Another weekend has passed and again, I didn't get any new pictures shot. Well, I didn't shoot any that I will end up using (except maybe one or two unremarkable shots). What a bummer. But, I had some household things I had to take care of. Here's some thoughts about what I did get done relating to photography...
Post Processing
I think I've about got all of my current pictures (from the last 9 months or so) posted on my online gallery (http://www.RandyMorter.com/photos) that I intend to post. There may be a few more stragglers, but I finally got my shots from Willcox, Arizona posted, and I think that those were about the last of them.
As I processed them, I noticed a few things. 1) I had processed a number of them before and they seemed to take a lot longer the first time I did them. And, now I use fewer adjustments in Nikon CaptureNX 2 than before. 2) I'm dismayed that Nikon is dumping CaptureNX 2 in favor of a watered down post processing software package. 3) I've posted over 400 pictures to my gallery. 4) My right shoulder starts aching after processing only a few pictures.
Don't use Scotch Brite on Plexi-glass
I thought I'd try taking some pictures of the fish in our fish tank. I wanted to ensure it was clean so I used a Scotch Brite pad on it. It scratched the surface of the tank and wifey isn't happy about it. The scratches don't lend themselves to good pictures either.
Extension Tubes
Even though the fish pictures didn't turn out, they were aided by the use of my extension tubes. This was only the second time I'd used them. I need to use them more; they open up a new world and if I'm not getting out of the house at least I could try using the extension tubes to get some different perspective on things.
I've been sick this past week. I got a virus from somewhere, something that my doctor said has been making the rounds. It starts in the upper respiratory system then progresses downward. By the time it got downward I was dehydrated and had to visit the emergency room for re-hydration. After 3 liters of liquids, along with other tests, it only took a couple more days to start feeling good again. Consequently, one more weekend has gone by without any new pictures being taken. And, to rip of a common phrase, those pictures aren't going to take themselves!
Today, Mother's Day, was a slow day. Wifey didn't want to do anything, not even to ride her horse. I was feeling somewhat better, but not yet good enough to go to a park. I need to make sure I can get to my J.O.B. tomorrow (otherwise I may not be able to afford a new camera in a couple of months). So, I decided to at least try to post
process and upload some more existing pictures to my online gallery.
I've been wanting to see if I could get some of my pictures from last summer worked to the point where I didn't mind posting them. I did my best.
Last summer on my "Birthday Driveabout" I visited northern Arizona and got some decent shots, or so I thought. Looking at them now, I'm not as happy.
That was the trip that got me interested in getting a good camera, which in turn led me to this blog. The pictures that I took then were all JPEG format, the only format the camera would take. And, they were all automatic exposures (not the camera's fault, but it isn't fully manual anyway).
I really have grown to see the difference between shooting JPEG vs. RAW. Not to mention, my Nikon's better overall image quality. While I don't mind my compositions from that trip, composition doesn't mean much if the end results are like they're drawn with big but inconsistent colored color crayons.
On the other hand, one other purpose that I have for taking photographs is to be able to prompt memories of the locations or trips I take. Looking at my pictures from that trip definitely makes me remember the trip. It was the first time I'd left Phoenix for years (due to trying to get a band going and then trying to record some songs). I was on the road with my companion Elmer, seeing places I hadn't seen before.
It was my birthday and I'd taken a bottle of Chivas Regal and some Padron Series 4000 Maduro wrapped Robustos. I hadn't smoked for almost 10 years; hadn't drank alcohol for a couple of years. I opened the bottle and had a cigar one night, and found I didn't care for either. I chatted with new people at the motels, but since they were Motel 6 (where I know they'll take pets), the people didn't end up becoming facebook friends. Elmer and I shared junk food like Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and Burger King. I wanted the road to keep going, didn't want my little trip to end.
When I re-discovered my pics of Elmer, he really brought home my memories, brought a smile to my face, and brought a warmth to my heart. I really am glad I took those pictures, regardless of what format they are!
Keeping it Local
I didn't end up getting out of town this weekend. But, yesterday I did get up at 3 AM to go shoot some kind of pictures, and of course, my photography dog Elmer went with me.
I first thought of the Arizona Cardinals stadium, named "University of Phoenix Stadium" (UoP). It's a large building and in its short existence has become an easy to spot landmark along the Loop 101 that runs through Glendale, AZ. I notice it on my way to Cabela's which is near the UoP Stadium.
