OHIO HDR

You didn't think I'd forgotten about High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography, did you? Gotta keep practicin'. I had visions of spending a day in the junkyard with my camera, but it didn't happen. . . this time. For some reason, the eerie surrealistic qualities that HDR sometimes emphasize works very well with vehicles that have seen better days, be they cars, trucks, or planes.

I can't remember what this building used to be - a shed or a small barn. Don said they kept a few cows over here for awhile, but it must have been during the years I was absent. In any case, the weathered wood and the junk in the shed called me over to try my techniques at this site. So, without the cows, one might wonder about the rolls of hay in the first three pictures below. I guess it's just a case of, "You never know when someone will need some hay."

From the porch of Charles' house, where everyone sits and enjoys the early summer evenings - none of us wonders any longer why Uncle Louis always seemed so happy sitting there - that bare, well-lit remnant of a tree in the darkest section of the woods stood screaming at me to break out my camera. By the time I finally succumbed to its cries the light had turned orange (Hook 'em Horns) - just right for an old Longhorn.

This is my Lexus RX350 brochure shot, with the house in the background. I didn't notice I'd left the hatchback up until I started working on the post-processing when I got home. The car is Mary's; she loaned it to us for the road trip to Ohio and it served us well. (It wasn't the car's fault it ran out of gas east of Oxford Mississippi.) The skies look pretty intimidating but there were no tornadoes and precious little rain. This picture was taken in the early afternoon and we did get about 20 minutes of very refreshing rain about 6PM.

This was taken from near the same spot, the point of interest just shifted a bit to the upper right. The middle car at the edge of the yard is a tricked out Jeep Cherokee with a stick shift. It's hard to find a stick when you need one but John came up with this one. Lisa and Amy felt the need to practice driving with a standard transmission. Good for them.

This is the treat I got for wandering around with my camera all afternoon looking for targets of opportunity. Most all of the reunion attendees had gone home - those still in the area had turned their attention to other things. The late rain and its attendant rainbow had disappeared, leaving cool, clear skies.

Walking back across the pasture I just stopped every now and then and shot another set for my HDR practice. The house on the left is the Furey homestead. That on the right has some new residents: Austin and his wife Anna had started moving in a few days previously - nice neighbors.

I didn't know whether these two would work out or not, since they had people in them. I usually have to warn them to be still for a few moments lest their movement in the 3-shot HDR set make them appear to be apparitions or doppelgängers of Cathie and Charles. Even the petunias sat there quietly. No fuss; a sense of calm rules Grant Street.

A few more in my next post taken on the road home. Gillian and David may be able to guess where I stopped for pictures. I was very pleased. They turned out really well and took only a few minutes to shoot. So this post is done and I can move to my recliner and give the Rangers the attention they deserve. . . tied 1-1 just now with the Red Sox at the top of the 7th.