It’s been a long day and I’m really ready to hit the hay, but I figured I’d at least show a few pictures from my stay here at the Moore’s house in Vermont. I’m working on a big project for their business, Garland Goat Soap of Vermont, shooting product images of each of the products that they sell. Will blog about what I’ve learned on this project this in more detail later. So far, most of the images have been taken in the lightbox, but it’s been going very well!

But soap isn’t the only thing I’ve been taking pictures of. To make the most of my time up here in New England, I’ve done what I could to get out and shoot the surrounding area, even if it’s just a short walk down the road. Here’s where I had my morning devotions yesterday . . .

At the actual time of sunrise, it was a little more colorful . . .

That shot was created with three different exposures using Lightroom 6’s HDR merge feature. This new feature is very helpful, as it allows me to blend high dynamic range images in a very natural way. When blending multiple exposures, I make sure to keep areas of shadow still look like they are in shadow. Making sure the black and white points are set correctly on the histogram also keeps blends looking natural.

This is the same spot only on an afternoon stroll with one of the Moore boys.

It’s amazing how the light on the landscape changes the way I compose things.

In conclusion, to keep things random, here’s a shot from a different time of day. It was the first time that I discovered that the new Canon 50mm STM creates an amazing sunburst effect! The colors really starting to come out!