The other bookend to yesterday's shot.

Sunday night. Still at bloody Pyrmont. Still at bloody work. Well, OK I had just left at this time and was on my way back to the car.

(Which is not quite as late as the EXIF suggests. What did I tell myself to do in the morning? Reset the 40D's clock for the end of daylight savings. What did I forget to do before taking shots on the way home? Reset the 40D's clock for the end of daylight savings.)

On the plus side it did provide me with a chance to remember how much I love good night time shots, of which this isn't one. Although I took the tripod that morning, it was in the car's boot so I had to stick to hand held. And while you can do HDR off hand held shots, you're pushing your luck with night time ones and their correspondingly long exposure times. (Although I actually did a 2/3rds of a stop bracket just on the off chance. As it turned out I thought the +2/3rds one alone would be my best choice.)

Still, it's enough of a reason to break into song (or perhaps it's just delirium from inadequate sleep):

I love the night life,
To go out shooting,
With a high ISO,
Wooooah-woah-woah-woooah!

Oh yes I love the night life,
A two stop bracket,
Merged up in HDR Pro,
Wooooah-woah-woah-woooah!

Please don't talk about contrast tonight.
A few levels layers will make it right!
We'll pump some highlights and bring shadows down,
And thus expose the night lights of, all of the town!
We're gonna shoot them all and when we're through,
maybe then we'll make, huh, a layer comp or two.
I got to go where contrast's high,
The exposure is long, and the shutters will fly!

Last Year