Shining Through

Photo of the Day

Yesterday I shot a couple of events on the campus of Purdue. I shot the first match of the Mortar Board Tournament followed by the Purdue Soccer match against Northern Illinois. Both of these were to help my portfolio grow a bit. The soccer game kept getting delayed by lightning. During the long delay before the game I just kept making pictures. The sun was setting creating an interesting dynamic on the field. I stayed on the far side knowing that it would pass through the small opening above the press box. It did just that, and I came away with a picture that I really liked. I was there to shoot game action, but during the delay I started thinking like a landscape photographer just to pass the time. I came away with a few interesting shots that may end up on here in the future.

Technical Data

This is a three shot HDR image that was shot a little differently than what I normally do. I shot at -4, -2, and 0 for my bracket. This accounted for the direct sunlight, but still allowing me to capture the details in the stadium. I used to use six brackets in a situation like this, but three is really all that is needed most times. You just have to make sure that the sun and your subject are exposed properly in two of the shots. After running the photo through Photomatix I saved the 32 bit tiff file to Lightroom so that I could use the sliders there. I think that they help render a much more realistic image than the sliders in Photomatix can do. It may by my knowledge of both programs though, but I go with what I know. After a little tweaking the photo was ready to post here. I will post a link to my game action pictures when I get them up.