When I installed my sprinkler system, I wish I knew about this…it would have saved me a ton of time and a very sore back.

I approached this image from several different angles, but once I raised my tripod up, and pointed my lens down on the top of the claw, I knew that is what I wanted. However, because I was shooting a very wide lens, the legs of my tripod were in the frame. It required some finagling and patience, but I was finally able to achieve the result I wanted.

Capture Notes:

Nikon D300
Tokina ATX Pro 11-16
Gitzo Traveler

Processing Notes:

Capture – 7 Images @ 1ev
Photomatix – HDR/Tonemapping
Photoshop – Curves (set grey point)
Photoshop – Basic midtones luminosity mask curves adjustment (luminosity blending)
Photoshop – Vibrancy boost
Sized for wed
Nik Sharpener – Display 35% selective to claw

Tip: A wide really wide angle (16ish mm on FX, 10ish mm on DX) lens isa great tool to achieve images like this, where you can get very close to a compositional element, and still have the rest of the subject in the frame. It also a fun tool to add an interesting perspective to portraits. For this image I used the very nice Tokina ATX Pro 11-16