Good gracious, Asa, you could write a book with all that info! Thing is, in order to do that I'd have to nab the photo and unless it wasn't copyrighted I couldn't bring myself to do that and I don't really want to know that badly because I'm also running out of room on my laptop for my own photos. But, what I did find out was that it was on auto....and it was really cold in zone 9a!!! All 50 states had freezing temps yesterday. That was so odd.
What I'll do when I shoot a group of photos is view them on the camera and with each one I'll zoom in on them and see if they're in focus on the LCD screen. The main thing I really dislike with the Nikon L820 I'm using is that the sharpness of the close-ups is not as good as it could be. Or, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I had to send it in to get repaired right before the warranty was up. The shutter button was taking 3-4 tries before it would focus and while it doesn't mess up anymore there's no fixing the megapixels---it is what it is.
With my various photos, what I was wanting to show was the critical process that goes into selecting the better ones. Sometimes it's just a matter of how I decide to crop them that could make the difference between a keeper and a deleted one. Other times it's a tweak of the exposure, maybe bringing the shadows in a little more, or, bumping the highlights up and sometimes it's both. If I want (or need) to manipulate the balance all over I'll use the histogram, which is a great tool for introducing more shadows or highlights to the foreground as well as the background instead of just darkening or lightening the photo using the exposure tools. By slightly manipulating the key elements of the interplay between light and shadow on my subject, whatever it may be, I can produce varying degrees of balance between the two. Sometimes it's quite dramatic to drastically darken the shadows of the background leaving highlights on only the subject. You can take that technique too far, though, and end up with a lifeless photo. Done right it makes for a very dynamic, often mysterious effect. Just make sure you have the point of interest in focus.
I think the most important thing I've learned is when to just ditch a hopeless photo, or, even those that are only mediocre. I usually do that "before" I download them as they don't take up needless space on my hard drive. Not only that, but, the more mediocre ones I hold onto, the lower my standards will begin to fall. I used to tell myself, "Well, it's not so bad" when what I should have been saying was, "It's not very good!"
I shot a photo of some lichen on two pieces of chopped wood that I think came out better than the previous ones. I think the leaves around them frame the photo and since all the leaves are in focus, I think it's just the nature of the lichen to look fuzzy. To me anyway. They don't look that clear. I should mention that medication I take usually gives me blurry vision by late afternoon, so, I try to do my shooting before noon as often as I can. What's an old person to do?!!
Then I was debating which of these Riverbirch photos were worth keeping. The first one is small and kinda swallowed up by the beautiful background of fall colors in the leaves. I might try to crop it differently.
Then I tried zooming in on it, but, it seems a bit out of focus to me....but, then again, it might be my eyesight.... I'd like to hear what others think because I really don't know.
Next I chose a skinnier one and placed it between two Pompas Grass which were somewhat blurry in the background. In one way it helps as the tree trunk's not stuck in the photo by itself as there's a sense of balance, but, the grasses are of different form and texture and I'm not sure it works, also, the secondary grasses may be distracting the eye too much. This is not that easy. The way the tree is leaning it naturally cuts across the frame from left to right and I didn't want to place it right in the middle by itself, although, this might be one of those times to do that. I've got a couple others I shot trying to find the right position in the photo to show off the peeling bark. I'd love feedback from everyone about what you think some solutions might be. Don't hold back in your critique of them because it helps me tremendously! Thanks!
