All of us approach the same set of problems from a different angle
... so what are you trying to do, and what gets it done for you?
How do you get the sharpest, most contrasty, widest/narrowest DOF,
lowest noise, best B/W conversions, and so on? What's important
for a good print, and how do you achieve it?
Hi Forrest. Thanks for inviting me to participate in this thread. Some great stuff here already.
For those who don't know, I am not currently using a dSLR camera, but I will describe the techniques I use which often apply directly to using any camera, including a dSLR. My primary "serious photography" focus is landscape photography with some wildlife photography thrown in, often environmental portraits.
I'd have to say that, for me, technique is a baseline approach to how I take serious photographs that I use to make sure I get the best possible results when making large prints. There is a second part called "seeing the image" which I feel falls outside the rubrick of "Technique" that I find even more important, but it has to build on solid technique or the results won't be high-quality.
Elements of a landscape image that rely on technique that are important to me for the final results:
1) Critical Sharpness
2) Sufficient DOF
3) Low noise
4) Rich Dynamic Range
5) Proper Shutter Speed
1) Critical Sharpness. In order to achieve critical sharpness in the image I use a tripod and remote release. Every time. And I make sure the tripod is fixed and any vibrations from my fiddling with the camera settings are finished before firing the shutter.
2) Sufficient DOF. I do this by using a small aperture on my landscape shots.
3) Low noise. On a digicam like the Sony 717, reducing noise is much more important than on a dSLR. To minimize noise, I make sure the exposure histogram curve is as far to the right as possible without clipping or making the colors look completely fake. I also use Neat Image (with the proper settings) to eliminate the noise that does appear.
4) Rich dynamic range is (often) achieved by taking multiple exposures of the same scene at different shutter speeds. One exposure is aimed at a very nice highlight exposure, and the other is aimed at perfecting the exposure for the midtones or darker areas. On occasion I will aim for 3 shots, but i don't tend to do this much. I later combine the exposures in photoshop using layer masks. Even if I don't do multiples I tend to burn and dodge in photoshop, always using adjustment layers with active masks where I want the burn / dodge to take place.
5. Proper Shutter Speed. Sometimes you need a fast shutter speed to freeze time, other times you need to extend time with a slow shutter. I use aperture and ND filters to control this, and (very very rarely) boosting ISO.
These items are all in the back of my mind, but what I really think about more is the composition. I look at it (on the live LCD panel) and tweak it exactly as I need to and fire the shutter, thinking about the next exposure or composition.
Contrast I handle after the fact, using adjustment layers and curves in Photoshop.
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my favorite work:
http://www.pbase.com/sdaconsulting/favorite_work 
