waterfallFinal

Now, here’s an HDRI shot from Buttermilk Falls in Washington Valley Park in Bridgewater, NJ. Two exposures of this scene made in late afternoon (one for the dark rocks, and one for the flowing water) were captured with the 17-50mm F2.8 EX DG OS on the SD1. The straight-from-camera X3F files were exported from Sigma Photo Pro as 16-bit TIFFs, then merged and tone mapped in Photomatix 4. Final contrast sweetening done in Photoshop CS5. If you look very closely, you can see a snake in the lower right of the frame. Based on the size of the snake and image location, this may be a non-poisonous Northern Water Snake, or maybe a Timber Rattlesnake or a Northern Copperhead. If it is either of the last two, I’m glad I discovered it while editing my photos–not while out making them!