I decided to look back at what I did in September that I am happy with. Perhaps if I do this for enough months I can get an idea about whether or not I am improving. I went back through the photos that I made in September and picked out the ones that I thought were good. Below are my five best photos from September 2018.

On a couple of occasion I took photos in Austin at sunset and got some results that I like. These were from a parking garage on the East side of Interstate 35 facing West across town.

Nikon D750 + 16-35mm, f/4; 26mm, f/4, 270s, ISO400, 10-stop ND

Then a couple of weeks later,

I didn’t get the spectacular sunset cloud show that I was hoping for in either case. I did end up with some good light on the last one. My favorite of the Austin pictures is the long exposure night shot above. I love how the long exposure turns the highway into a river of light with a little color left on the horizon.

I also took a photo in Liberty Hill as part of a meet-up that I attended. There is not a lot to this little downtown area, but I found a puddle to make a nice reflections that create a nice perspective effect that leads you into the image.

Nikon D750 + 16-35mm, f/4; 35mm, f/5.6, 1/200s, ISO100

This image was a bit over-exposed in the sky. I didn’t sufficiently check my histogram while shooting this. I still like the image.

I also ended up going to some of the nearby lakes trying to capture sunsets reflected in the water. The first image below is from Inks Lake. I did get some reflections in the lake, but the cloud show was not very spectacular. I do like the picture because of the way I remember the environment while taking these photos. It was very quiet, with only animal sounds. A nice escape.

Nikon D750 + 16-35mm, f/4; 24mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO100

I later went to Lake Buchanan on a Sunday evening. My main goal was to work on some compositional elements in addition to the lake and sky. I also tried some new things in Lightroom when editing the photo. This is one of my favorite photos because of the sunlight.

Nikon D750 + 16-35mm; 16mm, f/20, 30s, ISO100

Another point to notice is that all of these photos were shot with the 16-35mm f/4 lens. That would seem to be my favorite lens for landscape photography and usually the main lens I carry with me.

Below are a couple of shots from September of 2017. Looking at these photos, I think that I can say that I have improved since then.

Waterfall reflected in pond

I may do this again at the end of October to see if it helps me determine whether or not I am improving.