Thanks so much for replying, guys. This is very helpful.
NikonShooter, that looks beautiful! I had been wondering what one of my shots would look like with professional processing, so this inspires me – thank you. Even for jpeg it looks great - I can only imagine if you had the raw file. You even brought out the green pine needles on the left edge. Did you notice? That is a pine tree that shows up in the foreground of the next shot. So are you a trained professional with expensive converters, or can I expect to get satisfactory results with a free program and some practice / study?
Merco, thanks. I had to read through that a couple of times to let it all soak in, but yes those are great suggestions. I wasn’t sure if folks used those picture control settings on the camera much, or if they were considered gimmicks for beginners, like auto mode. My gear is new, I still haven’t read the full manual yet or gone deep into those manual adjustments. It was spur of the moment and jets were zooming over with little notice … I put it on program mode, continuous, and hoped for the best. I had little time, and had to be more focused on the logistics of driving in a busy city, finding the locations, and being inconspicuous. I think I also would have been better with bracketing that day because there were huge clouds, with constant change from bright sun to dark skies.
Is Capture part of the free Nikon bundle? I think all I have is View NX2.
I was surprised I got as many good ones as I did. The camera is starting to impress me, and is inspiring me to keep reading and learning. I know I’m only at the tip of the iceberg.