Happy Endings

When I first saw this scene, there was something I saw that I really liked. So I took a picture of it. Later, at home, I liked at the image and was disappointed because the image was really flat - boring. Almost deleted it. Almost. This month as I was going through my fall images putting together the blog posts for the month, I rediscovered it. I tried to rescue it. Eventually I found a combination of Lightroom settings that I began to resonate with me. It has a very painterly feel that I like.



1/4000 f/4 ISO 400 75.0-300.0 mm @ 75 mm Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL

There are a few lessons this image has taught me:

1. Always make more than one image and change up your settings and viewpoints. Doing so will give you more choices later 
2. Shoot RAW - the sky was very dynamic but really blown out in places. The image was shot JPG, so I have little ability to bring it under control. 
3. Don't delete too soon. If there is any redeeming quality, or you have any lingering doubt sit on it for a bit - let it age. 
4. Experiment with development settings, you may find some pleasant surprises. 
5. Shoot Exposure bracketed (HDR) images, in a situation like this - they might be very useful.