Photomatix

My father-in-law introduced me to some new software that looks rather impressive called, Photomatix. It's an HDR program that can do some impressive things to photos. Like the above photo. For those not familiar with HDR photos, basically you take the a series of shots all taken at different exposures and the software combines them all into one file with an incredible range of lights and darks. You can see some HDR examples here.

I am still haven't been fully converted to the HDR camp. You can do some impressive work if you do it right. But some photos still warrant the traditional approach. I mostly see this HDR software as another potential tool to accomplish what I want to make. The above photo was actually just a tone map, not a true HDR image. I am still working on a true HDR image, it's not quite the way I'd like it. More to come.

Back from Red Rock

Well we survived a rather wet weekend camping at Red Rock Canyon. And as you can see that didn't stop me from getting some pictures. The above picture was how the campsite looked when I first got up. The bottom picture is Heidi and I while we were hiking through the park after all the rain. Thank goodness my parents came with their trailer. I am not sure Heidi would have been sane trying to keep a puppy entertained all day in a tent while it poured all day. It was a nice relaxing trip regardless of the rain. I hope to finish a few more pictures from this trip.