HDR Archives - Page 14 of 25 - Just Enough Focus

February 22, 2016February 23, 2016

Another Backyard Sunrise

This is another backyard sunrise from home. I don’t really have a backyard and this is not “my” backyard but, it’s in my hometown so figuratively speaking it’s “in” my backyard. Having said all of that, and having said that this is sunrise, you know I’m facing east. For some reason we get a lot of amazing sunrises happening in the east due to the way the clouds form in my backyard. Let me explain.

More images of Florida sunrises

The geography and weather patterns of central Florida are such that the clouds often park themselves over the land, not over the water. For instance, on this morning while we had a brilliant sunrise to the East; to the West there were no clouds, only clear blue sky. I’m not complaining, just making an observation. Well, as a photographer maybe I’m complaining just a little.

If you think about it, Florida is one big peninsula with oceans on both sides. Somehow that creates unique weather patterns which most of the time I ignore. But one of those patterns is that clouds will hang over the land and stop at the coast. So when they do that in the morning this is the result, a backyard sunrise. Actually my backyard faces the West and, ….oh good grief, there I go again.

February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

Gardens Sunrise

A couple of years ago in New Zealand I was here for a Queenstown Gardens sunrise. It’s an oasis of nature in the middle of the city, except for one thing. The city is an oasis in the middle of the wilderness. If that sounded like a contradiction it is. Queenstown doesn’t need an oasis, it’s already surrounded by beauty and awesomeness on all sides. This park is just the cherry on top.

I was here on one of Trey Ratcliff’s photo adventures. This was our first day. There were about twenty of us and I really didn’t know anyone except one other guy I met on G+. So here we all were on our first morning doing our best to capture the light and such. Now fast forward to the end of the week. Now we are all best friends and feel like we’ve just been through the most amazing experiences together. Big change from beginning to end.

I’ve had this image in my backlog for almost two years. I tried a few times to process it but wasn’t pleased with the results. This time I have some new software called AuroraHDR made by MacPhun and the very same Trey Ratcliff. Now, what was once a challenge has become easy. For HDR images like this, I find it much easier to get the results I want. I guess the moral of the story is, the longer you wait, the better the software gets, the more you can do. That sounded kind of lame, but you know what I mean.

More photos from New Zealand

February 17, 2016

Tower View

This is the tower view from Robinson Preserve in Bradenton Florida. It’s on a trial about a half mile from the parking lot and a good place to get some perspective on the land. In a way this is a poor mans drone shot without the drone. These are inland marshes and salt flats that attract all manner of wildlife. The waterway on the right is a popular place to kayak and further up are mangrove tunnels to be explored.

For this composition I deliberately ignored the rule of thirds because I felt the sky is just as compelling as the ground, they hold the balance in equal measure as a kind of yin and yang. I’ve starting doing that sometimes when using a wide angle lens, here I shot at 14mm.

Normally I am alone here and the last one to leave the park, but just as I ascended the tower about twenty people approached along the trail and ascended the stairs of the tower alongside me. It’s a big tower so it can hold a lot of people. Turns out they were on a guided tour of the park to observe it at dusk and evening. With all the nocturnal animals I’m sure there would be some interesting sounds as well.

More landscape photography

February 7, 2016February 7, 2016

New Day on North River

The sun rises on a new day on North River across the Manatee. The river is about a mile wide here but only goes upstream for about ten miles. The land of Florida acts as a large catch basin for the tropical rains. We don’t have long rivers as compared to other parts of the country, but they can carry a lot of water nonetheless. The water empties into the ocean and so where I’m standing rises and falls with the tide.

I took this with a wide angle lens because I wanted to show the expanse of the river, it’s nearly a mile wide here. This area is a bird sanctuary, which means a lot of migratory birds come here in the winter. At this spot there is a great Heron that can be seen every morning. I suppose they are territorial because he is always here. He’s quite skittish so when I show up for sunrise he usually flies away. But this is his spot all the same and sometimes I see him when I drive by on the bridge just behind where I’m standing here.

Whenever this section of the country gets a cold snap, we get a lot of birds that fly down from Georgia and the Carolinas. They’ll end up staying for only a week or so until it warms up and then head back north to their own home. I suppose the birds that live here full time might get their feathers ruffled with all the visitors, and of course, the short timers need to get back to their own territory. But in the meantime, this is the view all the birds and a few of us humans see, even if it’s not our territory.

February 6, 2016

Houses of Collioure

These are houses in the old city center of Collioure. I am aiming up with the lens to get the colors and sky, but just below the field of view is a busy marketplace with all manner of shops. While my wife bought a locally made dress I walked around the square taking it all in. In the end we both left happy.

These houses remind me of California or even Florida. In warm climates homes are painted and colorful. In cold climates we make houses out of brick and the effect is completely different. Of course houses don’t look just like this in California, but the colors remind me of how varied they are when compared to the east coast of the US.

We had just finished having a drink at a cafe by the water and were meandering among the shops. I think the atmosphere of the place got to us because we lingered way too long. By the time we got back in the car we had many hours of driving to go. However I wouldn’t change a thing, in fact I plan to come back here and stay a little longer. These mediterranean costal villages are worlds unto themselves.

January 31, 2016January 31, 2016

End of Lake Wakatipu

This is the end of Lake Wakatipu in Glenorchy. I was here a couple of years ago on a Trey Ratcliff photo adventure. I had just switched from Nikon to Sony and so was still struggling with the placement of the buttons and menus. Sometimes I go back and look at my settings and wonder what I was thinking, like this one, my aperture was f10; seems a bit high. Maybe I should just forget about that and just enjoy the scenery. Forget I even mentioned it.

