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Robert La Follette
01-02-2008, 03:18 PM
Hello All!

First, I am glad to have found this site, and congrats to all who is putting in the hard work to put this together. I am really looking forward to seeing everyones work, for already, there is some amazing shots here to view!

I wanted to contribute one of my favorites I took in 2007. I shot a HDR of my most favorite place to visit, Honeymoon Island, Florida. I have been to this little slice of paradise hundreds of times, and each time, I find something I have never seen before, and is one of the most peaceful and relaxing place I think I have ever visited.

On Christmas Eve 2007, my wife and I went to Honeymoon to check on the resident Great Horned Owls, but I took a break and decided to try something new (for me at least). I found a location that was perfect for a landscape candidate, so the below was the results of the effort. I have never tried HDR before, and the results came out better then I expected. This was one of those once-in-a-blue-moon type of days, where there was literally no wind at all. I can't remember when there wasn't at least a little breeze since the island in out in the middle of the water. There was even quite a bit of fog over the gulf that day, since there was no breeze to move it off. What was equally as strange is that there was however a thin layer of clouds, but they were moving quite fast across the skies, which resulted in the motion blur in the clouds.

Here is the result:

http://blog.robertlafollette.com/images/honeymoonhdr.jpg

Canon 40D
Canon 24-105mm@24mm
-2 -1 0 +1 +2 HDR
Processed with Photomatix and Photoshop CS3

-robert.

Robert Amoruso
01-02-2008, 03:39 PM
This is very cool looking. Looks like you have a good grasp on the HDR technique. Compositionally it works well too. I like the feeling of depth with the small palmettos in the FG, medium tall palms in the middle ground and the tall pines in the BG.

Only thing I might have been tempted to do is not cut the palm on the left at frame's edge and the tall pine at the right as well as the trunk that exits the right side of frame. Minor nits on an otherwise well planned and executed image. Makes a great card too.

Thanks for posting Robert and looking forward to seeing more. Welcome.

Jason Hahn
01-02-2008, 05:42 PM
Very nice use of HDR, these Florida pine flatlands really lend themselves to using that technique. I agree with Robert, the nits are the trees clipped at the edges. Its a nice view into the woods, and a solid image ot have for stock, but the two focal elemtns, the large pine and the large cabbage palm being clipped take a little away from the image. Since you were already as wide as you could go with that lens, it comes down to swinging left or right or repositioning yourself to try to get something in that will make a nice focal point. The good thing about woods like this is that you can find endless compositions in them, they can be a lot of fun. Good first post, look forward to more!

Jason

Jim Caldwell
01-02-2008, 10:00 PM
Wonderful capture! I agree with the previous comments, but I also frequent Honeymoon Island and I would be willing to bet that if you had framed a bit looser, another tree would creep into the shot! I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Robert La Follette
01-03-2008, 12:12 AM
Thanks everyone for the very well thought out critiques. I have to admit I had the same concerns, so I went back the very next day to give it another shot. Here is the result:

http://galleries.robertlafollette.com/tampabay/images/rjla_tampabay1641.jpg

I had a palm creep into the left side of the frame, for the best angle for this shot is literally shooting through two palms. The one on the right was eliminated as I I had my wife hold it back, but I couldn't do the same with the one on the left (I tried!).

-robert.