Tuesday, July 1, 2008

I quit!


That is to say, I'm pretty much done with this blog for the time being. I thought I would wrap it up with a quick synopsis of why...

The main reason is that it takes too much time.

Right now photography is a hobby for me. I'm really into it but don't have much time to do much except take photos and look at them, evaluate, delete, send to people to whom they will mean something to etc.

As I became more into photography I started subscribing to people's blogs and reading a lot online. At this point I am noticing three factors are coming into play. 1) All this online reading takes a lot of time - more, if you want to add photos or text to what is going on. 2) I am pretty saturated with knowledge at this point and need to go out and do some of it. 3) I finally have my new lens, a Tamron 18-250mm DI II (which is a great lens if you are only going to own one for right now...) and am really enjoying using it (see point 2. ).

I'm changing my M.O. a bit also. Previously I was very self-conscious about my photos and wanted them to be the best they could be. Better, in fact. It is partly to do with this that I was shooting in RAW - though partly to learn about it. Ever photo had to be processed then. Well, if some of my kids grow up or I start this as a business then this will definitely be the way to go. Till then : jpg and sRGB here I come! Now my mistakes are pretty much irreversible - but I will learn more that way I suppose.

So... I have steadily been unsubscribing from all my blogs and trying to keep to minimal editing and tagging in Picasa which I have time for - just! So far I am liking the new program. If I do another wedding I will probably go back to RAW just for the occasion... Here's another thing though - RAW requires something like Lighroom with the (inestimable clarity slider) and that is another $300. Then there is photoshop... Well, using 8 bit images I can use something lesser than photoshop (photofiltre or GIMP) and for organisation of course Picasa rules.

Till next time - Jon Bailey.