parting shots for 2011

[MORGAN]

Very interesting. My Olympus OM-2's (the antique kind of cameras that use stuff called "film" to store the data on) don't seem to have this feature.

I'll have to get a digital camera someday, but all my extra money seems to go to 6 weeks of cave diving trips every year.

Beautiful pictures, Barbara - can't wait to get back down there!

[WEPIV]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_imaging

You take multiple exposures throughout a range of exposure setting, to get details filled in in all the extremely bright areas and extremely dark areas in the same photo. There is a decent HDR app for android that I use to take very nice phone pictures of dive sites.

HDR is, in my opinion, a modern day digital take on good old Ansel Adams' zone system, where he worked at getting the most detail possible from the whitest white to the darkest black and all shades in between in a photograph.
Taking three to five bracketed digital images (to help adjust for a bright sky and something in your shot in shadows) and merging them together (using Photoshop, Photomatix or another program) has made this old concept easier and quite popular, although many pro shooters don't or can't use it, (depending on what they are photographing and who they are working for), as it is considered changing the image too much. (Like for editorial and photojournalists. Art and ad work does not matter usually.)
A handful of years ago I had never heard of the term "HDR" as I can't use it usually on what I shoot professionally but I sure have fun (in certain situations) playing around with it.