Ryon (Skorz)'s Photos : Popular Photos : Taken outside the Steps of Rome restaurant, in San Francisco. There is not much else to do when you are waiting an hour and a half for a table. In retrospect, I wish I had used my sharp 50mm lens for this shot (instead of my cheapo Sigma, which has circus mirror-like distortion) and maximized my depth of field.

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Ryon (Skorz) > The western sky is awash in yellows and oranges as the sun sets. It's always a battle between my urge to photograph these amazing things and my desire to simply invite someone whom I care about, and just watch together with them.

Ryon (Skorz) > The sun sets over west Austin, casting the curvacious lines of the 360 bridge in red, iluminating the buildings of downtown in a pinkish hue, and accentuating the autumn colors of the trees.

I love this town!
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This exposure is a HDR amalgamation of three separate exposures. Note the posterization of the water beneath the bridge and the sky the results from combining exposures that contain movement. The astute viewer will notice the repeated cars in traffic.

While I don't believe that digital techniques such as these are 'cheating' per se, I do believe that used incorrectly, they can be a crutch or a substitute for proper technique. Arguably, there is no difference between this, and simply adjusting the contrast and saturation on any normal photo. However, I would say that utilizing HDR and exposure blending willy-nilly simply is an attempt to recreate lighting conditions that simply did not exist at the time the photographer took the exposure, while contrast/saturation editing is simply altering light and colors that were already present.

HDR is simply a way to increase the dynamic range of light in a photograph, much like Galen Rowell did with his stacked filters. However, Galen was well aware of how his filters affected the light available to a camera, while it takes no such consideration to shoot seven exposures of the same scene and have a computer do this work.

After considering all of the arguments, I have decided to stop using HDR for the time being. I would rather suffer through countless forgettable and below-average exposures in order to develop the knowledge to make correct exposures in the first place! It is within the context of this knowledge that the photographer may use HDR properly and in a tasteful manner.

As the Dalai Lama says, "You have to know the rules well enough in order to break them".

Ryon (Skorz) > The sun sets behind a live oak tree in Zilker Park.

The effect was created by starting a half-second exposure with my 18-70mm zoom lens set to 24mm, and smoothly but quickly zooming to 50mm after about 1/4 of a second had elapsed.

Thanks to my friend Jing for dubbing this the "puschhhhhhhhhhhew" effect. Please let me know if I spelled that wrong, Jing!

Ryon (Skorz) > The dreary, drizzly afternoon had dashed my hopes for a photographic foray, so I instead spent the day cleaning my house and running various Christmas errands. While vaccuming my room, I suddenly noticed a brilliant orange-red stripe of light across my wall. Looking out the window I saw the clouds parting, making way for a gorgeous sunset. I grabbed my camera and tripod and ran to my truck to get to the top of the hill just in time to see the spectacular colors evolve in daylight's final gasp of life, making way for night.

Watching that sunset made me realize more than ever one of the reasons why I take photographs, to capure moments like this that would otherwise be lost forever. Things like sunrises and sunsets last only a few precious moments, and if you dawdle, you will miss them. Just like life itself.

Ryon (Skorz) > The setting sun casts a warm glow on downtown Austin and the intermediate neighborhoods of really rich people and their golf course.

This shot is an HDR composite of three separate shots. Does that make it cheating somehow? It is all art, but there is something missing.

Ryon (Skorz) > The historic Bixby Bridge of California Highway 1.

Ryon (Skorz) > Taken outside the Steps of Rome restaurant, in San Francisco. There is not much else to do when you are waiting an hour and a half for a table.

In retrospect, I wish I had used my sharp 50mm lens for this shot (instead of my cheapo Sigma, which has circus mirror-like distortion) and maximized my depth of field.

Ryon (Skorz) > Storm clouds gather menacingly overhead, matching the equally menacing smokestacks of the old Seaholm Power Plant. This is the same building as featured in this photo.

I think this is my favorite of all the photos I have taken.

Taken outside the Steps of Rome restaurant, in San Francisco. There is not much else to do when you are waiting an hour and a half for a table.

In retrospect, I wish I had used my sharp 50mm lens for this shot (instead of my cheapo Sigma, which has circus mirror-like distortion) and maximized my depth of field.