# Hamilton Pool Reserve



## Lyncca (Aug 28, 2008)

I think I should officially be locked up in the looney ward. Yesterday, I drove 4 hours followed by 1.5 hrs of hiking in 97 degrees to take a couple of pictures and then get back in my car and drive 4 hours back. 

This is the Hamilton Pool Preserve, located south of Austin. The pics of the grotto are the hardest pictures I have tried to take. The inside of the grotto is barely lit, while the outside is in full open sun. My camera only brackets 3 shots, so I had to manually take from 5-7 on these first two. The rest of the bracketed shots were only 3 (the trail shots aren't HDR).

Anyway, here they are. I tried not to over-bake them too much, but it was really hard in post processing too!

1) (7 exposures, but got cloud movement)






2. (5 exposures)





3. back of the grotto:





4. roof of the grotto





5. trails on the way





6. more trails


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## invisible (Aug 28, 2008)

Photo number 1 is probably worth the 8 hours driving and all the hiking in the heat. The light is just perfect ant the colours bright without being saturated or HDR-overdone. I don't think the cloud movement conspires against the quality of the final product, at all. 

I assume you shot it with your Tokina lens, no? Very, very nice capture.


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## 250Gimp (Aug 28, 2008)

Great shots!!  

You didn't overdo the HDR at all, which is great!!


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## Coldow91 (Aug 28, 2008)

They look great! sweet processing


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## Lyncca (Aug 29, 2008)

invisible said:


> Photo number 1 is probably worth the 8 hours driving and all the hiking in the heat. The light is just perfect ant the colours bright without being saturated or HDR-overdone. I don't think the cloud movement conspires against the quality of the final product, at all.
> 
> I assume you shot it with your Tokina lens, no? Very, very nice capture.


 
thank you and yes they were with the tokina lens.



250Gimp said:


> Great shots!!
> 
> You didn't overdo the HDR at all, which is great!!


 
I reprossesed the first 2 four times before I was finally convinced they were as good as I could make them!


Coldow91 said:


> They look great! sweet processing


Thank you


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## bikefreax (Aug 29, 2008)

I LOVE #1. Perfect in every way. Wish I had someplace around here like that. Nice job.:thumbup::thumbup:


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## Fox Paw (Aug 29, 2008)

Very nice, particularly number one.  I remember Hamilton Pool well from my years in Austin.  You captured it well.


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## manaheim (Aug 30, 2008)

Wow, you did a hell of a job on these, and yeah... I can tell some of them were really tough.

I think you might have been a little heavy-handed in PP... oversharpened I think? Maybe a touch too much contrast, but that's debatable.

EDIT: btw, I think the colors may be off a hair on the first few... a bit yellow maybe?

Regardless, these look _amazing_. This has to be one of the more interesting places I have ever seen a picture of- totally amazing. That was WELL worth the trip. A very big :thumbup:!


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## Lyncca (Aug 30, 2008)

bikefreax said:


> I LOVE #1. Perfect in every way. Wish I had someplace around here like that. Nice job.:thumbup::thumbup:


Well, it certainly wasn't around where I live. Austin is beautiful. The most I can say about DFW is that I am getting good at shooting buildings. 



Fox Paw said:


> Very nice, particularly number one. I remember Hamilton Pool well from my years in Austin. You captured it well.


 Thank you.  I had never heard of it until an aquaintenance emailed me about it to give ideas for a place to shoot.



manaheim said:


> Wow, you did a hell of a job on these, and yeah... I can tell some of them were really tough.
> 
> I think you might have been a little heavy-handed in PP... oversharpened I think? Maybe a touch too much contrast, but that's debatable.
> 
> ...


 
I didn't sharpen them, but I see what you are talking about.  I think its just the HDR with so many layers.  I even painted back in the original in areas to try to help with it.  There is also a lot of yellow in them, but it seemed to look better that way.  I may try it again later and see what I get.


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## manaheim (Aug 30, 2008)

^^ oh I didn't realize these were HDRs. Nice job! Those have to be the best HDRs I've ever seen... because I had absolutely no idea it was an HDR! Guess I should read more carefully next time. 

I was _wondering_ how the heck you got that exposed.


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## invisible (Aug 30, 2008)

manaheim said:


> EDIT: btw, I think the colors may be off a hair on the first few... a bit yellow maybe?


Lynnca, don't pay attention to anything manaheim says about yellow casts. He sees yellow issues in every photo. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to have his eyes recalibrated, but it's apparent he hasn't yet


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## Lyncca (Aug 30, 2008)

manaheim said:


> ^^ oh I didn't realize these were HDRs. Nice job! Those have to be the best HDRs I've ever seen... because I had absolutely no idea it was an HDR! Guess I should read more carefully next time.
> 
> I was _wondering_ how the heck you got that exposed.


 
Wow, thanks   They have to be HDRs because from the back of the cave where I was standing is completely dark when exposed for the sky. I searched the internet all over before going for pics and there are only a few successful ones out there because of the conditions.




invisible said:


> Lynnca, don't pay attention to anything manaheim says about yellow casts. He sees yellow issues in every photo. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to have his eyes recalibrated, but it's apparent he hasn't yet


 
 :lmao:


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## manaheim (Aug 30, 2008)

invisible said:


> Lynnca, don't pay attention to anything manaheim says about yellow casts. He sees yellow issues in every photo. A few weeks ago he told me he was going to have his eyes recalibrated, but it's apparent he hasn't yet


 
:lmao: :lmao: :lmao: :lmao:


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## ShakeyBlakey (Sep 1, 2008)

WOW, 1 and 2 are my favorites, that place looks really amazing, it was worth the long trip


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