Okay, people, I am continuing to venture, one toe at a time, outside my comfort zone. Today’s photo is a scene I notice every morning when I drive by on the way to the gym and today I finally walked down to photograph it. It was perfect because the sun came out, there were lots of puffy white clouds in the sky and the reflections of the trees I sought were grand. But my photo of it, only so-so. So, (to be a bit redundant) I took a step beyond my recently acquired ability to make a few modest levels and curves adjustments. I decided this scene required the HDR effect, which I’ve used before, but not with a photo to which I’ve made adjustments. I couldn’t decide which version I preferred so I’m posting the color HDR version and the same version changed to black and white, plus a third photo of just the reflections, rendered in HDR painterly mode which brings out the ripples in the water and the reflected clouds.
I’m including a fourth photo, actually related to the first three, because as I walked back to my car, I heard a hawk’s call, looked up and captured this Cooper’s hawk as he flew over my head to one of the treetops I had just photographed.
