Hi folks.
It is indeed a HDR image. HDR means High Dynamic Range. You basically set your camera up on a very sturdy tripod, and rattle off a series of identically composed shots (in this case 7), but over the course of the series you gradually fade up from under-exposed, through the correct exposure, finishing up at over-exposed.
This way, you get the entire dynamic range. The art is to blend the images tastefully. It's hard to do, and very, very easy to get wrong. Moving objects, such as clouds, can cause big problems, because obviously they appear in a slightly different position in each exposure. Luckily for me, there was no wind up there on Saturday night, so the sky was reasonably static. I shot all 7 exposures in under 12 seconds, which captured everything in just about the same place.
Sometimes moving objects can give a very nice effect in HDR images, but I didn't want any fancy frills on this photo. I wanted to make it look like a 'real' image, and I'm happy with the outcome.
The compostion of the shot isn't exactly how I wanted it, but I was very limited in terms of where I could postion myself. The whole area around XR724 is sectioned off by a 8ft iron mesh fence, so I placed myself as near as possible, and poked the camera and tripod legs through a hole in the fence.
I was going to call the shot 'Last on the line", but I also like the suggestion of 'Still on guard', so I'm undecided as yet. I like the way the aircraft is sat in the cooler looking area, gazing up to the warm sunset. She probably misses being up there.
Anyways, thanks to my buddy for hosting it on his Flickr account now - much better than my Photobucket account. It's good Flickr, innit? Might have to get myself an account on there.
When I get my laptop back, I'll open up the high res version and see what I can do for those folks who want it. I like the idea of a modest charity donation.
Tom.
Last edited by harrogate; 16th Apr 2008 at 10:45.