Virginia Beach

[Virgelio Carpio]

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I went out early in the morning before sunrise to take pictures of the sun.

Later in the day I went out again with my son hopefully for a swim. But the day was cold and windy and the water dangerous. There were hardly anyone on the water but the lifeguards were busy blowing their whistles to keep people from straying too far.

#1) This was actually my first time to watch the sun rising out of the water. It was surprising because I didn't expect the sun to be so clearly visible.


#2) Hotels along the boardwalk. These hotels will easily set you back upwards of $250 a night. We stayed at the next row of hotels with a "partial view" of the sea meaning the hotels you see here are blocking our view.


#3) Man surfs from under the pier.


#4) Boardwalk.


#5) Not sure what these coin-operated binoculars are good for other than checking people out.


Thank you for looking.

[Virgelio Carpio]

And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...


...we will have you think again.

[Samartino Martini]

Nice HDR shots but they should not be used to photographs people is they look like monsters in results and besides keeping them on hold for a minute will make them uncomfortable....keep shooting!

[Virgelio Carpio]

Thank you Samartino.

By HDR on people, did you mean my shot with the family? If yes, only the background is HDR, my family is not. I took a bracket of 5 shots of the background without my family and created an HDR image, then took one shot with my family, and combined all into one image. So it's a composite of HDR background and non-HDR subjects.

The "monster" look which I take it you meant as criticism actually comes out as compliment because it's the look I wanted -- monstrous. We were supposed to put on our don't-mess-with-us (in a farcical way) faces. I used Topaz Adjust to achieve the look, so, thanks!

[Virgelio Carpio]

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Also, on the subject of not using HDR on people, that I think is the common rule. But it can be done -- and I'd say there's at least one very good reason to break it. I use HDR on people to eliminate moving people and retain only the one that is standing (or sitting) still.

Besides, I think when you mentioned the "monster" look on people, you're referring to Photomatix's "grunge" preset, which is not really a result of the HDR process but more Photomatix's suggested way of crafting HDR images which I'd say is truly eye-popping on landscapes and architecture but not on people .