Gradation

It was a beautiful day today, but much cooler. We had a front move through with high winds and brought colder temperatures. The wind also blew out all of the haze from the last few days. It was bright and cool - a perfect day for a walk up at the university.

This is the little lake on campus, which many call Manzanita Lake, although it has also been called Artemesia Lake. With the swans, geese and ducks, it is a perfect place for students to relax.

With the crisp and bright light today, I wanted to capture the reflections of the bright blue sky on the lake. This is an HDR of 3 brackets shots with a 1 stop difference. I used HDR Efex to merge the shots. I increased the contrast only slightly, and sharpened the image. I made no color adjustments to the photo.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, stars and favs for yesterday's TA DA!. I really appreciate it!