jeffniederstadt

warped

An HDR sunset shot near Boone, Colorado with a little tweaking.

An HDR sunset shot near Boone, Colorado with a little tweaking.
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Canon EOS 70D

settings

Aperture f/11.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/100

upload_date

Jun, 2014

Views

1493

Likes

+158

Awards

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Editor's Choice

Peer Award

+75

Superb Composition

+29

Absolute Masterpiece

+12

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

All Star

Magnificent Capture

Superior Skill

Great Find

Jaw Dropping

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken near Boone, Colorado. Being a storm chaser, I was out chasing a storm and while I was photographing the storm I looked behind me and noticed the sunset and thought it would be a good idea to photograph it as well.

Time

After chasing a storm for some time during the day there comes a time when you have to decide whether to continue with the storm, give up when the storm is dying or leave because you are losing light. Well, the sun was setting and the storm was dying so why not photograph the sunset? Luckily on this day we weren't far from home.

Lighting

What caught my eye with this sunset was the crepuscular rays. They looked fantastic and it sets it apart from an ordinary sunset and I wanted to capture that. Using only the natural lighting I set up to bracket the shots so that I didn't have blown out highlights. I could have used a filter but I chose to take multiple exposures.

Equipment

For this shot I used a Canon EOS 70D and a Tamron 10-24mm lens set up on a cheap Sunpak tripod. Nothing special for this one. Just a quick set up, fire off some shots and head home.

Inspiration

Not much inspired me for this image. I love clouds and love what nature has to offer in the sky. It is always changing and makes each image unique. Everyone loves a sunset and I love to share my unique version.

Editing

This image was 3 exposures blended (+3,0,-3). I used Photomatix to initially process the HDR and then followed up with Photoshop CS6. Because there wasn't anything in the foreground I wanted make give the image some character. I wanted to make it interesting so I started trying our different things in Photoshop. After playing around with it, I decided that a curved horizon might look cool. I tried it and I was happy with the final results.

In my camera bag

In my camera bad I have a Canon EOS 70D, Tamron 10-24mm lens, Canon 35-80mm lens, one remote shutter release and two intervalometers. I also carry in my bag a couple ND filters and basic cleaning supplies. New to my gear is a Tamron 150-600mm lens. Now to just find a case for that big lens.

Feedback

Advice that I would give to anyone is to look around as in this case. I was chasing a storm and the main focus was on the storm but behind me was a cool sunset. Sometimes if you pay more attention to your surrounding you just might find something that is more interesting than what you are focused on. Play around with things. Try different settings, try bracketing and try different angles. You never know what you might come up with. When post processing, work in layers and don't be afraid to be creative and try different things. Most important advice I can give is to just have fun. Enjoy taking the photo, have fun processing the photo and then enjoy seeing the final results.

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