Missed Sunset

Missed Sunset, a photo by Tony DeSantis Photography on Flickr.

While out taking Christmas photos at the local park with my family. We finished up and we were walking back to the car when my daughter said to me "Look Dad, you missed another great sunset". Yes, that was the general consensus around the entire family. So I stopped and made them wait while I shot off a few comps before heading off. They were patient and waited before moving to the truck. They didn't have much of a choice since I had the keys.

I did shoot this hand held, I didn't make them wait while I whipped out the tripod and composed a nice photo at f/11 and low ISO which would have been a 2 to 20 second shot, With HDR that could have been a few minutes per set. Instead I opted for the higher ISO and an F/4 Aperture. I leaned against a tree to steady myself and picked a point to keep my focal point.

The colors were awesome and well worth making the family wait.

The Shot:
3 Shot HDR -2, 0, +2 expanded to -2, -1, 0, +1, +2, F/4, ISO 400

Processing:
Photomatix, Detail Enhancer, Saved as 16 bit tiff

CS-5:
>Uploaded HDR and -1 EV
>Used -1 EV to replace some blown out areas from HDR/Photomatix (Masked and Brushed)
>Nik Color Efex Pro-Pro Contrast at 20% Opacity
>Lab Color-Curves and adjusment on A and B Channels
>RGB Color-Adjustment Layer Levels
>Adjustment Layer Exposure-Slight darkening of image (Removed the haze)
>Nik Color Efex Pro-Tonal Contrast-Sky only
>Topaz InFocus-Overall Sharpening
>Noise Ninja- Noise on sky only
>Sized and Framed for posting