more with the original shot than you may need as it is easy to crop down, impossible to crop up! If a shot feels
particularly good I may bracket (usually +/- 2Ds) to make sure I have enough room in the darks and highlights to
reach the desired goal. My adopted mantra (stolen from Blake Rudis) is to think, “Tone, Colour & Artistic Effects”
for each image during both shooting and post production. If you can feel or see a “story” about the image then
you are well on the way to producing great art (photographic or digital!)
In the field, what are your settings?
I always shoot in RAW (it gives much greater
versatility in post production) and tend to shoot in
the semi automatic mode, Aperture Priority with
ISO as low as possible. The camera is normally
set to f8, ISO200 and this often meets most of my
requirements, although it is easy to alter to meet
different conditions.
From your point of view, what makes a good
picture?
The story behind the shot...and whether the shot
tells the story. “You don’t take a photograph, you
make it.” “You don’t make a photograph just with a
camera. You bring to the act of photography all the
pictures you have seen, the books you have read,
the music you have heard, the people you have
loved.” Both quotes by Ansel Adams.