Dry Brush Water

Today's blip was a comedy of errors ... mostly MY errors. I had wanted to do that experiment with HDR waterfalls that I had promised to do but I have had to retreat from my intentions in considerable disorder. The middle of the day is no time to go chasing waterfalls. Right? But today was nicely overcast and so I figured that there'd be no nasty excesses to spoil things. Wrong!  By the time I got on-site there was broad sunshine with deep shadows and potential blown highlights everywhere. To make matters worse isolated clouds were roaring across the sky ahead of a strong wind. Consequently the lighting conditions were varying wildly almost from frame to frame, making valid comparisons between adjustments pretty much impossible.

Aaanyway I didn't get done what I had been hoping to accomplish but what you see above is a set of five blended exposures, each separated by a stop under aperture priority and processed by Photomatix's "enhanced" preset. I had to admit that the result looked a bit lacking in contrast and (frankly) boring. Out of idle frustration, I ran the whole thing through the "dry brush" filter for the hell of it. To my amazement it looked so interesting I thought I'd post it.

As it happens, we are going to be pretty occupied for the next week or so and I shall need to be taking a Blip break for most or all of that time. I may get the opportunity to shoot a few pictures in which case I shall backblip later. In any event I hope to post again in seven days or so. All the best to everyone.