It's an interesting structure - not box shaped at all. It seems like it should yield some interesting photos of the curves, material, size, or something. I was hoping that it would give them up in the early morning.
On the way, I stopped and got a coffee from a gas station mart. I can't drink it right away due to the temperature so I put it in the cup holder in my Explorer.
Tail Lights
Instead of going right to the stadium, I decided to try a shot I've been wanting to try for some time - a long exposure of moving cars from an overpass above I-10. This particular overpass does not run all the way through - it provides an exit from, and entrance to, the H.O.V. lanes of I-10. And, it has area to park and take a picture from.
I'd never done it from there because my cheap tripod didn't have the feature required - an extension arm. The overpass is lined with chain link fence and I needed a way to get the camera close to the fence, suspended over the thick concrete wall, to allow me to point the lens through an opening in the fence. The Manfrotto 055XPROB works great for this with its center column in the horizontal position. I did find that I wish that I still had some way to more easily adjust the column vertically. Once the center column is in the horizontal position you have to adjust the tripod legs to change the vertical height and it was necessary to futz around a bit before the lens was centered on an opening in the fence.
Once the camera was positioned, the rest was pretty easy. I set the aperture to f/25. I just wanted to make sure I got sharpness from front to end. I didn't change it for any of the pictures I took; I'll go back sometime and try with a bit larger aperture like f/18 or so. I kept the ISO at 100 as usual, and by shooting the exposure at the sky, got a time of 30 seconds. No problem. Using my infrared remote, I let her fly.
While the camera was working, I went back to the Explorer and had a sip of coffee. The cup was leaking and it was hot on my little fingers. I had another empty cup in the car (that I keep for sunflower seed shells) so I put the coffee cup inside of it and went back to the camera.
I took about 6 shots total and decided to leave. They weren't turning out great - not because of the camera, but because at about 3:30 AM on Saturday there just wasn't much traffic. I'd envisioned a lot more tail lights in the picture.
University of Phoenix Stadium
I headed up the UoP and found a place to park. The large parking lots were actually gated - preventing me from getting any kind of distant shot unless I walked out there. I decided to shoot the main entrance where there is a large, illuminated Cardinal logo. I discovered that there were no easy or good shots for it. The trees around the main entrance had grown enough that any distant shots would have the logo obscured. It would likely have been poor from the far end of the parking lot too, since they are all on level ground.
And, there was an awning set up in front of the logo so taking the shot from ground level also wasn't great. I took a few shots anyway but it ended up being a waste of time. At least, I couldn't find any shots I thought were interesting.
I got back in the Explorer and took a sip of coffee. The coffee had leaked out inside the other cut and it made a nice large and hot spill on the front of my Cabela's shirt! That, along with the waste of time at the stadium, made me grumpy a bit.
Encanto Park
So, I decided to head to Encanto Park in the middle of Phoenix. I'd never stopped there before but I had driven by it. By the time we got there my shirt was fairly dry.
The park was wonderful. It was still nice and cool (I didn't look, but it was probably in the 70's which is great for Phoenix). I got my camera bag, tripod, and Elmer, and found the man-made lake. We got there about 5:00 AM or so, when it was still pretty dark, and there were people already there fishing or preparing to fish. My kind of folk!
I was able to get some pictures before the sun broke over the horizon, and really liked them. The park lights were still on and they ended up as a star-burst in the picture and I like it. There are a good number of bridges in the park, and they all appear to be unique. I shot pics of a few of them but now I know I have to go back. I left because even at maybe 6:30 AM there were enough people in the park that it was hard to get shots without people.
I also got some pictures of the many ducks at the park. They're fairly tame and used to humans so you can get pretty close without scaring them off. I also want to go back to try my had at more of those shots.
Overall, I really liked the Encanto Park pictures, and it's close to home, making it easy to get back there. You can see more of my pics on my online gallery at:
http://www.RandyMorter.com/photos.
Some mathematics
I just got finished taking and editing some pictures of a couple of bouquets that my wife got for her birthday last week.
As I uploaded them from the camera to the PC, I noticed that I was on about picture 6,500. I also know I've reset the counter a couple of times (not intentionally, it just took me a few uploads to realize that the camera resets the counter at times, which I've now turned off). I'll bet I still haven't shot quite 7,000 pictures with the camera though.
