After a fun afternoon on our boat on the Long Island Sound, we had a gorgeous ride back with the sun low in the sky and the water calm and serene. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t resist capturing a few shots with that low, golden light of the evening.
Yesterday I had a photography job down near the beach. As I was leaving I saw the sun setting and rushed over to try an capture an image. The sun goes down so quickly once it’s near the horizon line and I knew I really did have to speed to try and get there. The sun was very low by the time I arrived; however, the low position of the sun wasn’t my main issue, the temperature was! My car thermometer said 19° but with the wind, it was much colder than that. As I stood on the beach, my face and ears were absolutely frozen! (I didn’t even turn my car off so I could quickly jump back into the warmth.) I could only bear a minute or so out there photographing. For me, once I’m shooting, I will usually just stick it out whatever the weather. Not yesterday, though! I did get a few pretty shots, but normally I would have stayed long after the sun went down. There was no way that was happening though, what a bite that wind had! We have been spoiled with this mild winter, I suppose – welcome to January in New England.
I think HDR processing of photos makes them look so interesting. Not many of my photos have been processed using HDR (High Dynamic Range), but I have been wanting to try it out. There are many photos out there that are obviously processed using HDR techniques and I think they look amazing. If you aren’t familiar with HDR, it basically makes a photo have an increased level of detail and range of highlights and shadows. Many HDR photos are created my merging together 3, 5 or 7 photos of differing exposures (I just figured out that it doesn’t have to be, though, what a discovery!). Each of these pictures below is a combination of 5 shots, which are exactly the same composition but different exposures. Perhaps these are over-processed, which gives them that ‘extreme’ look. I wouldn’t use this on all of my pictures, but it was fun creating these. I think they almost have a ‘cartoony’ look. Except the purplish one, I think that one looks the most realistic. What do you think of this look?
Holiday lights always put me in a cheerful holiday mood. I had fun with my camera taking photos of the lights on our tree and around town. With the mild December we are having (scary… my bulbs are coming up!) I didn’t mind heading out to take some pictures of the lights on the Saugatuck River. I should mention that I normally only put white lights on my tree, but this year my daughter won out with the colored lights, and I have to say they do make for better pictures! Happy Holidays and a wonderful new year to everyone reading my blog. Invite your friends!!
April Book Photography | Westport, CT 