Eleven Mile State Park

Well, I didn't make it to Mayflower Gulch; hope those that did got a break from the snow and clouds. On the way home from skiing I decided to go down to Eleven Mile Reservoir and see what the sunset would be like. This is one shot that I like.

This is a HDR merged in CS2 from a 2/3 stop three image bracket. I used a 2 stop GND over the sky. I shot at f32 to get the sunstar.

Hopefully the jpeg will do it justice. This is my first CS2 HDR. If anyone sees any problems let me know.

That is just stunning, gives me the complete and utter chills, glad I have a hot cup of Joe though! I do have to admit though, the positioning of your sig does bother me. Yes the HDR works and works REALLY well here, good job on not overdoing it, something which seems to be be quite the 'fad' at the moment.

I agree, great work on the HDR; one of the first ive seen that doesnt look overdone to me.
Overall, i really like the shot, particularly the terrific contrast in the blues and salmon colors. The sunstar kinda bugs me tho, a bit too crisp and symmetric for my tastes; kinda like the bad art that hangs in cheap hotels

I don't mind the sun star. I like the comp and light very much. The HDR method did a really good job in the bottom 2/3, but the clouds look a little weird. Overall, very nice and pleasant.

Thanks for the critical comments, guys. I opened the version I posted this morning (after sleeping a little) and WOW, just a little too MUCH I thought. Here is another rendition with the contrast and saturation dialed back a little. This was actually produced with a little different workflow.
I know what you mean about the sunstar, Stan. The second version is a little softer even though I didn't do anything specific for it. It does look like I used a star filter but it's all aperture.

Thanks again for the helpful comments!

Kalin,

I like the more natural look of this one better.

I think that is one of the challenges when shooting digital. When moving sliders all over the place during RAW and pp it is easy to get carried away. I guess it could be the same with a scanned film shot as well.

But that being said I can see where you were going with the first one. I do like the dramitic colors especially in the snow. It kind of looks like the sun reflecting on waves at the beach which I am always partial toward. The sky does look a bit too pushed around the clouds though in that version.

- Derek

Nice handling of the lighting conditions Kalin. The star doesn't bother me either but I do prefer the softened version in your second attempt. HDR is tricky and these don't display the over the top look some do. Overall I like the second better. The lavender blue doesn't appeal to me as much as a truer blue color would in the sky and snow. The blue in the first looks better to me but even it has a cyan cast. The complimentary colors that predominant in your image are pleasing (blue and yellow). Tiny nit...looks like a sensor dust speck in #2 sky. Final word, I like it with a bit more post p work on colors

Pam

Kalin, Nice shot man! I do have to agree with Pam on the blues though. I too, thought it was waves on the water at first glance. Cool shot.

Nice shot indeed! I like the 1st one myself. More dramatic in my eyes. More contrast and just looks crisper to me.

Question? What is HDR?

Killer shot Kalin - I love the snow waves and gold and blue colors. Awesome!

Thanks again for the comments. I agree about the cyan cast. I tried to make the blue more neutral but the a channel either pushed it cyan or violet without negatively affecting the sky. Of course this was just the first attempt, what I really need to do is some selective color correction. You guys have good eyes! I thought I got all the dust!



Mike, HDR is High Dynamic Range. Basically it's a technique where you combine images with different exposures when the scene has a dynamic range beyond your film/sensor. So you can get both the highlights and shadows with the detail you want. There are manual and automatic ways to accomplish it. What everyone says about it being overdone is true. You see a lot of images where the natural balance of light is backwards or just wrong. But it is a technique to try to get closer to what your eye can see.

Great shot! I love the light and the color.