Posted December 8th, 2009

3 O’clock on a December Afternoon

The days are short at this time of year and it can be difficult finding time for photography between the chores and other daylight activities. But the “golden hour” of warm, oblique lighting that photographers prize is any time the sun is shining, not just close to sunset as when this photo was shot. I made a series of bracketed exposures of this contrasty scene so that I could combine them using the HDR technique to have the full tonal range available. I almost chose one of the individual exposures instead; the light of the low, partly screened sun was gentle enough that the best exposure provided dramatic, specular lighting of the sunlit area in the foreground without blowing out the sun itself or the blue of the sky. This HDR version, processed in Photomatix and further adjusted in Photoshop for a fairly subdued HDR effect, won out in the end. The additional information in the shadows helps impart more of a sense of place without entirely stealing the drama. Also, this is the image I envisioned when I photographed the scene. 
Pentax K10D, Sigma AF 10-20mm f/4.0-5.6 EX DC @ 10mm, f/11