Coronado Bridge Redux
Coronado Bridge, HDR Treatment
Coronoado Bridge, Single Exposure
More than a year ago, I took a set of photos on Coronado at the dinghy landing. As I typically do, I bracket my shots. Nowadays, I do this more as a crutch to make sure I come away with a properly exposed shot. A year ago, I was in much more of an HDR kick and would process brackets in HDR - even when it wasn't necessary. The first photo is an example of that.
Today, I happened to look at this photo again, and payed more attention to the nominal (EV0) exposure. It was very well exposed. No clipping of the highlights. A small amount of clipping in the deep shadows between the boats, which is fine for me - I tend to like a few true blacks in my photos. I decided I needed to reprocess this image.
The second photo is the result. And I like it better. The clouds and sky look more realistic than the HDR treatment. The boats are also crisper and less "dingy". I'm sure some of the improvement is that my post-processing skills have gotten better. Although some of it is purely knowing when HDR does and doesn't make sense.
Technical notes (single exposure):
- Nikon D7000 w/ Nikkor 18-70mm
- Aperture priority, f/11 at 1/60s
- Processed in Aperture and OnOne Perfect Effects