So lets say I've shot 6,750. I got the camera at the end of August, which was 8 months ago. That's less than 1,000 pictures taken per month. In fact, it's about 843 pictures per month.
I wonder how that compares to other people?
I also have posted around 270 "finished" pictures to my gallery (it's uploading my new pics right now so I don't know the exact number). I think I have more to go. So let's say I may have 300 pictures that I consider good.
That would be 300 out of 6,750 pictures taken, for a ratio of about 4%. I was hoping I was getting closer to 10%!
And, if you grant me 300 pictures that I think are good, and note that I've spent roughly $3,000 on my camera gear, that means each "good" picture cost about $10.
I don't know if they're worth it on a per-picture basis, but I know that when I've gone through my pictures again I remember the places, the times of day, the peaceful feelings, having my dog with me, the drive to and from the location, etc. The older I get, the harder those memories are to relive on their own so for me the pictures are priceless!
Keep Evolving and Minimizing
I posted earlier that I've started using jAlbum software to host my pictures in an online picture gallery. You can see the gallery at:
http://www.RandyMorter.com/Photos
The new software has caused me to re-visit, and ultimately, re-edit a large number of my pictures that I had previously posted elsewhere such as Facebook and Flickr. I reached this decision for a few reasons, some pictures didn't have my watermark on them, some pictures appeared to be sharpened too much, some I just wanted to crop or fix some other things in them such as stray branches from a bush.
If you look at my gallery, one of the groups of photos that I spent some time on are the Wildlife > Out of Africa pictures. Out of the 44 images currently posted (I've got more to do for this folder), there may have been 4 or 5 that I didn't re-edit.
I actually enjoyed re-editing them, and I believe they look better than the original versions I posted. I found that my tastes now are to do as little as possible to the image, and to let the image speak for itself more. Sure, I'll bump up the contrast, saturation, and sharpness, but not nearly to the point I was before. I want the picture to pop as much as possible but not at the expense of adding noise or jagged edges or "pixilation".
For my new post processing, I was able to do all of my editing in Nikon CaptureNX 2 - and didn't use Adobe Photoshop at all. Photoshop is great for editing an individual photo, don't get me wrong. But, I don't always want to do a lot of intensive editing.
My typical work flow is probably not much different than anyone else uses, but if you haven't looked into it much, I'll describe how I worked on this last batch of images:
Prior to the actual editing I sort out the images. In my "librarian", Nikon ViewNX 2, I look through the images in a folder. If it's a new folder, that is, one that I've freshly uploaded from my camera, I go through all of the images and rank them. If the picture is one that I don't think I'll use at all, I don't give it a ranking. In ViewNX 2, I use the "stars" which go from 0 to 5. If I think the picture is okay, and one that I want to edit and publish, I usually give it a 3. If I think it's really good (good composure, good color saturation, good focus), I'll give it a 4 or 5.
The intent of this is to sort out the images that I want to process further, generally using Nikon CaptureNX 2. While I go through the images, I know that I can generally deal with the color, brightness, noise, etc., in CaptureNX 2 without any issues. What I can't always determine is whether a soft (out of focus) image can be sharpened enough. I often adjust the sharpness in ViewNX 2 to see if it is okay with a sharpness setting of 5 to 7 in ViewNX 2. If it still looks soft, I won't usually bother with it beyond that point.
Once I've gone through the folder and have the pictures ranked, ViewNX 2 (as well as other image library software) allows you to filter to only the pictures that have a certain ranking. Using that feature, I can hide the pictures I don't plan to do anything to, and see the ones that I do want to edit or publish. Then, I open each one in CaptureNX 2 for the post processing, including at a minimum, the JPEG conversion.
In Nikon CaptureNX 2, I generally do the following steps listed below, generally in the following order, because it makes the most sense. By straightening and cropping first, I don't waste time on any of the other edits in areas of the image that are no longer visible IF straightening or cropping are performed. Sharpening should almost always be performed as the final step (and I always do it as the final step). Beyond that, the work flow is basically following the options in the order presented in CaptureNX 2.
- Straightening - use this to make the image normalized - horizons or other items that should obviously be horizontal or vertical are adjusted as necessary to get them horizontal or vertical.
- Cropping - use this to enhance focus on the subject or eliminate distracting elements that aren't adding to the image composition. When cropping I look at what the remaining portion of the image is, often using the built in "rule of thirds" grid to guide my crop, and I also look at what will be removed from the picture to ensure it is really of limited value. Note that after doing this I start trying to do more of this in the camera - there's no sense wasting pixels on things you're going to throw away any more than it makes sense to only capture half of the desired picture.
