Deep Creek Road Sunrise

Here is a shot from sunrise this morning. This is an HDR shot of 4 different exposures. I processed the HDR once using the Enfuse plugin from Lightroom 2 and once from Photomatix. I liked the way Photomatix rendered the sky and how Enfuse rendered the foreground so I combined the 2 shots in Photoshop using the best of each.

Wayne: sorry I missed you guys this morning, I forgot to take your cell phone# with me... (at least I remembered my camera, earlier this week I walked out of the house without my keys and locked the door behind me!).

A few more shots from this morning are online at:

http://scottbeanphoto.com/2009/jan/sunrise/index.html

FYI, if your curious this is how Enfuse rendered the sky in this HDR...

I'm also wondering about cropping some of the bottom off this shot, I'm not sure if I like the horizon so centered and the amount of dark on the bottom of the frame. What do you think?

You may try a heavy crop to the bottom that would perfectly center the horizon... That may bring out the water and move it to the lower left and leave a few plants in the foreground. Cropping out the far left "bump down" may even help give a simple yet precise look. I like this shot!

I showed Brad this spot after shooting on the Scenic Byway. It's a tough shot IMO what with the fg shrubs. A pano crop by removing the bottom strengthens this with the added benefit of moving the pond into a PP. The first image's sky did seem to render much better. Sorry we missed connections Scott. But the 21st is rolling up fast! See you then for sure.

Thanks guys! I like the idea of a pano type crop and think that really helped the image.

Wayne, yeah I love this spot, but it really shines when there is some interesting foreground objects. I got this past summer on a foggy morning:

http://www.scottbeanphoto.com/galleries/earlyedition/content/SBEAN_080726_9993_M.html

Probably my personal favorite from 2008...I couldn't have asked for better light and a better foreground than I had that morning.

I can see why you love this spot. Great summer shot too! I think the crop strengthened the image quite a bit - good choice in the processing as well. Beautiful work, Scott.

This is one of those places I've yet to pull the trigger on because of the fg shrubs but now that I see what can be done with it I'll have to add an image or two from this spot at sunrise! Much stronger in my opinion with pond repositioned and the receeding hills at right. Good work Scott.

If you do happen to catch me here one morning I'll be the guy standing on top of the Trailblazer! Of course not if the wind is blowing as hard as it was yesterday!

Scott, I like the pano effect!

The repost is a much better photo. Well done with the blend.