Autumn Walk at Shenandoah National Park

My family and I took a walk at White Oak Canyon in the Shenandoah National Park. Rather than take the typical drive along Skyline Drive, which can tend to be drier and browner, we hiked along the creek.
 

October in Shenandoah National Park, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Pana-Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4

iso 200, f5.6, 1/160 sec.

 
Since it took nearly two hours to drive out, we didn't catch great early morning light. It was still pretty good when we started the hike a little before 10:00 am, but most of the hike was in direct overhead sunlight.
 
 

All the Golds, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Pana-Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4

iso 200, f5, 1/200 sec.

And Some Reds, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Pana-Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4

iso 200, f4, 1/100 sec.

 
 
These conditions - bright blues skies and deep forest shadows - really pushed the dynamic range of the Lumix G3.

Looking Downstream, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Pana-Leica Summilux 25mm f1.4

iso 200, f11, 1/40 sec.

 
Dynamic range is one of the aspects of Lumix sensor design that is promised to improve, most specifically with the DMC-G5 (even though it reportedly doesn't gain much in high iso performance), and more so in the newly-announced DMC-GH3.

I made an attempt at high dynamic range (HDR) imaging in one case of excessive contrast. I must say that I'm not satisfied with the result, but have some trouble putting my finger on why. Here it is:

Pool in HDR, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3, Lumix 14mm f2.5

iso 200, f16, 5 Image HDR

 
Maybe there's just too much drawing the eye around in this shot? Is it cluttered with detail? What caught my eye was the band of fallen leaves in the foreground, and the reflection behind. Maybe I should have focused on just that, rather than trying to take in the whole scene?
 
Anyway, it was a very nice day in the forest. We caught the fall colors quite nicely.
 
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