One of my favorite things about photography is how you can use the camera as a tool to not only see real life, but to alter it to look just a little bit better than the real thing.

Here’s an example.  This is a shot taken on an extremely bright, sunny day.  As you can see, there’s not a cloud in the sky.  For photography, these are terrible conditions.

An average picture came out looking like this:

Photo is SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera)

Not bad, but it leaves you wanting more.  It also leaves a lot of work in post processing.  There is little impact in the picture, and it looks like anyone’s grandmother could have taken it with her disposable camera.  No disrespect to the grandma’s out there…

But add a filter, work with the white balance, and voila!

Photo is SOOC

Suddenly, it makes me want to move back to the mountains.  Today.  And live in one of those houses!

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