My First Stab at an HDR (-like) Photo

I've never been much of a jumper-onner.  Bandwagons hold little appeal for me.

This psychological trait is probably a result of the overall mental state that also has me preferring the life of a loner.

So as the High Dynamic Range imaging made possible and popular by the attributes of digital cameras has been all the rage for several years now, I've never tried to get this look in my own photos.

Yes, I certainly have many photos that I thought could have benefited from this technology, but at the time of their "taking," I did not use a tripod or take a bracketed set of the images.

A couple of weeks ago, after a sleepless Friday night (back pain), I grabbed my camera and bag and got ready to go somewhere local and take some early Saturday morning photos.

My wife wakes early, and came with me, and we ended up on a walk around a local marina that I like to visit for its beauty.

I ended up trying my hand at HDR with this scene at Melbourne Harbor Marina in Melbourne, Florida.  It's located on the mainland where Crane Creek meets the Intracoastal Waterway.  (Our local section of the Intracoastal Waterway is officially the Indian River Lagoon.)

Anyway, it's certainly not a great photo, but I found that I tend to like my HDR photos a little less harsh than many others I have seen.  Many seem to have the "HDR look" screaming at me.  I also added a little softness to the photo to give a bit of the dreamy quality that helps the photo impart some of the emotional impact I felt walking around a beautiful area on a beautiful morning.