. The Panasonic DMC-FZ150 is a terrific camera, and it comes the closest to my requirements of any camera I've ever owned.

I see the camera as a tool, much the same way that a writer sees a pencil or a word processor as a tool. Modern digital cameras can take some effort, practice, experimentation, and just playing before they stop acting as a barrier between you and what you see. With just a few tweaks, the FZ150 delivers a very high percentage of excellent images straight from the camera. But for most pictures, you can squeeze a little more out of them with some minor adjustments in almost any photo editing program.

Here's a sampling.

Some technical notes: The pictures were shot with my Panasonic DMC-FZ150, in JPEG "Fine" mode, and the magic was added with LightZone 3.

Stay tuned for more.