Does anyone remember HDR? It was all the rage 10 years ago. At least it was in Sacramento and Yolo Counties. That was also the time I started doing photography. So I learned how to bracket photos and and process them in Photomatix (The go to program of the day.) to get that painterly look. I’m sure Photomatix would have given me a less painterly look, but that was what we were looking for “in the day!”

I’m bringing this up because looking for balconies in my archives for PR’s Balconies challenge, I realized that most of my photos were HDR images. I also realized that the painterly look made them look soft, or it might have been my skill level at the time.

What fun I had reprocessing them, trying to get them to look less like a painting. Here’s the bunch I worked on. All of them were taken in small country towns. Wood structures with wood balconies. Today, I wouldn’t use HDR for these photos. However, Lightroom will process HDR images without the painterly look. I do like the “look” in the last photo.

I did find two images that I didn’t photograph in HDR. The one on the left is our California Governor’s Mansion. I had an opportunity to tour it when they were restoring the home.

Here’s a blurb on the residence from Wikipedia: The California Governor’s Mansion is the official residence of the governor of California, located in Sacramento, the capital of California. Built in 1877, the estate was purchased by the Californian government in 1903 and has served as the executive residence for 14 governors. The mansion was occupied by governors between 1903–1967 and 2015–2019. Since 1967, the mansion has been managed by California State Parks as the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park.

The house on the right was a house I liked because of the way it was framed and the green trim.

So these are the balconies from the first two years of my photography education. As far as HDR, it’s still useful. I used it when I shot Real Estate photos. I didn’t have any light systems, so I used HDR. I would go in a dark closet, take my three frames, process it in Lightroom and end up with a lighted closet.

Thanks PR for taking me back to the fad of the day when I started photography. When you respond to this fun challenge, please remember to link to her post and use the Lens-Artists tag. And didn’t everyone have fun pairing photos in response to Elizabeth’s Challenge. I was amazed at the varied interpretations that were presented.

And thank you to our three guest hosts: Leanne, PR and Elizabeth. The Lens Artists team will be back next week with Patti presenting the challenge. Be sure to look for her post.