Travel- Sheldon Church Ruins
Please be kind with your comments guys…I am still trying to learn this world of HDR and still retain the realism of the shot. This is a compilation of five exposures to try and keep the highlights in balance and the details in the shadows. This image was shot at the Sheldon Church Ruins on the way to Beaufort, SC. This area is marked as a Historical Site..but, that little old site marker is the ONLY thing marking the lcoation of the beautiful area. It is said that many, many weddings are held here and there is a phone number available to reserve this site for such events.
Doesn’t just looking at this make ya want to take a sip of some fine Mint Julip or some Sweeeet ice Teeea? lolol..lucky for me a had some sweet ice tea, ’cause is was sure hot out there! I do have to give credit to those grand shade trees though, VERY comforting sitting in thier shade with that southern breeze blowing though….
Location: Sheldon Church Historical Site (near Beaufort, SC, USA)
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, Cokin ND Grad filter….and some sweet tea!
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
javashotsblog 
Great color! Umm,does HDR mean – High Definition ….something? (I’m equating it to my world, which shoots a lot in Hi-Def now.)
June 23, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Hey Resa! Almost, it means High Dynamic Range. The human eye can see a much broader range of tones (from highlights to shadows) but a camera cannot. In order to bridge that gap, a photographer can use multiple exposures exposing for specific areas (highlights, midtones, and shadows)normally also using a tripod, then combine those image with a program like Photomatix or Photoshop, etc…and combine all the seperate exposures into one image and blend in the different exposures to create one image that includes all of the highlights, midtones, and shadows in much the same way as the human eye would normally see it. The trick is to blend them in such a way that makes it look real. The photographer then has to bring in his/ her artistry as far as the levels of that blend, the saturation of the colors, composition, etc…Thanks for the comment!!
June 23, 2012 at 5:10 pm
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. Now that I know that, consider my comment a compliment. Do I make sense?
June 23, 2012 at 5:19 pm
You absolutely do Resa….and in HiDef! aka..crystal clear, thank you!
June 23, 2012 at 5:41 pm
IMHO this is suffering Stan from over-saturation of colour, a temptation we all who try HDR tend to do at first. Looks like the scene is on steroids. To get a realistic look step back a bit when you process it.
June 24, 2012 at 6:35 am
My “castle” again — still love the effect…though maybe you were not going for fantasy…. nevertheless – impressed !
June 24, 2012 at 11:22 am
Thank you so much Robyn! If it inspires or moves you in any way, then I have accomplished my goal. In my personal opinion, I feel I try to present a subject not as it is, but rather how I see it. With that in mind, the reasoning is to draw the viewer in and move them to create thier own story…to bring out thier own emotions…when each of us look at a sand castle, we all see something different, even if ever so slightly! And for a little hint, I plan to use this location again for a couple of model related photoshoots…..hope you enjoy them as well! Thanks so much for your comments and visit, always a real pleasure to get the emotions in you stirring!
June 24, 2012 at 4:05 pm
What a great place and a great shot. I’m still learning about photography so some of what you said went over my head, lol. So I learned some, so thanks.
June 24, 2012 at 5:11 pm
So glad to have helped you! Thanks for the comments, and just lemme know if I can help with better explination of this topic for you. Hope you visit often!
June 25, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Looks like an amazing place.
June 27, 2012 at 4:55 pm
Hi Jill! Thanks for the comment, the history of this place is amazing. Some of the history indicates this church was burned down twice during the Civil War ( I have not yet done the research myself, but this is what some of the locals tell me), and to be there was truly enchanting. The late evening is just incredible with the lighting nature pours on this area! Thanks for stopping in, truly appreciate your visits and comments!!
June 27, 2012 at 8:07 pm
It looks to me like you applied HDR to just the bottom half of the photo. How come? Or if not, what creates the obvious line of distinction right there between the top half and the bottom half?
July 14, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Thanks for the visit, comment, and question. The difference is the line created by a Graduated Neutral Density filter. The sky was so bright that I needed something to compensate to avoid blowing out the sky.
July 15, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Ah-ha! One of the reasons I don’t use GND. Never liked them.
What I do when the sky is bright is take an underexposed picture or two. With an underexposure, the information is always there. It just needs to be brought out using something like Photoshop. When the sky is blown out, all the information is blown away, too.
I even create sunset pictures by underexposing pictures taken at noon in broad daylight. Who wants to wait for the actual sunset? Too many things to do……..lol
July 15, 2012 at 5:34 pm