David's Images of the Day Photoblog
Salto Grande rapids, just before the waterfall. Glacial melt and stormy weather in Patagonia. Torres del Paine National Park. Composite Image taken with a Nikon D3x and 16-35 mm f/4 lens (ISO 100, 34 mm, f/11, 1/125 sec).
Early Morning Double Rainbow in Patagonia. Comparison of HDR (High Dynamic Range) Processing Programs. Digital camera sensors are not able to deal with the full dynamic range that the human eye can process. The same is true with computer monitors and printers. There are several commercial programs that will combine over and under exposed digital images to provide a composite digital image that tries to express the wider dynamic range of the eye. I continue to evaluate the commercial HDR programs. The following images are of an early morning double rainbow taken at Lago Grey in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile during my Photography Workshop in Patagonia with Thom Hogan (10-January-2011). The inital image is the original single exposure. This is followed by four HDR images processed with 1) Photoshop CS5 HDR Pro, 2) Photomatix Pro, 3) Nik HDR Pro, and 4) HDR Express Pro. Please reply with comments on which HDR image you like or don’t like.
We had been hearing about a general strike in southern Chile. Today we found out it was real. Our bus took a back route out of the National Park to avoid a road block, since shutting down the park was one of the strikers objectives. This doesn’t make sense since tourism is a major source of income for the region. We ran into our first road block near a small airport. Several cars blocked the road, and the people ran around in the rain with their black flags (plastic garbage bags). After 15-20 minutes, the cars withdrew and raced down the road to presumable the next road block. The next road block at the intersection of the highway to Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas was more significant. Trucks were used to block the road and a big pile of wood was being set up for a bon fire. The Guardia watched but didn’t do anything. A strike leader who appeared drunk came up to the bus and told us we couldn’t go through to either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales. He did have a solution for us – we could carry all of our gear and luggage through the strike line and catch a ride to the next town. As we walked through, the cars honked, people jeered, and wave their black flags. Once we were through the line, we realized that all of the local taxis were part of the strike, and no local busses would come to pick us up. It was going to be a several mile walk into Puerto Natales in the rain. I was having a really hard time with a residual cough and being run down from a respiratory infection earlier in the trip. Finally, a farmer with a pick-up stopped and took a couple of us and most of our luggage. I would not have made it without his help. During the walk into town, 125 vehicles passed us – many honking. This farmer was the only one that stopped to help. It was clear that there was no way we would be getting to the airport in Punta Arenas for our flights on Wednesday. I called AMEX and had tentative flight reservations made for the following two days. At this point it is not clear how much longer I will be stuck in Chile. This is a lousy way to end this photo workshop, and has really soured any interest in visiting Chile again. Rob is doing the best he can to find out when we can get to the airport. In the mean time, I should be able to catch up on some of my images.
22-January-2011 edit: Check out Thom Hogan’s blog about being held hostage in southern Chile.
We stopped for a few minutes at the entrance to Torres del Paines National Park while our guide paid the entrance fee. There were a number of Guanaco (South American Camels) milling around. All of a sudden two males started chasing each other. I caught this one as it ran right through our group.
