Christmas Trees in the Windows

jstpeter · December 11, 2008

A couple days ago it was a record high of 81 at about 3 PM in Austin. By midnight it was snowing and 32. I was up and thought lets see if there is anything good to shoot around town. I headed to downtown Georgetown and it was a ghost town no cars no people just the store fronts and the Christmas lights. While the snow did not stick to anything the wet empty streets and the lights in the store fronts made for some great photos. The city hall bell started ringing at midnight and it was eerily fascinating. While it was cold and wet the silence around me was quite calming and the glow of the lights just seemed to warm you up by themselves. Be on the look out for more post from this night as I finish my processing.

This is a 4 exposure HDR

Jack'll do · December 11, 2008

I didn.t care for this at first but the more I look at it, the more it draws me in. It kind of reminds me of one of thos little christma

This is what happens when you try to put your feet up, lean back in the chair and put the keyboard on your lap! It doesn't help if you have a little dog on you lap at the same time.

My response is written over below`.

Jack'll do · December 11, 2008

I didn.t care for this at first but the more I look at it, the more it draws me in. It kind of reminds me of one of those little Christmas village ceramic pieces. It also has a sort of Currier & Ives look to it.
Good job

Pupator · December 11, 2008

What a neat shot! Well done. I think if I'd taken it I'd use it as my desktop wallpaper on all my computers throughout the holidays and print it BIG to hang up during the Christmas season.

rwells · December 11, 2008

Nice

redleash · December 11, 2008

Terrific shot--can't wait to see the others! Nice HDR processing.

jstpeter · December 12, 2008

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

jack'll do - The first shot in this post was the last one I composed that night and I too thought when composing it that it had potential but was a well we will see. During processing I too was drawn in to the subtle nuances of the frame. When viewed at full frame it is even better. What stood out to me in the entire photo are two items. the "closed sign on the green door and tha upstairs apartment with the lights on. The "closed" sign turned over on the green doors reminds me of what a downtown street would look and sound like on Christmas Eve. All the stores have closed and all that remains are the cold street and glowing lights. Then you add what looks like an apartment upstairs with the lights on and the tree in the window. I imagine a young couple in their apartment sipping on some wine staying up late and wondering how much it is going to snow. To me this is one of those photos you can look at at find something new everytime and one in which two people looking at the same photo can see two completely different stories. Images like this is why I LOVE photography and makes all the deleted files worth the time!

Here are two more but IMO not as good as the first.

Roadkill · December 12, 2008

Very nice. I didnt even know what HDR was until I did some searching after your post. Now I am excited to give it a go. Thanks for sharing.

jstpeter · December 12, 2008

RoadKill,

If you need any help or tips just give me a shout.

MaryBoo · December 13, 2008

I love the Xmas tree shoot

Skippy · December 13, 2008

jstpeter wrote:

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

jack'll do - The first shot in this post was the last one I composed that night and I too thought when composing it that it had potential but was a well we will see. During processing I too was drawn in to the subtle nuances of the frame. When viewed at full frame it is even better. What stood out to me in the entire photo are two items. the "closed sign on the green door and tha upstairs apartment with the lights on. The "closed" sign turned over on the green doors reminds me of what a downtown street would look and sound like on Christmas Eve. All the stores have closed and all that remains are the cold street and glowing lights. Then you add what looks like an apartment upstairs with the lights on and the tree in the window. I imagine a young couple in their apartment sipping on some wine staying up late and wondering how much it is going to snow. To me this is one of those photos you can look at at find something new everytime and one in which two people looking at the same photo can see two completely different stories. Images like this is why I LOVE photography and makes all the deleted files worth the time!

Here are two more but IMO not as good as the first.

Ohhhh I love these two Peter

in particular the second one,
the stone buiding looks great in HDR.

Beautiful

... Skippy

.

Roadkill · December 13, 2008

jstpeter wrote:

RoadKill,

If you need any help or tips just give me a shout.

I may take you up on that. First I'll give it a try and see what issues or questions I come up with. Thanks soo much for the offer.

Panther · December 13, 2008

Howdy,

Merry Christmas,

Wonderful images, I really like the results of the HDR, but the subjects were wonderful to begin with, and they were also very nicely shot captured and seen.

Very nicely done!!

Christmas Trees in the Windows

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