- Spot removal - my little lens has spots in it that I have to remove in post processing (I need to have the lens repaired I think - my older pictures don't have the problem). But there are other times as well that I want to remove a spot. CaptureNX 2 has a great blemish removal tool. I use it for both camera/lens issues (dust spots) as well as some corrections to the image itself. For example, in some of my shots from the Out of Africa Wildlife park, I removed animal droppings. Yeah, they naturally occurred but that doesn't mean people want to see them!
- Image adjustments
- White Balance - I often try the software's automatic calculation to see if I like it better. Generally I shoot with the camera white balance set to "Auto" and since it was actually at the location when the picture was shot, it's usually the best. But sometimes the PC will calculate something a bit different and it may look better (or at least different).
- Picture Mode - this is the overall setting for contrast, saturation, brightness, etc., and includes multiple individual settings. In my Nikon D3200, I use the "Vivid" setting or an even more "Vivid" setting, and I've got a "Vivid-Randy" setting that I've adjusted in the CaptureNX 2 software. I have been accused of over-saturating my images. But I always use one of these. If the picture appears too exaggerated, or if it appears flat, I may try a different option for this setting but I generally don't change this.
- Noise Reduction - this is where I have issues. I have the noise reduction turned off in the camera, mainly because I've lost shots due to the noise reduction processing (specifically, this occurred while I was trying to shoot meteors in December, 2013). So, I need to usually use it in the PC with the CaptureNX 2 software. I tend to use the middle option in CaptureNX 2, the new version. I don't like the "Better 2013" noise reduction. I think it creates more mottled images than it corrects. The "Better" or middle option produces better results, IMO. I tend to use about 5-10 percent, with the sharpness at 5. Once I've adjusted it, though, I may need to come back to this after sharpening is applied. I think that sharpening and noise reduction often have to be worked together to get the best combination of both.
- Level adjustments (called "Quick Fix" in CaptureNX 2) - this is where you can set the color / level curves, limits, contrast, highlight and shadow enhancement, etc. I generally bump the contrast to 10, the saturation might get another bit of a bump like from 3 to 8 or so. Then I adjust both the highlight and shadow enhancements to taste. Highlight enhancement will attempt to regain detail in the bright areas of an image, generally causing them to appear darker and hopefully have some more detail (like being able to see more contour in clouds). Shadow enhancement does the same thing for the dark areas, attempting to show more detail in the shadows resulting in an overall brightening of them. I don't want to loose all of the difference between the light and dark areas compared to the mid-light areas though so this is something that needs to be done on an image by image basis.
- Light Control - I've started using the "Auto Levels" function a lot. On the one hand I'd like to think that I'm in control of all aspects of my image processing and this seems like cheating. On the other hand, Nikon has more experience than I do in picture processing (shocker!) and brightness IS something that can be calculated. I very often like how this setting enhances my pictures without me having to do much. There are some times that it's too much, however, and it ends up blowing out the whites. In these cases, if there are some areas that I do like, I will use a mask to only apply the changes to part of the picture. If I want the effect applied to the entire picture, but just less of it, I can adjust the opacity of the adjustment to blend it as desired.
- Additional localized level control - if I still want an area to be lighter or darker I may apply another light control using a mask to only apply it to a small area of the image. Since one control is either lightening or darkening, if I need both I'll either use "D-Lighting" or separate brightening and darkening adjustments.
- Sharpening - I use the CaptureNX 2 Unsharp Mask function to apply sharpening. Generally I'll start with 20% sharpening, 5% radius, and 1 pixel threshold. I find this to be a pleasing setting to my eyes and not usually overdone. But, I also will bump the sharpening up higher depending on the picture and I find I can usually go up to 50% or higher. In these cases I usually need to go back and forth between the Unsharp Mask settings and the noise reduction.
I save the edits as a .NEF (raw format) and then as a full size .JPEG in my "Publish" folder, as I described in an earlier post. Then I use Adobe Lightroom to batch edit them by superimposing my logo and exporting them to a new "FullSize" folder.
And that's about all I tried to do with this re-editing batch..
The Good
I have read about how other people organize their folder structure when dealing with their photos, and I've incorporated various ideas and have had a good structure, in my opinion, as an initial stab.
