Yesterday in addition to a new image (here), I posted a few from 2016 (here and here) that I’d never gotten around to sharing (so in a sense they were new too).
This all came about because the winter here has really decreased my photo opportunities lately and in my restlessness to do something creative I decided go back and revisit some old images of mine. As an aside, this is a good thing to do from time-to-time because it inevitably leads to some form of insight (though I must admit that I haven’t been good about engaging in photographic self-evaluation lately).
Specifically, I was looking at this image from last summer:
↑ Nikon D500 + Nikon 200mm f/2 G ED VR II.
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… and realized that, in my haste to post-process it along with 100 other images from that day, I had probably not optimally processed it.
Post-processing has been on my mind lately because a reader of this blog recently shared a photo with me (taken by another photographer) that he considered “over-cooked”. I have written about such over-zealous post-processing in the past and I heartily agreed with him.
In looking at the photo above, I wondered whether I had shown too much restraint — whether I had, in fact, under-processed it. I subsequently fired up Lightroom and played with the settings to arrive at this alternate version:
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The two versions are not drastically different (remember, I’m still trying to be cautious) but I believe the re-worked version is better than the original.
I will take what I learned from experimenting with this image and most certainly will apply that knowledge to my images this year, and it will probably make a bigger difference to my output than any gear-related change I could potentially make. I’m therefore glad that the winter weather forced me to pause and reflect.
As a second aside, I can’t wait for spring to arrive so I can use this combination of gear (D500 and 200mm f/2) again; I only had one chance to use the lens before the baseball season ended.
For those interested in a how sharp the Nikon 200mm is @ f/2, I’ve provided a crop:
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Did I mention that I can’t wait for spring?
—Peter.
Prosophos 
Awesome combo!!! Hs this special look!!!..wonderful action!!
It better have a special look, it’s going to break my back having to carry it, haha!
The second version is slightly better, and worth the little extra effort.
Thanks Karim. Those incremental, “slightly better”, advancements are what I strive for year after year. I’m often tempted to delete everything on this blog that is older than 3 years because I’m not pleased with what I was doing before. And I’m sure I will feel the same about my current images 3 years from now.