An HDR Photo Expedition - Cottonwood Pass, Colorado

Few days go by that I don't spend time writing or editing balanced with capturing images. It's why I'm a self-titled PhotoNovelist! After several hours of editing a client's manuscript one morning (a very funny and well written manuscript, I'll add), I loaded my dogs up in the car and headed toward Cottonwood Pass near Carbondale, CO.

As mostly a landscape photographer, I started to dabble in HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography. It intrigues me because of the art of it. With HDR a lot of thought goes into an image capture both during the shoot and in the post-processing.

Composition is still always at the forefront of my mind. It's the first thing I look for, even before lighting. I then consider lighting, but in a different way than non-HDR photography, such as traditional or black and white. Since HDR's role (simplified) is to address shadows in an image, as I'm capturing one I consider how the shadows are going to work to my advantage (or disadvantage).

In the picture of the 1888 schoolhouse, I used a polarizing filter to enhance the sky and the clouds, all the while considering the sunlight on the fields behind the schoolhouse and how that would play into the end result.

For the fence image, I waited several minutes for the sun to come out from behind the clouds so it would highlight the fence and not wash out the sky.

I was thrilled to see the reflection of the barn on the pond in the next image. The polarizing filter would have removed the reflection, so I used it to once again enhance the sky and to allow the reflection on the water.

The three at the bottom are additional favorites from today's shoot. Each one reminds me how amazing and what a beautiful place Colorado is!














Visit my photography website at www.HeatherHummelPhotography.com for more photos!