Authentic or Fake?

It's been an interesting week here, one that even felt somewhat 'normal'.  I worked every single day that the office was open this week, which was a first in a long time with my Fridays off.  And yet I still feel that I'm not catching up very quickly.  My long-awaited trip is a mere 11 sleeps away (though I leave home after just 10 more), and I don't feel very prepared for it.  I haven't followed the weather for down there very closely, I don't have a pair of lighter shoes, I don't have shorts.  Instead I have my big hiking boots, my cycling capris, and a hiking skirt.  Instead I think that day will come and I will just drop into the plane after more deadlines next week.  I've been eyeing things at REI, so I think I'll literally go from the Denver Airport to a REI location - before checking into a hotel, before having dinner, before doing anything else.  They have a fleece that fits within my layers, and it's a piece that I think I could carry as a light jacket or for evenings around town (because really - what starts off a trip better than a cool new blue fleece jacket? ;-) ).  Yes, I'm expecting the weather to be warmer than here.  I'll need to stock up on Gatorade powder, loads maps onto the laptop, load the US topos onto the GPS, try the camera remotes, and decide how I'll best carry it all.  I suspect on hikes I'll carry just one lens (ok, maybe throw in the wide angle as well), but take them all on my photography outings.  Rather than posting the many photos from my usual day hikes, I'm setting myself a goal of ten good images a day with one real keeper for each day.

But, imagine my surprise when I (finally) realized that one of the most famous images of these great arches - the one of Mesa Arch below - is an HDR image.  Good thing I've been trying to teach myself that this week, and yesterday just got down the bracketing.  Tomorrow will be my first attempt at an HDR outdoor scene.  So, with this famous Mesa Arch sunrise, you would normally get the great rising sun, but that would blow any detail in the arch.  Or you can get a nice shot of the arch, but have a blown sun.  Or you can try HDR, which allows you to see things as was never before possible (if I ever figure out the delicate art of it).  As I like vivid colours, I think I'm naturally drawn to some of the 'good' HDR landscapes out there.  My criteria is that it has to look natural; I don't like the overdone sci-fi look.  But really, with red arches and blue sky, maybe some twinkling lights at night, I see big potential. 

Mesa Arch above and some other HDR landscapes below.  If you want to see a non-HDR Mesa Arch with the morning congregation of photographers, go here.

So, do these images look authentic or fake?

I've also had great evenings reading in bed this week, all thanks to P. having cleaned out issues of Outdoor Photographer and National Geographic.  It's made me a little late for work twice (because I was awake too late :-) ), but I was fascinated by seeing red arches in there, reading about astrophotography after having been to some astronomy presentations last week, and just getting more and more photo ideas.  I think tonight will be a very late night ... magazines, wine, then steak for my home-made holiday Friday brunch.  Tomorrow will have to be a day for errands, getting work clothes, working on my performance review (no fun), and ... trying HDR.  Hopefully the sky will cooperate.