The wide, open, majestic country of the Blue Mountains versus the urban accoutrements of billboards, electric lights, roadways with street signs and power poles.

Bright daylight versus the pre-dawn darkness.

The camaraderie of friends versus the isolation and emptiness of the wee small hours in the city.

The many and varied contrasts struck me when I saw this billboard one night.

This shot is a High Dynamic Range (HDR) merger of four others, done in an attempt to pull out both the highlights and shadows of the scene. It still looks a little more "cartoonish" than I'd like, but that's as much due to my limited knowledge of HDR as it is to the beast itself. I'm going to be signing up for Deke's monster CS5 course at Lynda.com in the morning. I'd do it tonight but... well, you can see the timestamp, there's an issue with me keeping my eyes open at present and there's no point burning a day's subscription for nothing.