So it has been almost 2 years since my last journal entry so I figured I would update it. Recently all of my photos have been shot in RAW format and conservatively edited in Photoshop Lightroom instead of CS2 (although the borders on my photos have to be done with CS2). I am very pleased with the refined quality that my photos are starting to attain. Shooting in RAW rather than jpeg allows you to do basic editing, such as color tweaks and level changes, in a nondestructive way. Also, I have been paying much more attention to the technical side of photography lately; such as when to use different ISO speeds or aperture values, which has had a very positive impact on my work. I feel like my camera is slowly becoming outdated (Digital Rebel XT) with the release of the xti and now the xsi. I don't think I will be able to afford to upgrade until I get out of college though so I will just keep on doing the best work that I can.

Next stop: successfully executing HDR photography. All previous attempts have failed