Best of 2012

I wanted to figure out which of my images would follow into the "Best of 2012" category.  I have shot a lot of crap, but I have also shot a few pictures that I am really happy with.  The following would be the top 15 based on visitor popularity and my own preference. They appear in no specific order.

HDR image of a train from the Western Railway Museum

Residence at Black Diamond Mine regional park

Old Oak at Sycamore Valley regional park

Round Valley regional park

Vasco Caves regional park. Access by guided tour only

Contra Loma regional park

Sunset over the Green

My best editing work of 2012- "Tiny Farm"

Mt. Diablo seen over Marsh Creek

Brushy Peak regional park

Rusty tanker in Brentwood CA. Love the flat tire.

This tree at Black Diamond Regional Park was a finalist for the 2012 calendar

Macro shot at Los Vaqueros Reservoir

Brushy Peak Regional Park

Old building at Black Diamond Regional Park

Old Vasco Truck

Every day I drive home from work I have passed this old truck way off in the distance under a couple of trees. It has never moved. No obvious access roads exist. Just a truck and some trees.  I did once see some ranchers in the area...

Anyway, I have always wanted to get a photo but access is not very good and the road isn't very safe, but I did find a spot to safely stop and then walk about 1/4 mile with my tripod.

When I zoom in a little I can see that the windshield appears to have been replaced by either wood or painted metal.

I took these shots with my Nikon 70-300mm lens and I couldn't get in any closer to really get more detail from the truck.  I have no idea what model of truck it is.

To the right of the truck I managed to get a nice HDR image of Mt. Diablo

HDR or just Tonemaped?

Tonemapped

Someone asked me recently if the above image was an HDR image or just tonemapped. Sometimes it really is hard to tell. First to answer the question, the above image was tonemapped with the Photomatix Plugin for Aperture. I also used a circular polarizer when I shot the image.

Unedited version of the above image

Tonemapping is a pretty dangerous form of editing. You can easily go way too far and make an image look like a cartoon. For sure it is all about personal taste and I know some people really hate it. I enjoy how it can bring out the clouds and bring out detail in grass and trails.  I try pretty hard to find a good place that allows things to be bright but still realistic.  When it comes to urban exploration images, I really enjoy heavily tonemapped colors.

True HDR Image of Mt. Diablo

The above image was created using a true HDR process. 3 bracketed images were combined and then tonemapped in Photomatix.