Duck Hunting With Some Borrowed Lenses

Had the chance to meet up with a fellow DPReview Forum member (brandrx) and play with some of his fantastic (and out of my price range) Telephoto lenses. The Sigma 50-500, and the 500mm Prime (or non-Zoom) lens.

I had a BALL, and just wished I had had more time before it was time to pick up my youngest from my sisters. These are my 5 favorites.

Oh What a Morning!!

Some more shots of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple from last Friday morning. We had been experiencing a few mornings with partly cloudy skies and impressive sunrises. Seizing the day I sallied forth to try to capture the best images I have yet. I think I got close.

This first image is similar to one I shot in the evening of Valentines Day 2009, but with completely different lighting. I am eager to try this in the winter with fresh snowfall. I am curious how that much reflective material will alter the lighting. I really like this one and my wife more than really likes it. I haven't decided which way to crop it, I think I will most likely crop off the left edge but I am not totally sure that having it that off center is a good thing.

This is the only HDR shot that really looked OK, the others I tried had WAY too much cloud movement, I liked the overall look of the sky quite a bit.

I felt that the symbolism of this shot with The statue of the Angel Moroni on the top amid the storm clouds and looking toward the clearing of light and blue sky was worth the effort of making this shot. I spent a lot of time lightening the steeple and the statue.

This is a shot where HDR failed me due to cloud movement. I ended up copying the temple from one shot and superimposing it on top of the too dark one from a shot that had the best sky. There are a few small cloning oopsies, but I really like the overall impression.