The Smoker
by lifeafter2am

Comment by rodfulk:
Nice Shot

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by Structor:
Excellent shot!

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by dainmcgowan:
beautiful.
excellent crop and nice colours.
good control of the HDR as well.

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by bassbone:
i like the elongated horizon here - it really emphasizes the colors well

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by CassieDoodle:
mmm I know where that is :)
wonderful job!

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by dtremain:
I hate these shots - where you have a dark corner, but can't get rid of it because a main point of interest is also on that side of the shot. Your dark upper left corner distracts from the shot, taking away the impact it would otherwise have. Nothing you can do about it (that I know of).
This is a great shot - nice colors in the water, beautiful sky on the right side. The lights on land are a bit blown out (especially the white / yellow). I can almost hear the water lapping at the shore.

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by rlewis:
Very nice, I like the lights in the sky, the crop is on the mark as well

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by twmax:
Honestly, I like everything about this photo. The colors, the sheen to the water, the range light to dark in the sky, and I think the crop is perfect...makes it look like a panoramic shot. Beautiful!

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by Ja-9:
Really nice location (also in my backyard), I tried this a few months ago but didn't have as good of a result...I agree (like I'm so expert...right...not!) that maybe a longer exposure would have smoothed out the water and sharpened the buildings. But a good HDR...as I have often said...yours isn't pushed to much...I don't like the HDR when it doesn't look realistic enough...enhanced is one thing...

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by lifeafter2am

Comment by lifeafter2am:

Originally posted by digifotojo: This is beautiful. I've tried shots like this on various occasions mainly because I like night light reflections in water. Photomatix seems to have worked very well for this scene. I think perhaps the subtle atmospheric light and/or the probable longer exposure might have been the reason. I've had questionable results with Photomatix when shooting bracketed sunset shots. However, I think your image is exceptional in DOF and color. Very nicely done. I would be interested to know what time it was taken (ie: twilight) and what your exposure time was.

Most of the time I have very little in the way of good results when doing night shots in Photomatix. It is very hard, I have found, to do low light images, because any darkness that is present will be magnified. I am still new to the whole HDR thing though, so I am still learning. Most of the other stuff I am working on needs to be reshot with exposures well over 30 seconds.

This shot was taken just after the sun had set, so there was still some (but really not much at all) ambient light. The exposure times were all between 10 and 30 seconds.