[Geysers] great APOD pic!--Faked!

[Pat Snyder]

To illustrate Janet's point about this photo, here are two non-HDR photographs of Pink Cone from September 2012. Lynn Stephens was standing next to me when I took these two shots, so she saw how I exposed them. The first picture is a long exposure, which brings out the sunset but makes the geyser itself in the shade. This is similar to how the White Dome shot would look had it not been artificially lit in some manner, usually with a flashlight.

The second shot had car headlights on the geyser (not my headlights, someone parked next to the geyser who wouldn't turn their lights off). It gives that "unnatural" glow to the geyser.

I have shown these two pictures to many people and so far everyone has selected the one with the geyser in shadow--it seems more natural to the eye, they say. I like both for different reasons.

I've done quite a bit of HDR myself but always to try and achieve natural-looking results. I realize HDR photography can be artistic, and some severe HRD images I have actually liked, but usually it isn't a landscape shot.

There is an excellent article on how much Photoshop is too much Photoshop here, from one of my favorite Northwest photographers, Kevin McNeal:
http://www.photocascadia.com/blog/how-much-is-too-much-when-it-comes-to-photoshop-kevin-mcneal/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhotoCascadiaBlog+%28Photo+Cascadia+Blog%29

As to the White Dome shot, I belong in the "jarring" HDR camp. It was not pleasing to my eye, but recognize that many folks probably liked it.

Pat Snyder

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