MINWR Sunset in HDR

[Robert Amoruso]

3 Image HDR using Photomatix Pro Version 3 at Merritt Island NWR in Florida.

Canon 5D Mark II
24-105mm @ 92mm
1/20 sec, 1/10 sec, 1/5 sec, f/11
Mode: Av
Metering: Evaluative
AEB comp: -1, 0, +1
ISO: 400

I went for a bit of the surreal look as that is how I felt when looking at the clouds and shades of pink and blue in the sky. The tops of the clouds are reflecting the pinkish red from the sky as is the water.

[Judd Patterson]

Wow, Robert, those colors are very striking. I just love those pinks and blues and the great clouds in between. I like your compositional choice to limit the foreground water and to focus on the sky...it rules this image well.

[Dave Mills]

I also like the minimalization of the shoreline and water and concentration on all the pastel colors in the sky with
the cloud interplay. The pink hue on the water completes it...

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Robert,
Saw this one last night and wanted to wait and see if others liked it as much as i did and judging from the above comments.......they do! This is great!....not just because you minimized the FG.......but you captured an unbelievable (in a good way) sky pattern ...which the HDR work brought out very nicely and then throw in the cloud pattern and seperation with those amazing colors!!!!.........This may be my favorite sky scape/landscape of yours to date. You nailed this one!

[Robert Amoruso]

Thanks guys. The bottom crop was a no brainer but I did purposely frame the closer mangrove on the left at approximately 1/3 of the length of the horizontal.

I repost the version of the crop w/o any from the top here. What are your thoughts? Did I crop it right? Should I have left more pink?

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Robert,
Crop just above the right cloud about a 1/2 inch for my tastes......makes nice u/v shape and adds more of the beautiful sky back!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Robert
I like your original crop the best. In the second image the pink color becomes dominant and takes you to that color instead of leading you to a gradual change in hues.

[Harold Davis]

robert, i think you were california dreaming on this one!!! love the pink hues. and i like roman's crop suggestion.

[Robert Amoruso]

Dave,

That was my problem when I got ready to crop the image. I cropped from the left cloud to minimize the pink's dominance. I think Roman's suggestion may work best as I did not like cropping in to the right cloud.

Thanks Roman. Thanks Harold.

[Paul Marcellini]

Just print that sky, doesn't need a foreground. But I've been in a soft toned mood focusing more on limited dof abstract macros. =) Either way I love this. Roaman's crop does seem like a good balance though.