From a recent shooting trip with the Beaches Photography Club to North Carolina.
The Blue Ridge Highway is a real treasure and Brevard NC is the waterfall capital of the world - over 225 waterfalls! I had a lot of fun using the slow shutter on the water and got some pretty cool effects in some of the images.
When I was growing up I was a wild man with the finger paints! I loved to use primary colors, to mix them together and to have LOTS of color. As I continue to work and do landscapes I have been learning that a significant part of what I like is super saturation, exageration and really colorful images similar to that time - so I have been using HDR to enhance colors with gradients and saturation tools in post processing. I do not particularly want the hills to look all green - maybe even a dull green at that! I want to see sunrise coloring the hills, the change in leaf color standing out as exciting and proud, and the color of rock walls and waterfalls facinating and rich.
What I hope to see when I look through the lens is for sure different that what I would see when on the hill before the sunrise setting up the camera with a head mounted flashlight. I am trying to end up with something that turns me on - these images are getting closer to that!
If you want the trees only to be green, the hills only to be dark - I get it but that's not why I am doing this, what I am after, what I am about - in my mind these jewels should stand out --- well either that or I have not progressed much from my 5 and 6 year old artistic criteria. Just more expensive tools are in use!
Michael
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