I use Nikon ViewNX2 and its Transfer software to import and manage my folders. I also have Adobe Bridge and Adobe Elements 12, but I prefer the Nikon software. It will read from the storage device (I actually pull the card(s) out of the camera and insert them into SD card readers built directly into my Windows 7 PC) and will copy to two folders with the one process. I copy to my internal hard drive for my working copy as well as to an external USB hard drive for a back up. At the same time, the software will re-name and re-number the files (using something more useful like "CaveSpring_20140410_001.NEF").
If desired, I can also add EXIF data or even delete the originals from the SD card. I rarely do the deletion - that way I have the originals until the copy process is done. Before I go shooting again I reformat the SD card in the camera to help make sure it's formatted the way the camera likes it.
The problem I've had with my folder structure until recently is how to handle the images after post processing and I think I've settled on a decent structure. In each of the main image sub-folders, I create a sub-folder I label "Publish". This is where I store the images after post processing, whether I've used Nikon CaptureNX 2, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, or Adobe Elements. This folder contains all of the images I've touched and declared ready for others to see. But, they're not quite done at that point...
I've created a logo that I put on all of my images (or try to). Adobe Lightroom makes it very easy to apply the logo in a batch process (BTW, I don't know how they do it in Lightroom since Lightroom doesn't support layers through the user interface) and to apply other processing if desired, such as sharpening and resizing. What I normally do, then, is run all of the images in the "Publish" folder into one or two additional folders: 1) one sub-folder under the "Publish" folder that I call "FullSize" which I use Lightroom for adding the logo and nothing else, and 2) another sub-folder that I call "2048" which I use Lightroom for adding the logo, applying a small amount of sharpening, and resizing so that the maximum size of either the width or height is 2048 pixels. I use this folder to store images that I post on Facebook or on this blog.
My top level folders are generally broken down into a high level subject such as "Arizona", "Family", "Pets", or "Music". Under that I'll have a more specific sub-folder with perhaps additional sub-folders separated by date. For example, I've been to Dead Horse Ranch State Park a number of times so I would have folders similar to the following, including my "Publish" and sub-folders:
<drive:/>Pictures
Arizona
Dead Horse Ranch State Park
Dead Horse Ranch State Park 20130828
Publish
2048
FullSize
Dead Horse Ranch State Park 20130915
Publish
2048
FullSize
Dead Horse Ranch State Park 20131107
Publish
2048
FullSize
Note that it may be desirable to have additional folders under the Publish folder, for example, if you use special treatment for printing you could have a folder using the printers name.
This structure more readily separates the original images from the edited images so I don't have to wade through folders with hundreds of files trying to figure out which ones I've selected for publishing or otherwise doing something useful with.
The OKAY (not so good, not so bad)
Once I get the post processing done, I've settled on trying to use "jAlbum" software for hosting my own image gallery as a place to show them off. It is pretty popular and after trying a number of the freebie sites, like flickr.com, jAlbum offers things I want. Specifically, it supports GPS information embedded in images by displaying an image on a Google map corresponding to where the picture was taken. I think that is cool.
The software has a nice look (I'm using the "Turtle" skin) and works pretty well on multiple devices by resizing the images, etc. It has a good amount of functionality such as thumbnails, the google maps, and a shopping cart.
However, it's inexpensive and it seems to work accordingly. Like a lot of software these days, there is very little help documentation available. My copy seems to hang up frequently when I'm uploading files to my host. I can't do much of anything else on the PC when it's running. It doesn't seem to like images or folders with names that include spaces - which I don't mind, but I wish there was some sort of documentation that let you know about this instead of having to figure out why some images cause the software to abort.
I see things that make me realize that it is still kind of a hack bit of software, such as dialog boxes saying it's processing item 5 of 0 (zero). The timers it tries to display are as bad as most Microsoft timers - it'll say 1 hour remaining for an hour then it'll be finished without showing any of the shorter durations. I know that's hard software to write (especially software that is dependent on an Internet connection), and maybe the better statistic is something like the number of bytes or files processed.
There are other things like dialog boxes that display at their default size but command buttons are only half displayed. Settings that can't be set (like the URL for the website in the "Upload/Manage" dialog (what kind of name or English is that?).
