Turkey Run State Park (Indiana)

[jliechty]

Here are a few pictures from my excursion to Turkey Run S P last weekend. While my camera performed better than I expected from a late-90's era 2.7MP DSLR, I didn't fare so well, coming home with far fewer "keepers" than I would have liked. My greatest problem was that I either didn't set up a tripod or failed to increase the ISO to get more DOF in many landscape shots that needed it, and frequently I also got motion blur from lack of tripod usage. This experience has taught me that for me personally, even though the D1 is 2 stops faster than Velvia, I still must slow down and use a tripod - not only to prevent blur and enable slower exposures, but also to force a slower and more thoughtful pace of composition.

[gparr]

The image above is a very nice, serene capture. But the one that really stands out for me is the fern (below). First you saw the shot. Most wouldn't. Then you used good DoF, a good composition, and exposure control to capture the fern without blowing it out but give us enough of the shadow to keep the fern in context. Without the shadow detail, the fern would look out of place. Nice work.

Maybe you didn't get as many keepers as you wanted, but it sounds like you learned some things and you did get a couple of keepers so it was a profitable trip in my estimation. I think we've all been at that "wish I'd used my tripod" spot. It's really irritating if you own one and don't use it and flat out maddening if you take it along with you on a shoot and don't bother to use it. The part that makes you spit nails is there's only one person to blame. . . I'm betting that tripod gets a workout the next time you wander into the woods.
Gary

[cox]

Yeah, the tripod is heavy but essential. I really like the fern too. Great dark background and subtle lighting on the frond.