I am on an HDR tear this weekend, I guess. Here are some shots from the ghost town of Bodie, California. This was a big gold mining town founded around 1860, and reached a peak population of around 5,000 in the late 1800's. As the gold played out in the early 20th century, people left, leaving much of their goods and possessions where they were last used. Apparently it cost more to transport the stuff than it was worth, so if you walk around the town and look in the windows, you'll see things where they were left there many years ago.

[stormtech]

Awesome series - takes me back into the many Westerns I've read over the years. And I think your application of HDR was just right in all of them - very nice!

[SpecialK]

Nice series. Love the gas pumps. I got as far as the gate early one morning but could not stick around :-(

[deaning]

Stunning set and great use of HDR. I have a thing about old abandoned vehicles so I have to say my fav is the old truck. Is this with the k5's own hdr function? Mine should get here at the end of the week and just wondering if the onboard is any good.

[Jimbo]

Not really a HDR fan but some of these are very well done. JIM

[chicagojohn]

None of these make the pretense of representing "reality" (whatever that is), and I like how the use of tone mapping brings about a sort of "other-worldly" feeling.
I also see a theme in several of them where light is coming through windows -- windows, or window like geometry as in the side boards on the truck as well as the cab windows -- seems to be a theme, consciously or not.
The HDR effect is especially nice, I think, in the vacant room with the torn curtain on the window, empty bottle and box springs, and in the old gym.
I also especially liked the one of the cabin where you see the window on the rear framed by the window in front.
Hard to pick a favorite, though, because they are each so interesting to look at.

[slowpez]

Nice flavor the old west captured here. Like the PP too, not overdone. Thanks for sharing these.

[GeoJerry]

Awesome series - takes me back into the many Westerns I've read over the years. And I think your application of HDR was just right in all of them - very nice!

Thanks! Some subjects just seem to cry out for HDR and these were doing that to me. I'll post some more though when I get around to it without any HDR applied.

Nice series. Love the gas pumps. I got as far as the gate early one morning but could not stick around :-(

You have to go back! This was my second trip and I still haven't seen everything. It's a fascinating place.

Stunning set and great use of HDR. I have a thing about old abandoned vehicles so I have to say my fav is the old truck. Is this with the k5's own hdr function? Mine should get here at the end of the week and just wondering if the onboard is any good.

No, these were taken without the K-5's HDR mode - I used Photomatix with three bracketed inputs to get these. I haven't tried the K-5's HDR function yet. I did try it on my K-7 and it gave fairly pleasing results although for an unchallenging subject. What I've found is that just about every picture needs to be fiddled with independently using a number of sliders in Photomatix, so just the default setting in camera will probably not always get the result you want.

Not really a HDR fan but some of these are very well done. JIM

Thanks Jim. Not everyone's cup of tea but thanks for taking a look anyway!

None of these make the pretense of representing "reality" (whatever that is), and I like how the use of tone mapping brings about a sort of "other-worldly" feeling.
I also see a theme in several of them where light is coming through windows -- windows, or window like geometry as in the side boards on the truck as well as the cab windows -- seems to be a theme, consciously or not.
The HDR effect is especially nice, I think, in the vacant room with the torn curtain on the window, empty bottle and box springs, and in the old gym.
I also especially liked the one of the cabin where you see the window on the rear framed by the window in front.
Hard to pick a favorite, though, because they are each so interesting to look at.

Thanks chicagojohn. Windows were indeed a theme... I was fascinated by the contents of the buildings as opposed to just the exteriors, so I shot lots of pictures through windows. I don't know if you noticed, but the room with the box springs is what you see when you peer into the window in shack pictured in #4.

Nice flavor the old west captured here. Like the PP too, not overdone. Thanks for sharing these.

And thanks for the good words!

[gifthorse]

I gotta admit that I didn't think that Bodie was suited for HDR. And I gotta admit that I was wrong. Nice series. Did you happen to get any images of the coffins in the undertakers office? (I think it's called "the morgue" in the pamphlet.)

[Bob Harris]

Bodie is a real treasure isn't it. Amazing they could haul so much heavy equipment in there such as that mining and electrical equipment. Really enjoyed the view here, nice job Jerry. They could improve the access road getting into the ghost town, it seems to get worse each time we visited over the years. The ranger there said they left it that way so we could see what the past residents had to endure, yeah right.

[GeoJerry]

I gotta admit that I didn't think that Bodie was suited for HDR. And I gotta admit that I was wrong. Nice series. Did you happen to get any images of the coffins in the undertakers office? (I think it's called "the morgue" in the pamphlet.)

Thanks gifthorse! I did see the morgue and the caskets but didn't get any pictures of it... next time though.

[GeoJerry]

Bodie is a real treasure isn't it. Amazing they could haul so much heavy equipment in there such as that mining and electrical equipment. Really enjoyed the view here, nice job Jerry. They could improve the access road getting into the ghost town, it seems to get worse each time we visited over the years. The ranger there said they left it that way so we could see what the past residents had to endure, yeah right.

Thanks Bob, and I'll be posting some more when I get around to it. It really is a special place and although there were a lot of people there, it's not very well known or publicized. And yeah, that 10 miles of (bad) gravel road is bad news.

[mtngal]

Love the pictures! I don't know exactly what I was expecting the first time we visited Bodie, but I was far more impressed with it than I had expected to be. These pictures get me thinking of going back that way, got to think more about that.

[-Rooster-]

I always like old, rusting trucks. Nicely done.

[riff]

Great images and I love the PP jerry!
...but the skies look kind of out of place?