The last three days began the fall into autumn. Leaves litter the backyard; it’s dark at 7:00 in the morning; and the sun sets by 7:30. September always has a cold week and then we settle into the cool of autumn. This year the cold week came early.

It takes me a while to work through the many features on my fancy cameras. This summer I moved totally away from the auto setting and began to shoot with aperture preference. I wanted the depth of the le Marche landscapes, and therefore I had to abandon the flat renderings auto setting even if ease of use had to also be abandoned. I also had to make adjustments for my indoor shots and that too put me into a more manual approach. Each step I take away from the auto setting I get more control over my shots. But I always take a while getting to where I can influence the technology. (I’ve spent more time in the post-shooting phase and have learned Photoshop better.)

My most recent venture has been into Picture Control. I wanted to shoot the flowers in my back-yard in ‘vibrant’ mode, mainly to get used to the setting. I’m going to leave it on this setting for the next couple of months while I shoot various landscapes. The vibrant setting will capture more primary colors.