NOTE:  photos not shown on phones (a WordPress “feature”)…

Sometimes, when you go out for a photo trip, you find absolutely nothing.  And, you drive home, not a single photo taken.  It happens.  But then, driving down a back road to get home, you pass a small creek and spy an amazing reflection!  This photo is one of several that came from such a gem accidentally discovered, just at the right time of day with the right light and the right fall color in the background.

This photo was captured with a Sony RX100M3, using Auto DRO Bracketing.  What this means is, the camera is set to take 5 photos using the DRO (Dynamic Range Optimization) setting, at -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2 stops from the capture setting.  I set the camera to -2 exposure compensation, so in reality, I took -4, -3, -2, -1, and 0.

Using all 5 in Aurora HDR 2018 proved to bring up too much light on the dark areas – I wanted them dark, because they were dark to my eyes, and I liked the contrast I was seeing.  So I used the bottom 3:  -4, -3, and -2 stops exposures, to create the initial HDR image.  I then transferred it to Luminar for adjustments and removal of power lines in the top right corner.  My goal is to faithfully reproduce the emotional impact of the image that I was seeing at the time.  I hope you enjoy!

Aurora and Luminar are produced by Macphun Software.