Thirty Days of Thanksgiving | Day 7

I can’t believe that a week of November has already come and gone! I’ve really been enjoying blogging and sharing photos daily.

Today’s photo is another taken at the California Photo Festival in a class with Rick Sammon focused on HDR (high dynamic range). The class was originally meant to be held outdoors at a really cool farm that has a lot of old rusted out cars and barns full of junk/treasures (depending on how you look at it). However, that day it was pouring down rain so the class was held indoors in the atrium of the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo.

I noticed this piano in the atrium and asked the hotel staff if we could open it up for a few photos, to which they graciously complied.  After our instructor, Rick, played a few bars on the piano we got down to work with our photos. I spent a lot of time working with different angles to get this shot and I LOVE what I came up with.

This image was created with an Induro AKB1 Tripod mounted Canon EOS 7D and Sigma 8-16mm Ultra Wide Angle Lens. This HDR photo is comprised of seven (7) frames shot at 0 (3.2 sec), -1 (1.6 sec), -2 (0.8 sec), +1 (0.4 sec), +2 (6 sec), +3 (13 sec), +4 (25 sec), f/8, 8mm, ISO 100. Processing for this image was done in Lightroom, Photomatix Pro , Photoshop, Topaz Adjust , and Nik Silver Efex Pro.

Today I am thankful for:

• My crock pot – today ihas been crazy busy and I’m grateful that I thought ahead to plan a meal that was ready to eat when I got home (Beef & Shallot Stew)
• My Facebook fans – Last night one of my friends said “They make me dream” in reference to my photos – I don’t think an artist can get higher praise than that! The support of my friends and family means the world to me – I just can’t say that enough!
• A glass of Beaujolais – After a long day it is so nice to sip a glass of wine. Its the perfect time of year to drink Beaujolais! I can’t wait to try this year’s nouveau.

What are you thankful for today?