Midnight at the Pier

In the year that I've had my Nikon D600, I've definitely discovered that shooting in RAW has allowed to me to do with much greater ease much of what I had previously been trying to accomplish via HDR--that is, to get a smooth, balanced, evenly exposed photo, especially at night.  Of course, there are many styles of High Dynamic Range imaging, ranging from the surreal and dream like to the bold and luminous to the hyper-contrast and solarized.  Mine just happened to evolve into trying to capture a crisp, clear photo matching what the eye saw, but with a bit of extra sheen.  I've since found that RAW can help me achieve that with much less work, so long as my shot in the camera is well enough exposed to begin with.

Fortunately, practice has helped me notice good patterns and shutter combinations, and familiarity with the Adobe Camera Raw software has enabled me to achieve what's in my head when I take the shot.  All of this is really just a long explanation for the secret of photography: just practice, practice, and practice.  Find styles that you enjoy, figure out how to do them, emulate that for practice, then branch your own style off of it.  As long as you have a good eye of angles, the technique can be developed. And there are resources to teach what to look for or how to vary a perspective.  But it takes work to discover what works, and what you like.  Only then, will you be able to come up with photos that satisfy your vision.

Paradise Pier, luminous as always.