I was going back to look at my New Zealand photos and found this sitting in the bit bucket. I started working on its just out of curiosity and then got carried away. All the while I was thinking I’d seen this before. Sure enough, I’d processed and posted this same picture. My techniques and eye are constantly changing and this time the result was different. So maybe I should have titled it Glenorchy Part 2, …or some such thing.

Boy, if I could go back in time and make different choices. Well, just a few. Like buying a certain company stock when it was really cheap. Oh well, until I invent a time machine I’ll just live in the present, learn from the past, place one foot in front of the other, you know the drill. Actually, I’m kind of glad I can’t go back, it seems the longer I live the less confused things are. So going back and buying that stock might just put me into a place I don’t want to be. Hmmmm, … tis a bit of a conundrum.

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016

Random Beach Shot

This is a random beach shot I took last year at Bradenton Beach, Florida. I was standing alongside this old broken down pier, one of several which has since been demolished and removed. I don’t know the county’s plans but it would be nice if they built a new one so I could take pictures of that too. It’s all about me.

I work during the day and spend much of my time at a computer. So when I write my blog I get to stare at something other than documents for a spell. I remember back when I took this I was standing in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. That’s about as far away as I can get from meetings and status reports. This picture shows where and how my batteries get recharged so I can do the stuff I have to do.

I think that looking at photos at the end of the day activates different centers in my brain. I have no idea which ones, just that they have nothing to do with computers. It has more to do with where I want to go. Wouldn’t it be cool if I could just look at a photo and then enter a dream of that location? I’ve heard that some people can do that, and for all I know so can I, the only problem is I rarely remember my dreams. I’m going to hope that when I go to sleep this evening this is where I end up. Whether I remember it or not.

January 28, 2016

Foreshore Trail

The Foreshore Trail follows the shoreline around UBC in Vancouver. I walked several miles of it recently and took my time while I was at it. According to the map it was only three miles, but it took me two hours. I can be real slow when I have a camera in my hand. It’s a good reason to go it alone.

These people were jogging in the same direction, but as the trail became nothing more than big rocks on the beach they slowed down which allowed me to compose this shot. Soon they were off and I was composing other shots, with other people. If you are ever in the vicinity of me when I’m taking pictures, chances are you’ll end up in one of my images. Placing people in a landscape adds a human element, I find it allows me to project myself into the scene. I still shoot landscapes without people, but less and less these days. With people its like mixing street and landscape photography, two favorites of mine, a cross discipline of sorts. Mixing photography styles gives me more ideas and options with respect to the final image.

There is a very steep set of stairs to climb up to the road from this trail. If you walk straight up it will have you gasping for breath and wondering why your legs won’t move. But of course I didn’t go straight up. I stopped several times along the way and surreptitiously took pictures of the stairway through the forest with, you guessed it, people.

January 15, 2016

Standing on a Hill in New Zealand

A couple of years ago I was standing on a hill in New Zealand with twenty other photographers. It was early in the morning before dawn and everything was quiet, still and overwhelmingly beautiful. I had to pinched myself to ensure it wasn’t a dream. Well, I made that last part up, my fingers were to cold to pinch anything, but I was pretty happy nonetheless.

Its great I have this image because it helps me remember. I wonder what it wold be like if I could remember everything with vivid clarity. I think it would be a double edged sword. Truth be told I’d, only I’d only want to remember the good things, but if I had that memory I might not have a choice. Maybe that’s why we are the way we are. Our memories fade so we have a chance to move on, start new, live another day.

I’ve heard that when we die we have a life review. That we see everything we’ve done that affects other people. If that’s true, then that will be one heck of a memory machine. Or, maybe that’s how we remember when we don’t have our aging brains getting in the way. Maybe our minds are really that good, it’s an incredible idea. I think it’s true, we have hints of it throughout our lives and society.   Now if I could only learn how to tap in to my unlimited memory, I could tell you what I had for dinner last night and, I could remember my e-mail password. I had one more point to make but I seem to have forgotten what it was.

I’ve heard that when we die we have a life review. That we see everything we’ve done that affects other people. If that’s true, then that will be one heck of a memory machine. Or, maybe that’s how we remember when we don’t have our aging brains getting in the way. Maybe our minds are really that powerful, it’s an amazing idea. I think it could be true, we have hints of it throughout our lives and society.   Now if I could only learn how to tap in to my unlimited memory, I could tell you what I had for dinner last night and remember my email password. I had one more point to make but I seem to have forgotten what it was.

December 30, 2015

Watching the Sun Set

People watching the sunset over the water is something I see all the time here in Florida; not just once in a while, but ALL THE TIME. 😉 And it’s a little more organized than you might think. Every evening there are groups of people who have gathered together with fold-up chairs at the beach to experience this event together. Sometimes, like on the evening I took this, it’s just a few people. However at another beach I’m thinking of there could be as many as twenty. This is serious business down here in the sunshine state.

I know of a mobile home park along the water that has permanent chairs set up facing west for just this purpose. I know that because I’ve seen them all line up, drinks in hand, watching the sun set. What a life.

Sometimes when I see these groups on the beach I think they are church groups or maybe a meditation circle, because before the sun sets they’re all in a circle discussing or singing or playing drums. Its kind of like something I’d expect to see in California, not here in Florida.

I’m developing a theory that if you live someplace where it’s warm and has a lot of sunsets you are more likely to be mellow. Okay, so I’m no Einstein, I suppose its just common sense, self-evident.    On a related note, I’ve heard that we Floridians are called stone-slackers. I have an inkling about what the connotation is and I think there’s more than a seed of truth in that.

It’s no wonder so many people come here to retire. After living a hectic life, why not?    Well, I’m probably not a stone slacker yet because I’m not retired, but when and if I do, I’m in the right place. I already have a fold-up chair, all I need now is a drum.