Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 Observations and 2012 Resolutions

2011 is over at midnight tonight.   It's gone - except for a few moments that I've preserved as photographs.  I looked at a metadata summery of my 2011 images in Lightroom today.  This is what I saw:
1.       I took photographs that ended up in Lightroom on 100 different days.
2.       I took nearly 12,000 images that ended up in Lightroom.
3.       I used my full format 5D Mark II for 1/2 of my photos.
4.       The 24-105 was my most used lens - followed by the 24-70mm.  When I use either zoom, the majority of my shots are at the maximum and minimum zoom.
5.       24mm was my favorite focal length.
6.       My favorite shutter speed was 1/90th of a second, followed by 125th and 180th.
7.       My favorite aperture was f4 followed closely by f2.8.
8.       I used flash 1/3 of the time.
9.       I used ISO 400 the most, followed by ISO 200 and ISO 100.
10.   I shot everything in RAW.

The metadata shows some habits I wasn't aware of.  Since its New Years Eve, I did a little analysis of my 10 observations to see if I need some New Year's resolutions.

1.       My cameras were unused most days.  I need to get out more.
2.       12,000 images seems high.  I may need to cull my images better so that my Lightroom collection is of a higher quality.
3.       The two main reasons that I like the 5d Mark II is weight and full format. 
4.       These lens show up as my favorites for two reasons.  First, I try to keep the 24-105 or 24-70 on my camera as the default lens.  Second, I use these lens to photograph people and fast moving event where I need a variety of focal lengths.  I tend to shoot more uniquely different images at these events, so a smaller percentage of shots are culled.
5.       I'm surprised that 24mm is my favorite focal length.
6.       My favorite shutter speeds are within the range that will sync with my flash.  One of the reasons that I was so disappointed with Canon's new 2012 1DX camera is that it has a lowered flash sync speed - the opposite of what I wanted.
7.       I need to be more conscious of aperture in 2012.  If possible, I should shoot 1/2 stop higher than the maximum aperture of my lens.
8.       I think that my use of flash is increasing.  I plan to put some emphasis on improving those skills in 2012.
9.       Based on tests I recently conducted, I will use ISO 160, 320 and 640 more in 2012.
10.   I intend to keep shooting in RAW instead of JPEG.

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