Yellowstone National Park just looks so good in HDR (high dynamic range) that it merited another entry! ย Be sure to click on the photos to see every detail in the larger versions.
Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful place – hardly anyone would ever argue differently. ย But from a photographer’s perspective, those magical clouds of sulfuric steam that create such a surreal atmosphere to park visitors can be anything butย magical when trying to capture the spirit of the park accurately. ย Who wants to look at flat, lifeless photos of a gray haze with a few semi-obscured trees peeking out? ย Enter HDR processing, cutting through the steam to reveal the true landscape of Yellowstone and make those bright colors come back to life. ย None of the following shots are “true” HDRs, meaning each photo was a single exposure toned in Photoshop rather than combined multiple exposures, but I hope you’ll enjoy the collection nonetheless (click on the images for larger versions!).
Steam rises against a stormy backdrop at Grand Prismatic Spring
Ready for a new installment in beyond-the-average-exposure photos? ย Today’s the day! ย (To learn more about HDR and how you can try it yourself, check out Digital Photography School’s three-part series on how to get started. ย They also have beautiful examples of HDR done right if you’re in need of further inspiration.)
Montana's Mission Mountains
It may have been a while, but remember “Project New Zealand”? ย (No? ย If not, you can catch up on the story of why New Zealand is a project at the original blog entry.) ย Back in October, I brought you a collection of restored NZ photos with a specific Lord of the Ringsย theme and promised part II at a later date. ย Today isย that later date. ย Enjoy!
The view from Mount Sunday, a rocky hill in the South Island's Rangitata Valley used to portray Edoras in the Lord of the Rings movies
If you’ve bee following this blog for a while, you might be familiar with what I’ve been calling “Project New Zealand.” ย If you’re a newer visitor, the project is, in short, my ongoing work to restore pictures from my semester abroad two years ago, photos I took with the only camera I had at the time: a low-grade little point-and-shoot that didn’t do New Zealand justice by far. ย Ever since I started the project, I’ve been intending to go just a little geek and have a “Lord of the Ringsย edition” of Project New Zealand, devoted to photos of New Zealand locations used in Peter Jackson’s trilogy. ย And I finally got around to it. ย There will certainly be a part II soon, so keep an eye out for it!
The North Island's Mount Ngauruhoe, a volcano in Tongariro National Park used as inspiration for Mount Doom
