2016 PHOTOCHALLENGE WEEK 44: Nature, Straight Out of the Camera – GUEST POST - The 2022 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge

These days, I often find myself looking at my photos I captured from the camera and thinking, “I’ll fix that in post” if I see anything that I don’t like in the image. Uneven horizon I can straighten that. An errant branch I’ll clone it out. Too dark, I’ll tweak the exposure. And there’s really nothing wrong with this except that I often spent hours and hours editing images in post process.

Straight out of camera is a concept not foreign to each of us. I am sure that each one of us, at one time or another have produced images without any need for edits. For this week, I want to challenge each one of us to try to capture the raw beauty of nature, straight out of the camera. Instead of spending a lot of time during post process, I want each of us to spend our time doing what we really enjoy and that is taking more pictures until we capture our perfect nature image.

This image is captured during the early morning golden hour. Even without edits, the lighting during this time of day makes the colors in the shot look interesting. Paying attention to your exposure and white balance will also help achieve images that look very natural.

The blurred movement of the waves against the rocks with the backdrop of the sunset make this image very dramatic. Straight horizons are very important in landscapes too and since no cropping or straightening is allowed, a level which is available in modern cameras or in some tripods would be a tremendous help.

Composition makes this image very striking. Paying attention to composition while shooting makes a lot of difference. Modern cameras have a lot of features that can help achieve this grids, levels, etc. Take the time to familiarize yourself with these features it will go a long way.

Nature is a great subject to try to get that perfect shot straight out of the camera. Take your time and take a lot of shots, as the photographer for this image did. A macro of a moving subject is difficult but with patience and a lot of trial and error, he achieved this amazing shot.

And when all is said and done, the greatest tool you have is your eyes. Take the time to look and critique each of your shot. If you’re not satisfied with what you see, readjust your settings, composition etc, and reshoot. Take as long as you want and as many pictures as you can. And hopefully with the practice, we learn and we get better. I know I will still edit my shots in future challenges but hopefully, I wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time doing so.

The rules are pretty simple:

Post one original photograph (Your Image) shot each week per theme posted on this blog to Google+, Facebook, or Flickr (or all three). Tag the photo #photochallenge.org or #photochallenge2016.
The shot should be a new shot you took for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
The posted image should be a photograph, not a video.
Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2016 PhotoChallenge is fun and easy.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js