Picture of the Day - 7/18/08

So far, the trip's going well. Gas is running $3.95 to $4.47,. depending on how isolated the station is and the state tax. Oregon is not too bad, considering - Utah and Idaho were pretty expensive. The bad news, of course, is that pulling a loaded trailer results in 8 to 10 mpg!  Ugh!

I'll try to send a picture a day - but no promises. The following picture is impossible to capture with any camera - film or digital. While the human eye can perceive dynamic range (bright to dark) of 8, or more, "stops", cameras can only capture 4-5 at most. The result is that a single image capture the highlights or the shadow details, but not both. I recently purchased Photomatix Pro, which takes the best exposure in three, or more, images and combines them into a single image. This shot Mt. Sneffels (the highest peak in the group) at sunset was a combination of four separate captures, 1 stop apart. This is very close to what the eye actually sees at dusk.