A Time to Look Back and Look Ahead

As the year rushes to its end, there are moments in the seams between parties and family when one should look back at what you have shot this past year and try to understand what has come close to satisfying and why it is only close, but not really there. This becomes tougher ever year, not because I have gotten better, but because new software offers tools and ease of use that allow the probbing of alternative interpretations that allow an image to be driven beyond its initial capture to close the gap between what the mind sees and the camera delivers. This Christmas has already brought Plug-In Suite 5 from onOne Software which contains an awesome set of tools for photographic interpretation. There is the promise from the Nik folks of a more powerful version of Viveza before the champange corks go flying on New Years Eve. And, although it is not software, the ever creative folks have put my new fisheye optic on the UPS sleigh and it should be here soon.