The first one i thougt was: "froooozen scenery". Everything on homelands outback is frozen this time. And yes: I'm a groupie of HDR processing, thats why i love this kind of "stories" like your images tells.

Beautifully done! Truly amazing. The HDR turns something that might appear so mundane to a real eye candy - Almost a painting in fact.

However, I must ask, and this photo is a great example (and sorry if this issue was already brought up) - As a photographer, do you prefer to be praised for the subject of the photo, or the process/result of manipulation?

Thanks Nicki.

Ilan: while the subject and the post-production are clearly separate things - the former definitely comes before the latter - I tend to think of them as part of the same whole. Put another way, the post-production allows me to show you something about the objects I photograph that wouldn't be apparent if I post-processed them differently. My apologies if that doesn't answer your question, but it isn't one that I can relate all that well to the way I see things. Does that make sense?

This is realyl nice. I especially like the angle and fine textures. Not the typical HDR. Still, you made best use of the technique.

whaowwww super picture of rails frozen , we can feel the cold, very nice

I like this a lot, it never ceases to amaze me how much fine scale detail is captured & brought out in these HDR's which I think is what attracts me to them. I've been out trying some myself this afternoon-we'll see how that pans out!

In the meantime you've had me hooked on textures this week, better post something else tomorrrow before eveyone's bored!

Congrats to your wife for the well deserved award :O)

It being a stylised HDR image I probably shouldn't bother posting but what the hey, comments can be constructively critical as well as praising, right? :)

I think it does look like a typical HDR I'm afraid - the weird lack of shadows, the characteristic blotchiness here and there where shadows have crept back in, the unrealistic detail. It's striking but to me it's too fake and I've seen much more organic, contrasty, striking HDRs from you that didn't shout "I'm an HDR!" first and foremost. I think HDR has a tendency to render things a bit flat. I guess I just like shadows and contrast! :)

I like the framing, though - and congratulations, Libby!

I feel HDR has transformed an image which could have been a shot you kept but never published. It draws your eyes to look at the detail of the image.

I think we all tend to interpret what we see with an underlying expectation how it should look. These rails certainly look cold and frosted--ala the magic of HDR. It gives a graphic illustration quality to the photo, but again our eyes and brain "know" it's a photograph where we should have a smooth tonal texture. And thus the dichotomy, the tension, that to me makes this a compelling image.

I do like the shot, and although I am undecided about HDR on the whole I do like the way it brings the textures to life. It manages to really capture the detail so well.

Congratulations to Libby too.

It is not too HDRed, which I thinks goes well for this image. Good thing those railway tracks are abandoned... :) A.

I actually prefer your version of this image for the sheer amount of detail it contains and the tonality I know the full version contains....I concede defeat! ;-) csj

Craig: shut up, it's not better, not least because your version wouldn't suit the same treatment - i.e. add in this amount of detail and your version would look too artificial (in my opinion at least) :)

Yep, like this one. Same as the others have said, it really brings out the detail in the frost. It doesn't suffer the halo'ing ( is that a real word ?) seen when some images are processed, which makes it all the better. Good crop on the diagonals too.

I think both the shots of the rail line look very good because they aren't as extreme as you could have pushed them. You can almost feel the texture on the rail and wood, that's amazing.
And well done to Libby.

I just love the bended and eroded steel. Incredible pleonasm cold/frozen and steel.

Nice use of HDR here. It seems frozen! (Is it?)

djn1 - Thanks for answering me. You brought an interesting angle that I didn't fully considered before.
I see a (good) photography as showing someone something that wouldn't be apparent to the him in "dimension" of time - i.e decisive moment. But you brought an interesting point, of another, so called "dimension" - seeing the world through another man eyes - and most importantly - not necessarily as they are really truly appear. Does that make sense? :)
Interesting thought, I need to sleep on that :)

Ilan: yes, that's exactly what I mean. Put another way: I think that photography is much more to do with interpretation than representation; i.e. the subjective rather than the literal.

Excellent work and details!
Anna :)

Cool tone mapping, well processed, btw nice shot ;-))