Vasquez Rocks #2

Today was another beautiful day. J and I are always saying "the weather is always nice in Southern California", and today was no exception. We were really surprised, however, when I was able to get my consultation with the vascular surgeon today. After the surgeon reviewed my test results with us, we all agreed that at this point in time, surgery isn't the best option. Yeah! But he did order another test.

I had another opportunity to take some shots at the Vasquez Rocks County Park. The light was wonderful with a few wispy clouds around to add interest. For this photo, I bracketed five shots with an ISO 125, aperture priority with an f-stop of 7, and shutter variations for exposure values of 0, -1, -2, +1 and +2. When I got back home, I loaded the raw files, converted them to DNG files using Adobe DNG Converter, merged the five shots using HDR Efex, increased the contrast and structure, sharpened the image, layered a 30% black and white overlay, flattened the image and converted to jpeg. Whew!

I really liked the light on the rocks and shrubs, as well as the texture on the rocks. The Rocks are very photogenic with lots of options. The only negative thing is that the park closes at 5pm. No more sunset shots. And the park doesn't open until 8am, so no dawn shots either.

Go large to see the lizard.

Thank you all for your great comments, stars and hearts for yesterday's Desert Sunset.