Best of 2012

I wanted to figure out which of my images would follow into the "Best of 2012" category.  I have shot a lot of crap, but I have also shot a few pictures that I am really happy with.  The following would be the top 15 based on visitor popularity and my own preference. They appear in no specific order.

HDR image of a train from the Western Railway Museum

Residence at Black Diamond Mine regional park

Old Oak at Sycamore Valley regional park

Round Valley regional park

Vasco Caves regional park. Access by guided tour only

Contra Loma regional park

Sunset over the Green

My best editing work of 2012- "Tiny Farm"

Mt. Diablo seen over Marsh Creek

Brushy Peak regional park

Rusty tanker in Brentwood CA. Love the flat tire.

This tree at Black Diamond Regional Park was a finalist for the 2012 calendar

Macro shot at Los Vaqueros Reservoir

Brushy Peak Regional Park

Old building at Black Diamond Regional Park

All washed out

Since upgrading to the D600 I have noticed that many of my landscape shots are super over exposed and washed out. Almost everything involving sky requires me to change the exposure compensation to make strong adjustments to prevent the image from being totally washed out.

Over exposed at f8 in Aperture Priority Mode (unedited raw). Circular Polarizer

Same location but with adjusted exposure at f8. Circular Polarizer (edited)

When using the D5100 I never experienced a single over exposed image. Yes, I am using a totally difference lens but the problem has been pretty crazy.  I do not know if it is because the full frame is more sensitive to different types of light or if something is going on with the D600.  When I have done shooting in low light environments, the exposure has been really great. It's bright light or mixed light that is causing trouble.

I went ahead and ordered a B+W graduated ND filter that will give me a 2 stop difference. Looking forward to seeing if it helps correct the problem. 

That didn't last long

Less then a week ago I created a webstore at Photoshelter and I have already deleted the page.

I spent a long time setting it up but closed the page for a few reasons.

1) After about a week I basically had Zero visitors, even after advertising the page to current followers.
2) I already have 500px to sell large canvas prints
3) I got a call from my credit card company that someone was using my credit card number without authorization to shop at Starbucks. That credit card has only been used in a couple of places in the past month and one of them was at Photoshelter.  I am not saying that Photoshelter was hacked, but with the bank sending me a new credit card, I decided to minimize my risk by not leaving the new number on the site for re-billing each month. So to avoid the hassle, I just closed the page.  Maybe I will open it again one day in the future.

Photo Store

I spent some time trying to decide if I wanted to open up an online store. I looked at SmugMug and Photoshelter and after testing both sites, I found that Photoshelter had a better interface and just seemed easier to setup.

So after a few hours I have created a new online store to sell prints.  I will continue to make changes to the layout and see what kind of traffic it generates.

Stop by and make a purchase.

http://store.rhmimages.com