HDR Sunset Cow

[DocSkalski]

Camera: Canon T2i (550d)

Lens: Tamaron 10-22mm (go buy one, it's glorious)

Aperture: f3.5

ISO: 640

Exposure Time: 1/6sec, 1/30sec, 0.8sec (corresoponds to the picture, this is the only variable)

Focal length: 10mm



I've been thinking about this shot for a long time, and it just so happened that everything came together perfectly at the moment I was out shooting to get this shot (I would link you in on the image that inspired me two years ago in a DPS article, but it's been taken down).

I actually just saw the beautiful sunset start taking shape and went out to capture it when the cows came over to see what I was doing and I seized the opportunity!


The trick to getting the cows to stand still long enough for this photo was:
A. Luck
B. Patience, I took multiple (15?) bracketed shots from 3-7 exposures (Magic Lantern needed to do more than 3 in a T2i)
C. I stood inside the fence that held their food, so they thought they had a chance of me feeding them.
D. Finding cows that weren't too scared to come over and investigate, but too afraid to look away once they were there.


The three exposures depicted below the final image were combined using Photomatix 4.1, 64 bit version (This actually matters: it's the best version yet for removing ghosts and basically makes haloing obsolete.. and it's FAST), and then lightly enhanced the image using Curves, Levels, and Brightness/contrast adjustments in Photoshop (CS5, but you could make those adjustments in any version).

[RyanSandsPhotography]

AHhhhh cute cows!!! haha

[Thanan]

I see like animation picture, very beautiful picture.

[sk66]

Awww, damn! The cows are too dark. I was hoping for more....

[DocSkalski]

Originally Posted by sk66

Awww, damn! The cows are too dark. I was hoping for more....

Yes the cows are darker than I would like, but I would have to do some serious photoshoping to make them lighter and it would probably end up looking unnatural. The advantage to leaving them darker is the sunset highlights on their fur which really stands out and is most peoples favorite part of the shot.

[fine_art]

HDR is such a powerful medium in photography, I like the cow/sunset, the composition needs some work, the fens pole is cut, the cows are a little bit dark but very nice shot