Christian Photographers Community

These are some shots from this past weekend. I was at a place in Northern Minnesota called "Covenant Pines" for a Men's Retreat.

I was telling Barbarian in another thread that I was experimenting with ND Graduated filters and Photomatix. I am not altogether pleased, but as a first shot at this type of photography I'm okay with it. I learned some things I will do different next time. The tonal range from the sun to the foreground is HUGE. I think our eyes can process around 24 stops (levels) of light, while a decent camera only records 10-14, thus the need for special processing if you want to record more tones.

Here's the seven images I used, I used two ND Graduated filters, then Photomatix:



The processed image:


After all the processing, I think I prefer something along the lines of the 5th image over the higher dynamic range image:

A couple more shots from the weekend. It's a beautiful camp (even more so in the fall).
I wasn't sure how many I should post (a few more are here in my gallery:
http://myfotoguy.zenfolio.com/p953955167/e28eb4162 )

We had a wonderful weekend praying and sharing together.

What a great selection of photos!  Thank you for posting them.  We'll be looking for more, now.  And more.  And more! 

That chipmunk must have been really hungry to start eating his own tail! 

Jeanne you took the words out of my mouth.


Beautiful pictures, well done.  And Jeanne is right we want more, and more , and more!!!

Judy, we often seem to think alike!   

Quote from: Jeanne Lee on March 25, 2010, 10:04:41 AM
That chipmunk must have been really hungry to start eating his own tail! 

That's funny!

Jeanne Yes we do!

In that second last one....The life saving ring, looks ready to use.  We have one ready for us too!

Quote from: JudyB on March 25, 2010, 11:15:58 PM
The life saving ring, looks ready to use.  We have one ready for us too!

I should have posted that one in the "What Easter Means to Me" challenge.

I like your work.   I haven't tried an HDR sunset yet.   Sounds like an interesting challenge.

Thanks Barbarian. I am somewhat anxious to try it again (without the filters). Probably once all the ice is gone.

You could still do that with the Easter contest!

Beautiful, memorable shots-I especially like the chipmunk! 

Quote from: juanital on April 06, 2010, 10:30:34 AM
Beautiful, memorable shots-I especially like the chipmunk! 

Thanks. That chipmunk shot was rewarding. There were a couple scurring around and I wasn't able to get a good shot earlier. But I went back and slowly approached and was able to get this just before he jumped and ran.

I've been toying with the idea of downloading Photomatix, and I think you've convinced me to do it.  That's a great composition, given what you had to work with in terms of available light in your 7 images.  I would have thought you used a star filter as well...did Photomatix create the star pattern, or was that native in the images?  Nice job!

Quote from: BigSkyKen on April 08, 2010, 12:55:39 AM
I've been toying with the idea of downloading Photomatix, and I think you've convinced me to do it.  That's a great composition, given what you had to work with in terms of available light in your 7 images.  I would have thought you used a star filter as well...did Photomatix create the star pattern, or was that native in the images?  Nice job!

Thanks Ken. The star pattern is native, due to the small aperture. I think you often don't see it unless the area around the light source is somewhat "dark". I have noticed this in some night shots I have taken too, where the street lights do the same thing.