The image above "Side by Side" was selected as an Editor's Pick on HDR Spotting.com.  Thank you to the editors for selecting my work, it's a true honor.

You can also view the E.S.P. Project on my PhotoBlog.

I wanted to talk about how I achieved the overall look of most of these HDR's.  First shooting with a tripod, shutter release and a ultra-wide Nikon 10-24 DX giving me 15mm on the wide end. ISO levels here were 100 and I was set up with AEB @ +2,0,-2.  A lot of people ask me what camera I use and I'll tell you, but it's not what you might expect.  It's a Nikon D5000. Honestly hands down (at least when I bought it) is a great camera for the money.  It gives me all of the tools I need to make great HDR. 

A lot of people will tell you to save your photomatix HDR's in full color and manipulate saturation in photoshop.  I agree with this for true black and white, but what I like to do is play with the "Highlight" and "Shadow" saturation levels in Photomatix.  There is a time and a place for this of course but the next time your working an HDR and something is just not right try to desaturate the "Lowlights" and boost the "Highlights", then reverse them til you find a nice balance.  This technique has really given me the opportunity to become really excited about an image that was not quite right!  Another key to finding a unique look is playing with the white balance with your RAW's before going into Photomatix.  I always shoot Auto WB because 99% of the time a Nikon never lies, but it's always a good idea to do 2 or 3 versions with different WB settings! :)

So I leave you with this...  Live by the rules but don't always follow them.  Find your own unique take on something someone else would never duplicate.  Find the energy and soul of your images from the start. Every piece of your art has it's place in the world.