It's been an interesting month or so. My cataract surgery was a great success - my two running lights match now. I can drive without glasses; my reading/computer glasses are standard (i.e., I don't have to remove one lens anymore). I had a minor medical problem that required daily visits to the doctor for a month. That was the result of ignoring the problem while I attended to the cataract. The 8:00 AM visits are finally over with; that's a good thing since I never managed to shift my bedtime when I started getting up with the sun. The sleep deficit was killing me. Clearing all that from my calendar will let me give the dentist his turn.
I'm still enamored with High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and I have been practicing. Yesterday Mom and I went to Mayfield Park, down by the river near Laguna Gloria. We'd been there before to be entertained by the peacocks, which are still the main attraction. Of course, since they have the run of the place, you have to track them down when you get there. But that's not as difficult as you might imagine. If they're already performing for other park visitors, chances are one or more of the "screamers" will give away their location. I knew they could be loud, but apparently one has become a mime as well. In this case, the screams suggested suggested Freddie Kruger was working mayhem right here in River City. That they were interspersed with very convincing cries for "HELP" might well have had the APD Tactical Squad fanning out across the park landscape had they been paying attention.
Then, of course, when we came upon the scene of the supposed massacre, we found library-quiet fowl - butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. No forensic evidence within miles of this idyll and none of these birds were inclined to be stool pigeons.
I was pleased, however, to be drawn by the birds to a corner of the park I'd missed on previous visits - and three very pleasant lilly ponds. These first three HDR efforts were effected from three single pictures, the under and over exposures necessary for HDR created on the computer rather than being shot under and over exposed on site. This method's not as satisfactory as 3 to 5 shots per HDR image, but it allows me to practice. . . and I can go back later and re-shoot in the accustomed manner.
You can compare the shot above with my "cover photo" on Facebook to see the difference between "normal" shots and HDR images.
If this one looks familiar, it's because I posted a version of it earlier and I've been practicing on it ever since. The scene is Cow Creek and the escarpment in the background is one of the limestone "balconies" which give the Balcones Canyonlands its name. The sun here is behind the ridge and in a normal picture most of the scene would be shrouded in shadow and the sky would be blown out (overexposed). With HDR, all the detail lost in a typical photo is enhanced.
Taken a minute or two later with a slightly different camera angle this is still Cow Creek. Every attempt at an HDR image doesn't yield a satisfactory image. Practice is required to get consistent results. These pics of Cow Creek remind me of some shots I took of the Guadalupe River several years ago. Ah, something else to practice on. . .
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