GENERAL NOTES (Parking, etc.)
This is what everybody calls The Big Tree, and it's certainly one of my favorite things about doing photos & video at the Des Moines Marina Beach Park. I love how it provides beautiful compositional framing for just about any shot you want to catch...and especially how it changes throughout the year during different seasons. If I get a chance, I'll capture pictures (and video) in the different weather conditions. The waves can be fun to watch in mild windstorms! This was taken with the Panasonic GX85 and the 12-60 3.5-5.6 which I have since started using with the Tiffen Black Pro Mist 1/8, but these settings work (see the settings link) if you use my lens-sensor LUT as well. This lens has become the most common Panasonic kit lens (for the Micro Four Thirds mount) but I didn't like it initially...until I figured out these settings (and made this LUT). These settings control the CONTRAST and SHARPNESS and COLOR to lessen the digital artifacts (and "hot pixels") that were being caused by too much of those. My LUT brings the contrast and color back to looking REAL...See my LUTs page for more information.
*As A.I. (artificial intelligence) started sneaking into the photo & video production industries, I decided to go for 100% realism in my work. What this means for me, is to shoot for realistic-looking photos and video content. My approach includes using custom, lens-sensor specific CAMERA SETTINGS (and sometimes lens-sensor LUTs when needed). I never use A.I. to generate images, and I don't do tricks using Photoshop. There are adjustments I make to produce more accurate PRINTS but my goal is to limit editing as much as possible.