Still Lake

I recently started playing with a piece of software called Photomatix that creates High Dynamic Range images from a series of bracket exposures. Today's entry, along with the next two to come, are my first real attempts at creating anything interesting with the software. This image was created from five separate exposures, each 1 stop apart: -2, -1, 0, +1, +2. I shot it at my in-laws lake house using a Canon 20D with a 70-200 f/4.0 lens mounted on a tripod. The five were blended in Photomatix to create a single HDR image, then Tone Mapped. I still don't understand what's happening with Tone Mapping, so I won't even bother to try to explain it. (Head over to HDRSoft.com for more info.) More on HDR images and working with Photomatix in upcoming posts...