HDR Sunrise

I got my new tripod yesterday!  So, I was anxious to get out and try it out this morning.  I woke up at 4 AM and couldn’t go back to sleep.  Photography is so exciting!  I can’t stop thinking about how I’d shoot something or wishing I had my camera with me or that I had the time to stop and take a picture.  I’ve been reading Jasmine Star’s Blog and her story of how she got started in Wedding Photography.  It’s very inspirational to see what she has done over the last 4 years.  I hope I can learn and excel that quickly. 

I couldn’t decide whether to shoot owls or sunrise this morning with my new tripod.  I opted for the sunrise and some silos down the road that I’ve been dreaming about shooting for a while.  When I sized down the pics for this blog they ended up looking too dark and loosing detail (such as the lights on the tops of the silos), but I was pleased with my first serious attempt at HDR.  Unfortunately, the sunrise was not as colorful as it has been in the past couple of days.  With all the clouds in the sky I was hoping for a ton of reds, oranges, and yellows.  I kept dropping my jaw earlier this week as I was jogging down the street wishing I had my camera and a clear view of the beautiful sunrises.  We’ve got a lot of great things to photograph around the house.  Unfortunately, a clear view of sunrise and sunset is not one of them.  I’m seriously thinking about building a crow’s nest that will get me up over the top of the houses and trees for a clear view.

These HDR photos where put together with 7 frames each.   I set up my exposure with my camera on my handy dandy tripod, and then I used shutter speed to give me +/-3 EV exposures in 1 EV steps.  Next time I need to find a more steady subject.  The clouds in these images where moving slightly.  So I ended up with less than sharp clouds when the photos merged.