My Landscape Experience in Matador part 2 (HDR practice)

little T: f/4, 1/60, iso 125 24-105@ 24

whole lot of nothing: bracketed exposure, iso 125

Okay, so we went to Matador which is about a two hour drive from Lubbock. I did what my books told me to do. Went out at sunset to get the, duh, sun setting across the land, then got up at 6:00 am to take photos at the "golden hour" of sunrise. The weather was okay in the evening, but truly friggin cold early in the morning and I couldn't function well.
The burnt landscape was quite dramatic, but as I expected, it was truly hard to get the picture of its entirety.  I got a very compelling shot of a wild pig that died in the fire. It's truly very compelling. It tells a story. But I think it falls into the objectionable category (so gross), so I don't know quite what to do with it.
Today, I tried what is called HDR (high dynamic range) processing. It's a technique that is popular for landscape these days, and one achieves the effect by manipulating exposure. Anyways, I tried it. I don't know if I'm such a huge fan of such trendy effects but I wouldn't even know this if I didn't try 'em!  It does make the landscape look sort of freaky and eerie though. I'm pleased with the composition of little T: it has a foreground, middle ground, and background just like my books suggested. Little T was not actually shot in HDR because I didn't know how to bracket then. Whole Lot of Nothing was shot in exposure brackets. It only took 5 minutes to learn how to do that.
All in all, I don't think I can ever be a landscape phtographer. I like lifestyle and fashion a lot more, and people. Also, I hate getting up that early all the time. Still, I think I can do better in landscape with more practice. enjoy!