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!

Capturing the Harvest Moon in Aspen, CO

This image of the Harvest Moon was captured in Hunters Creek, Aspen, CO in September, 2012. Watching the moon rise over the Aspen mountain range is an incredible sight to see. Little did I know back then that it would be chosen as one of my eight images that would be represented by Agora Gallery in New York City just eight months later.

My artist statement with Agora Gallery

"In today's world of social media and technology, I think it's important for people to take time out and appreciate the land and seas that the new, green world is trying to save. It's one thing to recycle and do your daily bit for the environment- it's another to get out and actually enjoy the elements we're working so hard to preserve. It's my hope that my images inspire people to do this.
As a photographer, my interest in land and seascape has always been much stronger than any other source of inspiration. I’m constantly in search of new scenes to spread ‘pixel dust’ on. No matter the season or the setting, Mother Nature continues to inspire me to seek the next photo opportunity. Having driven cross-country eight times, I'm fascinated by wide open spaces and how light, or the lack of light, impacts the scene before me. Everywhere I go, I analyze light." - Heather Hummel, Photographer

Press Release

Heather Hummel’s astoundingly vivid landscape photography luxuriates in both great distances and intimate touches. In bringing a wide perspective to a variety of environments, Hummel manages to make even the most familiar scenes seem more encompassing, more complete, as if the entire story were finally being told. Her image of an old wooden schoolhouse includes the long, meandering countryside behind it, where the distant farm, rolling scrubland, and dramatic sky suggest social and economic contexts for the viewer. Her photo of a dirt path stretches out for miles to reach, finally, snow-capped mountains and seemingly the ends of the earth. All parts are rendered in slightly unreal sharpness and brilliant colors, as if Hummel has trained a laser focus on every single piece of the photo at once. The overall effect is both familiar and unexpected — a story with a twist.
Hummel was born in Connecticut and today works in Charlottesville, Virginia. While photography is her passion, she is also an award-winning writer and describes her occupation as a “photonovelist.”

Want to learn how to master low light photography and to capture your own low-light photos? My book MASTER LOW LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY is available on Amazon.

Featured Photographer: Chase Harrison

Fall in the Rocky Mountains is my favorite time of year. As a photographer, what inspires me the most this time of year is light. As we all know photography is all about light. I for one am chasing the light all the time. What inspired me to shoot this particular image is just that, the light. I spent almost 3 hours at this one location and the light was changing constantly. It doesn't get much better than this. 

 Tech notes: Camera: Nikon D80, ISO 100,F/8,1/250, Focal length 175 mm

Chase Harrison is an up and coming photographer in Snowmass Village, CO. He has lived in the Roaring Fork Valley for over 30 years. Being an artist and photographer is a serious passion of his. His first love is landscape photography, but he is branching out into other types of photography, such as abstract and some street photography.