the stickplace heath Eye of Horus

Exposure Date: 2014:01:13 19:04:11;
Copyright: Lex Jenkins 2013;
Make: NIKON CORPORATION;
Model: NIKON 1 V1;
Exposure Time: 1/10.0 seconds s;
FNumber: f/6.3;
ISOSpeedRatings: ISO 400;
ExposureProgram: Other;
ExposureBiasValue: 0
MeteringMode: Other;
Flash: Flash did not fire;
FocalLength: 24.4 mm mm;
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm: 65 mm;
Software: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.4 (Windows);

When I showed photos from "this place" on Facebook, one of my cousin's quipped "This is a 'place'? Looks like a bunch of sticks." So I've dubbed it the Stickplace Heath.

That pesky "Get it right in the camera" dictum seems to keep turning up like gum on a shoe, on every photo forum I haunt and even among some social media contacts. For an experienced photographer, this is akin to requiring advanced amateur pianists to play scales for the judges before they can move on to the actual compositions. That's why the Olympics eliminated compulsories in figure skating. At that level of experience, it's a pointless waste of time.

So, just to say I'd done it, I decided to try it the other evening on a familiar subject I've been exploring under various sky conditions. This time the sky was spotlessly clear, with only the natural dusk polarization for a gradient.

I set the V1 to raw plus JPEG, as usual, with the V1 set to b&w, red filter effect, maximum contrast and brightness, with sharpness dialed back a bit to avoid oversharpening halos - those don't always show on prints, but do onscreen. I knew from previous experience with in-camera filter effects and post processing the naturally polarized sky would produce a natural gradient, dark in the upper right corner toward the south from the deepening blue, lighter toward the westward lower edge at the sky took on red, orange and salmon hues. I added the in-camera sepia effect, which is risky for online web display since some sites recompress JPEGs and made a mess of delicate gradients, introducing ghastly posterization and artifacts.

On this setting, the in-camera red filter effect produces really grungy photos as noise is exaggerated, even at low to moderate ISOs. It's an interesting effect but not one I'd use often. Normally I use the in-camera orange filter, which has a similar effect, only slightly less dramatic, and without the exaggerated grunge in continuous tones and gradients.

No cropping, straightening, etc., just resizing in Lightroom with a wartmurk copydon't added. I'm pretty sure I turned off output sharpening too, but don't recall.

I didn't even use a tripod - they won't reach high enough. To get these particular compositions, without any background clutter, I have to lift the camera overhead. Usually takes two or three tries to get the composition just right, since I can barely see the LCD. Yup, my next camera will have an articulating screen. And thank goodness for image stabilization - without it these photos, at 1/10th and 1/30th second, would be blurs. Lovely, artistic blurs, but not what I wanted. Aperture priority, something I rarely use, but I wanted these one stop down from wide open for maximum resolution, with a little minus exposure comp to darken the skies for a silhouette effect.

And now that I've "gotten it right in the camera", I'll never feel the need to repeat this technical exercise, since I could have accomplished the same thing in Lightroom in a minute or two with less grunge.