I don't think the authors are native English speakers, which is fine, but it'd be nice if they'd found an English speaker to do translations or grammar checks, perhaps pay them by giving them a free copy of the software. I'm sure there would be takers out there somewhere.
I paid my $40 and I'll use it but I won't brag about it or advertise for them.
You can see my site at: http://www.RandyMorter.com/photos
The Bad
One final note about post processing. While I enjoy getting my images ready to show to the world, I've found over the last couple of months that sitting at my PC using the mouse so extensively causes me pain in my right shoulder (I'm right handed and use the mouse with my right hand).
I have to take a break at least every hour or so. I don't even want to spend more than maybe 4 hours total doing post processing in order to keep my shoulder out of the red zone. I never thought that taking pictures would cause pain!
Everyone's a critic
I'm on a roll today I guess. I just posted the exposure blog, and started looking to re-edit some of my old pictures to post on my new online gallery (more about that later) and this picture just struck me as an example of the things I was talking about in the exposure blog.
Since this embedded image isn't easy to see the details, here's a link to the full size, un-edited image:
http://www.poppavein.com/images/Arizona/Examples/dsc_0017.jpg
It's about 10M so it'll take a few seconds to download.
This picture was taken on 8/24/2013 at 7:10 PM. I took it at Dead Horse Ranch State Park, near Cottonwood, AZ. I got my camera on 8/12/2013 so I'd had the camera for 12 days - less than 2 weeks.
I used the VR 18-55mm kit lens with the following settings:
Focal Length: 34mm
Focus Mode: Auto Focus (AF-A)
Vibration Reduction: On
Aperture: f/5
Shutter Speed: 1/15 s
ISO: Auto / ISO 400
This picture does not have any out-of-camera post processing applied, including sharpening.
Let the bullets fly
What struck me about this is a few things...
- I believe this was actually shot on my cheap Velbon tripod. That ended up resulting in the tree in the lower right corner not being too soft (blurry). It would (and does) look better with sharpening applied. This is one of the few good things about this pic.
- I do like the colors. I've read that Canon and Nikon have different processing that results in different results in the way colors are presented. Since I didn't shoot this same scene with a Canon using the same settings, I can't directly compare the different cameras. I've read from people who do use both that some prefer the Nikon colors to the Canon colors. I don't have an opinion on that, but I do know I like the colors in this picture. Another good thing.
- The thing I've come to dislike the most about this shot and what I try to avoid now (as does my mentor Jon), is shooting a scenery shot with some of it out of focus. I don't like the way shots like this look, and especially a shot like this where most of the shot is distant but the foreground is what is in focus (or close to it).
Now I try to use the smallest aperture possible on a shot like this, but backed off one or two settings from the max. For example, depending on the focal length, this lens has a minimum aperture of f/22 to f/36. I'd guess at 34mm, somewhere in the middle, I could have chosen an aperture of around f/28 instead of the f/5 I used, and then the foreground, middle, and distant subjects would have all been in focus.
- It bothers me when, in Nikon ViewNX 2, I see that the selected focus points are where there is nothing of any interest. Here's a screen capture from ViewNX 2 showing where the auto focus point was set. Why Randy, why? What the heck was I focusing on or using for the exposure in that red rectangle? Again, I'd just had the camera less than 2 weeks but was I really that ignorant? I must have been - here's the proof!
- I also am not thrilled with the composition. I like this one better that some of the others from that same time - I like how I put the tree in the lower left. But I wish I had a touch more of the rest of the hill top, maybe not quite filling up a third of the bottom, but closer to it. This shot makes me think it was an accident that any of the hill top is in the picture. Plus, with the same level of zoom, the interesting parts of the cloud formations give more room to tilt the camera down a bit. Alternatively, I am not against keeping the amount of sky above the clouds, so if the camera was tilted down I'd try zooming out just a bit.
- I see that this is shot at ISO 400. I don't mind the noise in the sky, but I don't like it in the hill top or the tree. Note that there is no out-of-camera noise reduction applied, but I just don't like having to deal with noise. I'd rather bump this down to ISO 200 at least and try a longer exposure, especially since, as I recall, there was little or no wind that day.
The Adventure Continues
It was interesting to find this picture from less than a year ago and to note what I'd do differently now, and almost without thinking about it. It's cool realizing that there is the likelihood that in a year I may find images I'm taking now and think to myself "what the heck was I thinking?". Photography is like any other artistic adventure - there's always room for learning and improving!
