HDR - High Dynamic Range
I really did not realise there were such extremes to HDR
until I started looking at a few tutorials on HDR.

You can do it to the extreme and make surreal images with amazing detail or you can use it

very subtly and make images that are so life like that it is in a sense surreal in itself.

I had seen a few tutorials and most of them were so technical that I just thought "Umm, OK maybe one day" but in the mean time I was stock piling images that I thought would be good for HDR , whenever I did learn to do it!

I stumbled upon this website that had the most basic tutorial on how to do HDR with Photomatix and it was one where I thought
"I can do that !" So here is my first two attempts at HDR.
Nowhere near great but done in less than 5 minutes.

Pompano Beach, FL - Storm Front - Looking West over the Everglades

West Coast - USA

Here are some images from my friend Jay Paredes who first told me about HDR.

http://www.evergladesphotosociety.org/

Amazing !! That's how I will start this.

I left Pompano Beach , Fl and drove 2 /12 hours to Sanibel Island on Florida's West coast

and met up with Jay Paredes and Chuck Hersh and as soon as I opened my car door they announced the chicks have hatched lets go !

I quickly set up and trekked 3/4 a mile up the beach to find fellow photographers Hugh McLaughlin , John Cornell and Jim Urbach set up and snapping away and I quickly followed suit !

This all happened because of EPS member Hugh McLaughlin befriended a college student and helped her some with her photography, staying in touch from time to time and she in return
provided expected hatch dates , Hugh not only supplies her with SP images for her projects, but he gives her instant updates, including times of hatch and behavior, that helps fill out the research.

It was a beautiful two days with friends and nature.

Started the day at 6:15 AM when I picked up friend & fellow photographer Jay Paredes " Beauty of the Wild " and we headed due south towards Miami to find the elusive Swallow Tailed Kite !

It took a good hour fighting morning rush hour traffic but we found the location of the STK nest and then had to find a spot to park as it was in the middle of a residential area. I dropped Jay off at the site and found a spot about a mile away and then trekked back to the site with two other fellow photographers I met up with while parking. John Cornell and Hugh McLaughlin !

We hiked back to the site and after an hours wait we were rewarded with several direct fly overs that resulted in full frame images of the beautiful Swallow Tailed Kite !

After two hours and the meter running out for car parking spot , John, Hugh & I headed back to the cars. John & Hugh called it a day but I went back for another hour with Jay. We witnessed several Red-Tailed Hawks , American Kestrels and Ibis. Jay saw two wild Blue & Gold Macaws flying free while I went to park the car.

Jay & I had several more fly by's and filled our cameras buffers up more than once.

SO now I am back and downloading images once again but no time to post as now I am out the door for Memphis, TN !

Pictures & stories later .

Michael Wolf