The 1st photo is under exposed. The 2nd one is normal and the 3rd one is over exposed. This increases the DR (dynamic range) of the digital sensor by several stops or EV's (exposure value). The last shot is the stacked image from Lightroom.
HDR Sunrise. Yes, the colors were this rich. Three minutes before the sun broke the horizon.
@ebiggs1 wrote:You can't kid the kidder!
Not trying to. Remember, I'm not the one who criticized the colors in your sunset shot. I've tried to include EXIF data on a shot taken earlier than the HDR sequence just above.
The only adjustments have been to exposure, contrast, whites, blacks, shadows, and highlights. No color adjustments.
@ebiggs1 wrote:"No color adjustments."
Now I know you are smart enough to know any of the edits you made effected the color. Otherwise you wouldn't have done it. Some of my HDR images are heavily edited. That is one purpose of HDR. The DR is extended well beyond what is possible.
I have used HDR in photos that most of you don't even realize. Maybe that is the best example of success. When no one knows what was done! Matter of fact some have passed by RTF without comment.
True, some of those settings can bring out color details, or even seem to change the saturation, particularly exposure. But, the scene was an explosion of colors, which were quickly waning. We have lots of air pollution around here, so we can get very colorful looking sunrises and sunsets, most especially when there is heavy cloud cover to "contain" it, so to speak..
Here is a shot with no adjustments, and WB is set for Auto. See that wonderful orange layer near the horizon. Smog.
