In which I discover I haven't been paying attention

So today I got extremely awesome new sunglasses. I haven't had prescription sunglasses... well, ever. So that is a happy thing.

I wore them on the way home today, a lovely, sunny day with scattered white fluffy clouds. And as I walked, I noticed how *awesome* everything looked. How crisp shadows seemed, how nuanced textures became.

The sunglasses are polarized.

The reason my good photographs aren't great photographs is that I am not using a polarized filter.

I actually own one. But after trying it once to not a lot of great effect, probably because I didn't configure my camera right for it, I put it away without a lot of thought.

But this is the tool that everyone else is using to make their work look incredible, and I have stupidly been wondering how my eye has been failing me.

All I needed were sunglasses.