Technically the next to last day, as we left the following day. But the last day I had time to go out and shoot some landscape shots that I had been wanting to do. So to a different beach, where I found a good spot to get some of the boardwalk and resorts that we had seen previously from the dolphin cruise.
I went as light as I could. Camera, lens, tripod, the bare essentials to get the shots I wanted. Most of these are HDR merged photos because I really the look you get when you have the entire photo in a good exposure.
I’ve talked about HDR before, but a quick refresher for anyone reading this that doesn’t feel like digging through this blog. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and it’s a way of taking multiple photos and developing them to be more accurate to what your eye sees. Even with the best camera technology it struggles to be able to get as bright the highlights and dark the shadows in one image. So you set up your camera and take multiple shots at different exposures. Then combine them all in your editing software. People who are much better teachers than I have written countless articles about this, just google it if you want to learn more about it.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
The bridge you drive in on was really cool too.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/25 Sec - F11 - ISO 200
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Since the sun was rising behind me, the buildings were mostly dark. But the bridge had some nice golden color thanks to the sun.
I also turned around and took some shots of the sand dunes, which I had never seen before. They were really interesting, and a lot of signs instructing why they are so important and that you aren’t allowed to walk on them.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Destin is a beautiful place.
It was just a quick trip out in the morning, but we wanted to end the vacation how it started. So back to the beach at sunset.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/10 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - HDR
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/13 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 1/20 Sec - F4 - ISO 400
And the last thing I shot was this building, I really thought the lights for the building number were cool. And I framed it to get the moon right above it.
Because it was so very dark at that point I had to do a really long exposure to get that much light on the building. So I leaned on the roof of the car. Which got a bit of reflection.
Canon 5D Mark II w/24-105mm - 4 Sec - F4 - ISO 500