For the last few years I have shot almost exclusively RAW files (NEF files in the case of Nikon), which require conversion to a jpg to be viewed on internet forums. All this post-processing is very time consuming.

We had some nice weather the last two days here and decided to try something new (for me) setting my camera to take jpg files and then do no post-processing. It's a good exercise, when you know you aren't going to "fix" anything in post-processing you pay a little more attention to details. I also decided to shoot it in black & white.






The two above are at a pond called Etang d'Or a short walk from my house, had the 28mm lens on the Nikon D850.

I also took a walk on the property surrounding our local castle. This time I had the 16-35mm zoom on the camera.







So, you don't have to buy and master expensive software to take acceptable pictures you can share on the internet. These photos were downsized/cropped for web browsers and sharpened a bit, nothing else. You do have to get your settings in the camera right, of course.

I have stopped taking RAW photos years ago.

Most photos taken in modern cameras in jpg are very good.

Some require a bit of work in Photoshop.

Pros who want to push everything to the limit, might wish to use RAW.

I'm also trying out a recently acquired lens, the Nikkor 58mm f/1.4G. This is Laurence and her kayak paddle.




I like the subject isolation, bokeh and general rendering of this lens.