I just looked and saw my last entry here was five months ago. I will admit I have been distracted by some great day job and family events, and it doesn't mean haven't been capturing happy snaps from that stuff - I post and manage those pictures over on Google Photos...their site and management tools are great for the 7000+ photos I have uploaded to them. And, despite not venturing out for any recent shoots, I recently spent some time in Lightroom to reevaluate, tweak, and organize all of the photos I had put in their cloud - this would explain why I quoted Led Zeppelin in the title.

It was a long due spring cleaning that happened in a summer month. 

I came away with four things from my exercise:

1. I have become more in tune with the myriad of individual variables the tool provides for tweaking. I was a fan of presets when I first started working with Lightroom as shortcuts to adjust a photo's colors, exposure, etc. I still sometimes use them as a starting point, but have definitely enjoyed fine tuning things with the specific controls until my eye is truly satisfied.
2. Speaking of my eye being satisfied, I also realized something as I was tweaking my previous tweaks on my photos - stepping away from the shots for a few months then revisiting them felt similar to something I do with my writing. Many times I will write and refine something to a semi-finished state, leave it alone for a gap of time, then review it again to see if my word and phrasing choices need any final polish...the delay gives me an almost fresh set of eyes when I revisit things.
3. Lightroom, like every other software package out there, now boasts it uses Artificial Intelligence to make masking and unwanted object removal even better. I put that claim to the test with the above shot of a sand dune on Navarre's beach and was pretty impressed. There were some footprints and other small anomalies in the sand wind ripples that have have magically disappeared!
4. Finally, and this was a hard one to push myself on - not every picture from a shoot that made the cut to be uploaded to Lightroom was a keeper. I am sure other photographers struggle with the idea of throwing out what may have once been seen as decent shots. It's never easy to toss out art you were a part of capturing, but having high standards is also a part of being an artist.

One thing I enjoy about photography is it is a merger of details from two different disciplines. First, there are the details that come in taking a shot - how it is envisioned, framed, and captured. Second is what is done with the picture in the post processing - what digital adjustments can be made to it to enhance an effect I am looking to achieve. The above shots are each examples to those two separate disciplines I continue to practice and refine.

The one on the left was about technical execution - working with the ISO and F stop settings on my DSLR to get the shutter timing and exposure just right to capture the moon. I have admitted before this type of detail work is not my favorite because I have not found an explanation of the Exposure Triangle that I can confidently understand...too many of them quickly dive into correlating seemingly confusing numbers with overall effects on a shot that seemingly need a ton of adjusting before clicking the shutter. I recall it taking me a solid 10 minutes to get things set up properly on my tripod and camera settings before I got what I wanted.

The one on the right was about post processing. While I did make a few generalized adjustments to my iPhone's camera to capture it, I also took it knowing there was more going on around the moon I wanted to incorporate - the clouds. But, to get there, I needed to sit for awhile with Lightroom and adjust the noise, texture, clarity, etc. before landing on something I liked (the moon has cloud trail effects that look like its in motion).

My diligence and patience with Lightroom over the camera may be rooted in the fact I am computer nerd and graphic designer at heart, because I know I spent more time working with it than I did when I was cursing and swearing when an ISO setting I made didn't net the effect I had hoped for.

And maybe that's really the point - there is no single path to achieving great shots. It's up to the photographer to decide what he or she wants to do to create what they envision.

I had a chance to take my new iPhone for a photographic spin the other day, and was not disappointed with the results. My wife was busy yelling at the Pittsburgh Steelers game while we were out for lunch, so I took some time to stroll around where we were eating, since the last place you want to be is next to a fan of that team when they're losing.

I grabbed a couple of wide angle shots and then decided to experiment with the isometric angles of the pier's railing where I was shooting. The lenses and sensor on my new phone have a noticeable improvement in the details they capture, and Lightroom did a great job accentuating the textures of the bench and the wood, as you can see in this shot. The funny part? This picture also looks like one that you would see on the cover of a high school text book - Practical Algebra for High School Students feels like a fitting title. If you are reading this and happen to be in the book publishing business...I'd be happy to cash the royalty checks for your using this one!