AFTER THE STORM

Canon EOS Rebel XS, Promaster 19-35 lens @ 19 mm, ISO 100, f/20, 32 seconds

  Having an HDR software that does what I want it to is a whole lot of fun. I am going back and re-processing images that I had given up on for one reason or another and getting something a little more fun out of them.
  Today's post is a long, 32 second exposure from Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, CA. My friend, Erik Kerstenbeck and I spent a glorious evening in February taking photograph after photograph from underneath, along side, and out on the beach of this wonderful pier.
  It rained quite a bit on us that afternoon but as the evening went along, the rain cleared and made for a perfect Pacific Ocean sunset. The clouds were moving extremely fast and as the golden hour light hit made for some great long exposures. The clouds blurred quite well and the surf was flattened by the long shutter.
  Processed this as a single image HDR in Photomatix Essentials and that brought out quite a bit of detail in the pier and the buildings that reside on top of it.  Even out at the very end that is quite a bit off in the distance.