12 significant photos #4-6

Night comes rolling in. Made on May 8, 2009.


Garfield barn. Made on April 4, 2009.


Pondering. Made on June 30, 2009.

High dynamic range photography consists of merging several different exposures of a scene via computer software, then applying various filters to control contrast and coloration throughout the image (called tone mapping).

This past year, I experimented with the technique, and the months of April through June saw my hard drive filling up with multiple exposures as I got a feel for when and when not to go for an HDR image. These three photos show what I like best about HDR -- color saturation, enhanced textures and the ability to capture a range of tones that would otherwise have been impossible.

NOTE: I still have yet to have anything land on a memory card that I feel like publshing to the world and January is almost half over. Yikes! It's not for lack of trying. I stood out in near zero temperatures over the weekend photographing winter scenery and captured what I thought were some killer sunset images from a forest preserve near my home. Only thing is, a mistake in a lens setting rendered every image unusable. I hate when that happens. Despite advances in technology, a camera still can't fully compensate for a clumsy person standing behind it. I went out to the same spot the following day hoping that the magic would return, but conditions weren't cooperating. They gave me my chance the day before and I blew it. Ah, well.

Photographs © 2009 James Jordan.