Sunrise at the Flight Deck

[RussHeath]

I've posted a few shots of birds from my trip to Bosque, and I just processed this shot. It's an HDR (3 frames in RAW), and while it could probably go in the "Post Processing" section, I'm more interested in sharing a landscape. HDR certainly is easier to do well than an ND grad filter . . .



Not visible in this photo is a large dock just to the left (called the Flight Deck), where photographers gather to watch tens of thousands of snow geese take flight within a few seconds of each other at dawn. Unfortunately, they were a little premature on this day so there wasn't enough light to get any good shots of them leaving the pond. But I still got something nice for waking up at 5 am!

Thanks for having a look.

[geotography]

Nice job newbie! Early bird gets the prize! I have been trying to get out early but the weather has not been encouraging.

Beautiful shot; colors are sensational.

Geo

[morfasie]

Nice shot, love the colours and composition

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by geotography

Nice job newbie! Early bird gets the prize! I have been trying to get out early but the weather has not been encouraging.

Beautiful shot; colors are sensational.

Geo

Thanks, Geo. I don't usually do AM photography, but on that particular trip half the shots happened in the morning (hmmm, maybe that's every trip and I've been missing out?), so I was out that early every day. It was inspiring to see all the photogs out early each morning ready and waiting for the light. Makes me wonder why I'm so lazy the rest of the time . . .

The colors really did appear that intense. I sometimes am tempted to overdo the saturation when I create an HDR, but in this case I actually had to tone it down to keep the whole thing from looking too fake.

Originally Posted by morfasie

Nice shot, love the colours and composition

Thanks! It was a beautiful morning.

[fatsheep]

Great use of HDR. I'm just starting to use it myself and I must say it is an amazing tool. I love the contrast between the cold, dark clouds and the warm, bright sunrise.

[RussHeath]

Fatsheep -- Thanks. I've been using HDR for a while now. At first, it's one of those toys that you can't put down. After a while, it just moves into your bag of tricks where it belongs (not sure I'm quite there yet, but I'm working on it).

[nino xerri]

Great shot Russ.

Sometimes things do not go off as planned, but if you are flexible (as you were) you can still capture stunning images.

I love the colours of the sunrise reflecting off the water and the early morning menacing looking clouds.

What HDR programme do you use?

Nino.

[neilwood]

Love the use of HDR here - its understated.

[RussHeath]

Originally Posted by nino xerri

Great shot Russ.

Sometimes things do not go off as planned, but if you are flexible (as you were) you can still capture stunning images.

I love the colours of the sunrise reflecting off the water and the early morning menacing looking clouds.

What HDR programme do you use?

Nino.

Nino -- Thanks! I use Photomatix for my HDR generation and tonemapping. I've tried using CS2 alone and qtpfsgui, but I prefer the results and ease of use with Photomatix.

Originally Posted by neilwood

Love the use of HDR here - its understated.

Thanks, Neil. I felt that it allowed me to capture something that my camera could not capture alone, which is how I like to use HDR.