Stormy Sunset at Steen Hall, Nacogdoches TX

A Facebook friend of mine recently turned me on to this view of Steen Hall from across the Ag Pond on the SFA campus. Steen Hall is interesting because it's actually a pair of round dorm towers. Nini and I took the boys to check it out at sunset on Sunday, but there were big storms rolling in and hardly any sunset at all. The blue hour was very pretty though, especially when the holiday lights turned on. We got out of there early and had time to hit the grocery store on the way home before the torrential downpour that lasted for hours (and may have flooded our backyard!).

This is a single two minute exposure. I used three graduated neutral density filters to make this photo. Above the horizon I used a 3-stop, soft-step graduated filter and a 2-stop hard-step graduated filter just above the top of Steen Hall. On the bottom I used a 2-stop soft-step graduated filter to knock out some of the bright sky reflection towards the bottom of the frame. I carefully paced the filters so that the area just below the horizon all the way up to the upper part of Steen Hall would not be affected at all. There wasn't much interest in the sky above the tree line so I implemented what I call the "dad crop" that my dad loves so much! I cropped it wide along "dad crop" lines, following the golden ratio overlay in Lightroom 4.

Today is my 30th birthday but I'm planning to stay 29 for a few more years!

Critiques are always welcome.

Daily photo: December 10, 2012, taken December 9, 2012

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